Jesus A. Barrios

Deploying public health strategies to empower Latinx communities

“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.’”—Toni Morrison 

Jesus is an experienced program leader with more than 15 years of expertise advancing social impact in immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, community organizing, public health, philanthropy, arts and culture, and research.

At TCC Group, Jesus provides philanthropic and strategic oversight across ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action portfolio. He leads the portfolio’s learning and evaluation practice and has directed or supported several community giving cohorts, including initiatives focused on Black and Latinx communities, young people, and communities across the U.S. South. In this role, he partners with nonprofits nationwide to strengthen organizational capacity, shape equitable grantmaking strategies, and generate learning that improves HIV-related outcomes.

Jesus brings a rigorous training in public health and a commitment to understanding how social, political, and economic environments influence community well-being. Central to his work is a belief that in the face of injustice, communities will continue to create new worlds—portals of belonging, resistance, and possibility—where they can survive, adapt, and flourish.

Before joining TCC Group, Jesus served as an administrator at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York City, where he oversaw a team focused on sexual health services and biomedical interventions for LGBTQ communities. This work provided him with a deep understanding of the healthcare and social challenges faced by Latinx, immigrant, and queer communities, and the organizational capacity required to meet them.

Education:

• SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, New York
  • DrPH Student, Community Health and Social Sciences
• CUNY School of Public Health, New York
  • MPH, Community Health and Social Sciences
• California State University, San Bernardino
  • BS, Public Health