Program Manager
Prevention Institute
Ruben Cantu has over 20 years’ experience in public health, health equity, racial justice, program and organizational management, and technical assistance and capacity building. At Prevention Institute, he leads projects on community trauma and mental health and wellbeing. Ruben provides training, coaching, and strategic support on policy development, sustainability, partner development, and communications to 13 community coalitions through Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys. Making Connections seeks to transform community conditions that influence mental wellbeing among men and boys of color, veterans, military servicemembers, and their families.
Ruben leads Prevention Institute’s work using Prevention Institute’s Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience (ACE|R) Framework, including consultations and workshops to identify strategies that build resilience and address the structural violence that contributes to trauma. As part of this work, was a lead consultant to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services on a statewide opioid prevention initiative using the A|CER Framework, providing training and consultation on community prevention strategy and multisector collaboration. He also developed a curriculum to train Oakland’s Human Services Department staff and partners in the ACE|R framework to complement their work on trauma and resilience.
Prior to joining Prevention Institute in 2016, Ruben was Associate Director at the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, where, among other accomplishments, he authored the state’s strategic plan for reducing mental health disparities. Ruben has consulted with community organizations across the U.S. through roles at Mosaica: The Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism and the National Minority AIDS Council; topics included strategic planning, board development; resource development; and program development.
A native Texan and graduate of the University of Houston, Ruben serves on several advisory boards and committees, including the International Transformational Resilience Coalition, California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity, the All Children Thrive California initiative, and the California Department of Health Care Services Prop 64 Advisory Committee.