Growing up as a first-generation Latino in historically impoverished Boyle Heights, Juan De La Cruz remembers the times he and his siblings did their best not to get sick. Like many other Latinos in under-resourced neighborhoods, the lack of health insurance meant panic, a memory that fuels his work today. For the last 16 years, De La Cruz has dedicated his life to philanthropy, serving in different capacities with the Los Angeles Unified School District and Young Men’s Christian Association. Today, he manages an $11.3 million budget as president of the Adventist Health White Memorial Charitable Foundation (AHWM), a nonprofit that supports research in the medical field and education. As a leader in philanthropy, De La Cruz is an industry minority, an inequity he hopes to change by spreading awareness and promoting himself.
