Miguel Almodovar
Miguel Almodovar is a Political Science major at California State University East Bay. Currently in his Junior year of studies, he entered Monterey County’s foster care system in California as a teenager and aged out when he graduated high school. In that time, he experienced both foster homes and group homes and an out of county placement change before eventually getting into a Transitional Housing Program Placement. He currently lives in the dorms at his university but will be moving out when school lets out for the summer. He bartends at a bar near downtown Oakland on the weekends, and has consistently remained employed since high school.
Miguel became a youth advocate when his social worker recommended that he attend a Summer Leadership Conference put on by California Youth Connection in 2010. His involvement with this youth-driven non-profit organization has connected Miguel with opportunities like IFCA’s Alumni Team and numerous community projects in Monterey and Alameda Counties around parenting foster youth resources and foster youth educational success. One of Miguel’s biggest strengths is facilitation, having most recently facilitated a six-week long leadership academy through California Youth Connection as well as numerous trainings for child welfare professionals. Miguel currently sits on the Board of Directors of California Youth Connection, serving as a liaison between the older members of the Board and the youth membership and continuing his career as a passionate advocate and change maker from a board member’s perspective.
Miguel hosts a podcast called How to Change the World on SoundCloud, where he uplifts the voice of young advocates and interviews them about current issues related to social justice and inequity and the ways they are changing the world.
Miguel enjoys traveling abroad in between school terms, most recently having completed a backpacking journey through some of the Caribbean Islands. He chronicled the journey in his travel blog, Taino1k17 on Blogspot. He enjoys taking pictures, exercising, rollerblading with friends, and playing music.
