Jerry Tello comes from a family of Mexican, Texan roots and was raised in south central Los Angeles. He is co-founder of the National Compadres Network and the Director of the National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of family strengthening, community mobilization and culturally based violence prevention/intervention issues. He has extensive experience in the treatment of victims and perpetrators of abuse and in addictive behaviors, with a specialization in working with multi-ethnic populations.

Mr. Tello is the author of various curriculum including a Male "Rites of Passage", a Young Fatherhood Curriculum, a Blingual Family Strengthening curriculum, a bilingual Fatherhood Literacy Curriculum and served as a principal consultant for Scholastic Books on a International Bilingual Literacy curriculum. In addition, Mr. Tello has authored a  series of children’s books and is the co-editor of Family Violence and Men of Color (Springer Publishing Co., 1998).  He has appeared in Time, Newsweek and Hispanic magazines and in April 1996, Mr. Tello received the Presidential Crime Victims Service award, which was presented to him by President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, and in June 1997 he received the Ambassador of Peace award from Rotary International.

Mr. Tello is presently the Director of the Sacred Circles Healing Center in Whittier , California and a member of the Sacred Circles performance group, a group dedicated to family/community peace and healing.  He is also the proud father of three children: Marcos, Renee and Emilio.

“Within the collective dignity, love and respect of all people, exists the wisdom and resources for a beautiful, harmonious tomorrow”