September 13, 2023
Los Angeles (September 13, 2023) – The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) Board of Directors announced that Masih Fouladi is the organization’s new executive director. He has more than 15 years of leadership and advocacy experience that will help further CIPC’s mission of protecting and advancing immigrants’ rights throughout California.
“We are extremely proud to welcome Masih Fouladi as our new executive director,” said Hector Villagra, chair of the CIPC Board of Directors. “Masih brings a wealth of experience and expertise on immigration policy and advocacy that will greatly benefit our organization and the communities we serve.”
Before joining CIPC, he was the deputy executive director for the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA). As CAIR-LA’s deputy executive director, he led a staff of approximately 40 people working in the organization’s immigration, policy, communications, organizing and civil rights departments. From 2018 to 2020, he was the executive director of the Washington chapter of CAIR.
“I’m excited to join an organization with a long history of empowering California’s immigrant communities,” Fouladi said. “As an immigrant, organizer and lawyer, I’ve experienced and observed the struggles our community faces to provide shelter, food, healthcare and other basic needs for their loved ones. Our team at CIPC will continue to work with community members and other immigrant rights advocates to uplift transformative, community-led initiatives that will advance the equitable treatment of the diverse immigrant community and achieve racial, social and economic justice throughout the state.”
For more than a quarter of a century, CIPC has played a central role in advancing a progressive statewide immigrant justice agenda. Most recently, its campaigns include: ensuring food security for all Californians (Food4All) by expanding the California Food Assistance Program those who need it regardless of immigration status; expanding the social safety net (SafetyNet4All) by ensuring that unemployment wages are available to all immigrants; and winning access to healthcare (Health4All) for all income-eligible Californians regardless of their immigration status.
Fouladi has a Bachelor of Arts in Economic and Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Irvine, and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Davis. He succeeds CIPC’s former executive director, Cythia Buiza, who stepped down in May from her position after seven years of leadership.
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The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) is a statewide immigrant rights organization that advocates for policies that protect and advance the rights of immigrants and their families throughout California. CIPC combines legislative and policy advocacy, strategic communications, statewide organizing and regional coalition capacity building to pursue its mission of advocating for policies that uphold the humanity of immigrants and refugees while advancing racial, social and economic justice.