Beatriz Guerrero Auna is an equity and data focused urban planner currently serving as Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Project Coordinator for the City of Richmond, California. In her current role, she oversees the development, implementation, and evaluation of ten community-driven projects and five plans funded by a $35 million TCC Grant received by the City and seven community partners to reduce green-house gas emissions.
Before her current position, Ms. Guerrero Auna worked as an Equity and Public Health Planner for the City of Santa Rosa, California. Through her work and multiple partnerships, the city engaged more than 20,000 residents in the General Plan Update process, including more than 80 organizations who collaborated to engage youth, seniors, low-income residents, and LGBTQ+ residents. She translated residents’ feedback into policies for the General Plan, the Housing Element, and the Health, Equity, and Environmental Justice Element.
Ms. Guerrero Auna has a Master in City Planning degree from the University of California, Berkeley, with a concentration on Environmental Planning and Healthy Cities. During graduate school, she worked as a Graduate Student Instructor, imparting Healthy Cities, Urban and Community Health, and Introduction to Culture and Natural Resource Management classes. Her research focused on critical issues of health equity, including Health in All Policies (HiAP), and addressing chronic diseases through place-based interventions.
Originally from Mexico City, Ms. Guerrero Auna holds a Bachelor ‘s degree in Political Science from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and a Gender Perspective in Medical Services Diploma from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Her career spanned over a decade, working within the local and federal government. While working for Mexico City’s government, she developed the Equity and Social Inclusion Element for Mexico City’s General Plan update and created and coordinated the first public administration strategy for evaluating programs and policies with gender and equity perspectives.
While working for the federal government, she directed the Equity Department of the largest public health service provider in Mexico and Latin America and developed policies to advance health equity goals for more than 70 million patients. She implemented successful policies like healthcare coverage for LGBTQ marriages; a program that reduced teenagers’ pregnancy nationally; a non-discrimination program that trained over 200,000 medical staff; and a technical guide and protocols to prevent gender discrimination and obstetric violence.
Ms. Guerrero Auna decided to go to graduate school to acquire skills and knowledge on how to create healthy environments for communities disproportionately affected by land use, transportation, pollution, and climate change. Her decision to study in California was driven by the state’s pioneering efforts in Health in All Policies, aligning with her vision of comprehensive health and environmental planning.
Beatriz has more than twelve years of experience improving health outcomes, advancing equity and environmental justice, and developing community outreach strategies to engage and empower underserved, historically marginalized, and vulnerable populations in Mexico and the United States.
Outside of work, she loves good food, time with friends, dancing, hiking, biking, reading, meditation, and time with her cat, Nash.
