Marvin fled war torn El Salvador in 1980 as a child refugee. First in his family to attend high school and growing up undocumented, he benefited from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986--legislation that led him to adjust his immigrant status, opened doors to a college education and a career in the nonprofit sector.His time at the University of Southern California as a political science and international relations student, in addition to his internship work at the Central American Resource Center - Los Angeles shaped his appreciation for policy, advocacy, and immigrant rights. His subsequent work at CARECEN leading public education and immigration reform efforts alongside civil rights leaders, immigrant's rights advocates, and community organizers, completed his formation.Marvin went on to serve as CARECEN Executive Director, leading the organization through The Great Recession, (lasting from December 2007 to June 2009 and marking the longest economic downturn since World War II) and setting the foundation for the organization’s biggest expansion to become the largest Central American legal center in the country, providing pro-bono and low-cost immigration legal services, immigration policy and advocacy, and working for the rights of all immigrants.In 2010 Marvin joined Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI), where as Director of Leadership Development, he led a portfolio of programs for low-income Asian American, African American, and Latino families, focused on culturally and linguistically diverse educational and community efforts geared at multi-racial/multi-ethnic collaboration, grassroots community involvement and movement building.In 2018 Marvin took on the position of Organizing Director at LA Voice, the largest multiracial faith-based community-organizing organization in Los Angeles, where he used a relationship-based organizing model to develop leadership and build capacity for civic engagement in communities throughout LA County with the intention of connecting and leveraging the power of the people to impact broad systemic change.Following on his commitment to advance the lives of immigrant families, Marvin is now the Associate Director for Farm and Food Workers Relief at United Ways of California, leading the implementation of a statewide program that provides cash-aid to farm and food workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of immigrant status. (Updated Feb 2023)