Jaime Alonso was born and raised in the Coachella Valley. Like many in this region, he came from a family of Mexican migrant farmworkers. Raised in a mobile home in an unincorporated area of Riverside County, Jaime recognized early on that access to adequate housing, safe drinking water and reliable energy sources were not readily available to all. This recognition motivated him upon his return to the Coachella Valley after graduating from the University of California in Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) in 2005 to become active with Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC), a faith-based community organizing network. During this time, Jaime also joined local community leaders in Coachella, CA to form what would become Raices Cultura, an arts and culture organization committed to the empowerment of youth and adult residents through artistic self-expression and cultural inclusivity.
Jaime graduated from Brooklyn Law School (2009) with honors and spent ten years working as a legal and policy professional in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region. A California native through and through, Jaime has maintained strong ties with organizations and policymakers in the Inland Empire region. In his role as Executive Director for GRID Alternatives, Inland Empire (Riverside, CA), Jaime manages construction, workforce, outreach, development, tribal, communications and operations staff to install solar electric systems using both production and job training models and benefiting a mix of multifamily affordable properties, mission-aligned community facilities, and single family homes owned by income-qualified families.
Jaime works to grow GRID Alternatives’ presence, policy influence, positive public image, mission impact, and regional financial viability, including networking and speaking presentations. Jaime is a current board member of Lift to Rise, a non-profit organization in the Coachella Valley focused on radically increasing the supply of affordable housing by creating, expanding, and underwriting the affordable housing pipeline in the region, among other transformational initiatives. Jaime is also a Member of Citizens Business Bank’s Community Advisory Committee, where he helps advise the bank on how best to shape and measure the performance of its Community Reinvestment Act activities, specifically around economic development and job creation, to help meet the needs of low and moderate-income neighborhoods and individuals in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
