Roland Gilbert

Roland Gilbert served as a Senior Human Relations Consultant from 2020 to 2025, following a two-year tenure with us as a Title V contract worker. Most recently, he was one of the first members of the Human Rights Monitoring and Advocacy Team. In this role, he assisted with the development of a Human Rights Assessment Tool. He also documented the relevance of human rights to emerging issues affecting human relations in LA County, such as the disproportionate impact of fires on marginalized communities, the impact of climate change on lower-resourced school districts, and growing political polarization. For this assignment, he developed an algorithm for tracking emerging issues and created a template for concise, relevant reports and recommendations. He also led in keeping division staff informed of relevant media reports and articles. Prior to working with human rights, Roland was a member of the LA vs Hate Anti-Hate Initiative team. In this role, his primary task was to analyze, document, and report on hate acts reported to 211LA. For that purpose, he created a much-needed structure for tracking essential data from the reports. He was also a data analyst for the annual Hate Crime Report. Roland’s first assignment with us was as a member of the Dispute Resolution Program team.

Before working for LA County, Roland’s work included strategic planning, program design, quantitative methods for administration, team building, fundraising, marketing, and capacity building and training in public and private settings, including Alameda County and the Downtown Los Angeles Skid Row Development Corporation. He was also employed previously as an engineer with the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company (which became AT&T). Additionally, he was a member of a four-person team that developed and implemented business revitalization programs in cities across California, Louisiana, and Michigan for the federal Small Business Administration. Roland was the founder of the Simba Corporation, a nonprofit mentoring program for at-risk youth in Oakland, CA, that he directed for 15 years.

Roland earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Master of Science degree in Administration with an emphasis in Quantitative Methods for Administration from the University of California, Irvine. He authored and published two books that focus on capacity building for persons experiencing homelessness and economically disadvantaged families.

Roland’s expertise, analytical and critical thinking skills, creativity, enthusiasm, and positive spirit will be greatly missed.