Christel Ontiveros is a Listening Tour Programs Fellow for HJF’s 2025 cohort. In this role, she is responsible for supporting virtual state-wide community listening sessions. With the ability to attend coalition calls, listening sessions, data collection, and creating graphics to portray an overall summary of current community research within the public health field. She has worked for Undocumented Student Services at her university as an intern for the CA Dream Act Services Incentive Grant Program (DSIG) –the states grant organization for supporting undocumented students through the opportunity to gather experience in different volunteer positions. Here she was able to do advocacy work for the undocumented community at her university and bring about new policies to improve on resources. She also has experience as a Research Assistant where she has gathered skills such as data collection, intervention implementation, data analysis, and literature reviews.

Christel has completed her bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psychology and a minor in Biological Sciences at California State University, Stanislaus. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts degree in Applied Behavioral Analysis at California State University, Stanislaus. She is the daughter of immigrant parents from Mexico and has grown up for most of her life in the Central Valley in a town called Ceres, California. As a undocumented student herself, she has made it her passion to be of support for those experiencing lack of resources and barriers along the way. She believes that bridging the gaps between the Latino communities and the rest of the American society will improve on the inequalities and promote equal opportunities for all.