Eric Rodriguez

Eric Rodriguez is Vice President at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) where he heads NCLR’s Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation. In this capacity he leads and manages a team that oversees the institution’s legislative affairs, public policy research, policy analysis, and field advocacy work. In 2007-2008 he served as Deputy Vice President of the public policy department, and previously directed NCLR's Policy Analysis Center, a position he held for five years. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NCLR is the nation’s principal Hispanic organization, representing nearly 300 Affiliates – community-based organizations who together serve more than three million Latinos each year. In addition to providing capacity-building technical and financial assistance to its affiliates, NCLR carries out public policy advocacy on behalf of all Hispanics in the United States.

Rodriguez oversees a public policy shop that includes six major departments and five issue-based public policy projects that cover issues such as Health, Economic and Employment, Civil Rights and Criminal Justice, Immigration, Children and Education, and Wealth Building. The Office has over 30 staff and an annual budget that exceeds $2.5 million.

Rodriguez previously was responsible for overseeing NCLR's research, policy analysis, and advocacy activities on a wide range of economic, labor, and family wealth building policy issues. His background includes work on issues such as tax policy, Social Security reform, welfare reform, workforce development, pension and retirement security, credit/debt/housing and financial market regulations, and transportation policy. In this connection, he authored, co-authored, and supervised the preparation of several dozen policy and research reports, journal articles, and editorials, testified frequently at Congressional hearings, and represented NCLR at research and policy conferences and symposia. His work has been widely cited in the press, and in the policy and academic literature.

Rodriguez also serves on the board of the National Hispanic Council on the Aging (NHCOA), was previously Vice Chairman of the Coalition on Human Needs, and is a member of the National Academy or Social Insurance. Prior to NCLR, Rodriguez was a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Fellow and served in Representative Nydia Velazquez’s office. Rodriguez hold’s a master’s degree in Public Administration from The American University (Washington D.C.), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Siena College, in Loudonville New York. Rodriguez is from Red Hook, Brooklyn.