Bob Cabeza, who retired in early 2020, has been with the YMCA of Greater Long Beach for 26 years. His leadership, knowledge and skills have been pivotal to the success of the Neighborhood Transformation Partnership in Long Beach. In particular, Mr. Cabeza supported the YMCA being recognized with a national award from the US Department of Education for its highly successful community school model. Additionally, he has made unprecedented progress in working with the County of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach, and the Long Beach Unified School District the expand opportunities in the area. For example, the Neighborhood Transformation Partnership helped the YMCA’s Summer Youth Institute to provide paid summer job opportunities through its collaboration with Los Angeles County which only happened because of the Neighborhood Transformation Partnership.
2010 Inaugural Don and Rosemary Vial Awards for Digital Inclusion
Exemplary Performance by an Individual Award Recipient
BOB CABEZA
Bob Cabeza has been a visionary and leader in the Digital Inclusion and youth development arenas for the past 12 years. Bob has a special focus on youth development and technology equity for underserved communities as it relates to developing both academic and workforce success. He is the founder of both the YMCA Youth Institute and Change Agent Productions social enterprise. The Youth Institute program model is expanding as other agencies and YMCAs are starting their own Youth Institute-type programs. The YMCA of the USA is currently seeking national funding to make the Long Beach Youth Institute the national model and training site, and further assist in scaling the model.
Bob Cabeza was a Z-Fellow in the ZeroDivide Foundation Program. As a Z-Fellow, Bob was able to gain new skills and tools to be an agent of social change to bring technology access to his community. He has directly trained over 5,000 youth, parents, and program staff from non-profit community-based organizations. He has been a panelist, presenter and keynote speaker for over 20 national and international conferences on youth development, family programming, and computer technology. Bob is the first non-school-based educator to be named an Apple Distinguished Educator and is a Board member of the California After School Network (CAN) as well as the League of California After School Practitioners (LCAP). Bob is presently serving on the California State Senate Task Force on Intersession and Summer Programming for Youth.
As Don and Rosemary Vial, Bob has been committed to bringing technology training and access to the underserved and low-income youth and families to empower their lives. He has been working in the non-profit arena for over 25 years, successfully creating hope and promise for those less fortunate.
YMCA of Greater Long Beach, Community Development Branch
YMCA Long Beach Youth Institute
Change Agent Productions
