Eric Morrison-Smith is rising community leader with a strong commitment to equity and justice. He currently works at the San Diego Workforce Partnerships as a Strategic Partnerships and Events Specialist. His primary responsibility is to lead the OpportunitySD initiative, which mobilizes community partners to reduce youth disconnection in San Diego County dramatically.

Eric has planned and executed a very successful conference for 150 youth and 650 community partners; leads communications and outreach efforts for OpportunitySD; gives speeches about youth disconnection to high-level political and business leaders in the region. He helped conceive, organize and execute a summit for 750 African American youth to help them transition successfully to higher education or employment. He has built productive relationships and partnerships with funders and other nonprofit organizations; and convened a youth council to help advise the Workforce Partnership in all of this work.

He is passionately interested topics such as school segregation, college and career access, early childhood education, unequal school quality and the impact of racism and systemic structures that drive that inequality.

Eric is originally from Chula Vista but attended college in Nebraska. After graduating, and receiving a bachelor’s degree in Business Management, he came back to San Diego to work at RISE San Diego, where he was a Program Manager. Eric also sits on the Steering Committee for San Diego County's Restorative Justice Program.

Eric intends to build the knowledge, tools, and resources needed to serve and advocate with underrepresented groups, while also pushing the region to increase opportunity and decrease poverty for all.