Natalie Robles serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives & Programming for the Group Effort Initiative (GEI). Prior to her role at GEI, Natalie was the Senior Program Manager at the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, a non-profit organization aligned with the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles to address the city’s most challenging issues and improve life for all Angelenos through innovative public-private partnerships. As a philanthropic liaison and grants manager for the organization’s diverse portfolio of over 30 programs, Natalie supported the Evolve Entertainment Fund (Evolve), an initiative of Mayor Eric Garcetti to strengthen career pathways in the entertainment industry for young people from low-income and underrepresented communities. Evolve ultimately merged with GEI in June 2021.
During the Obama Administration Natalie served as a Loaned Communications Executive with PolicyLink through the IPA Fellowship Program in the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). In HUD’s Office of Economic Resilience, Natalie focused on issues of racial equity, fair housing, sustainability, and government-philanthropic partnerships. She has worked in advocacy on federal housing, transportation, and environmental policy in Washington D.C. for Smart Growth America, Transportation for America, and Reconnect America. She has also worked with local governments in roles with the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-Habitat), The World Bank, and the Government Alliance on Race and Equity.
Natalie holds a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul. Minnesota.
