Meet The Team – CRCD PARTNERS LLC

Henry Tu

Accounting Manager

As the Accounting Manager for CRCD Partners, LLC, Henry Tu is applying his years of finance, accounting, real estate, and management experiences to the development and growth of the department and the organization. He is committed to helping accomplish the company’s mission of creating affordable housing solutions for low-income families. In his free time, he enjoy playing/watching sports and spending time with his wife and two children.

Shanel Fortson

Human Resources

Shanel Fortson joined CRCD Partners, LLC in May 2021 as an Human Resources Executive Assistant. With the help and trust of President Alejandro Martinez & COO Ramon Mendez, Shanel has successfully built the Human Resources Department from 8 to 24 employees in less than one year as a Human Resources department of one. Shanel has over 7 years’ experience in Human Resources. She is a detail-oriented, organized, team player who delivers empathetic employee engagement that helps to not only retain our most valuable asset – our team, but strive to make CRCD Partners a great place to work from our excellent and affordable benefits package, flexible schedule but most importantly our understanding & caring nature.

Shanel enjoys learning more about the evolving world of Human Resources. This allows her to be able to provide staff with accurate, up-to-date information to enhance the employee experience and overall employee life cycle.

Prior to joining CRCD Partners, Shanel was a Program Specialist III with the County of Los Angeles Housing Authority, Section 8 program for over 10 years. As a graduate of Cal State University Dominguez Hills with a B.A. degree in Human Services & a minor in Sociology, she is committed to continuing her education. She is a proud member of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) & Professionals In Human Resources Association (PIHRA) where she will obtain her certification as a Human Resources Professional in the near future.

What I LOVE most about my position with CRCD Partners is that I learn something new every single day, not just for myself, but to help and inform others!

Cynthia Tello-Chief

Chief Project Administrator

Cynthia Tello joined CRCD Partners LLC in 2023 as Chief Project Administrator. Her role in the Real Estate team is to advance affordable housing developments and strengthen quality assurance, accelerating the development pipeline.

Cynthia has over 7 years of experience working in community development. Between 2017 and 2022, she worked with the Community Development Lending & Investing team at CIT Bank N. A., closing over $250 million in affordable housing loans and investments yearly. Cynthia also managed the bank’s Affordable Housing Program, securing grants for over 500 affordable housing units in Southern California through the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. Her career began in 2015 with OneWest Bank, where she expanded and advanced the bank’s CRA and Community Advisory Board’s efforts. She delivered $5 million in grants yearly to diverse community development non-profits in Southern California by leading the bank’s outreach and volunteer efforts.

Cynthia holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Arizona State University. As a proud Angeleno, Cynthia is honored to have the opportunity to serve the community which holds her roots.

T. Van Scott II

Chief of Special Projects

T. Van Scott II joined CRCD Partners in 2022 to grow the real estate production goals by undertaking highly complicated components of workforce, student, market rate and affordable housing and commercial projects. Van will oversee projects in all phases of development. Van has a passion for community and real estate development and people. He believes that we can truly make a difference by participating in well thought out comprehensive community development.

As Director of Development at BRIDGE Housing, Van led BRIDGE’s efforts in development of the Jordan Downs Community Masterplan: a multi-phased development consisting of 1,400 rental units, 150 homeownership units, a grocery store anchored shopping center, a community center and nine acres of open space. Van also led the effort to increase BRIDGE’s affordable housing presence in the greater Los Angeles area. During his five-year tenure at BRIDGE, Van completed construction on 195 rental units of affordable and market housing; had another 400 rental units under construction; and another 299 rental units in pre-development with construction.

Ernesto Espinoza

Chief Real Estate Officer

Ernesto had an untraditional route to community development. With a background in architecture and a passion for social justice his career was bound to be interesting. He organized for the United Farm Workers union early in his career and took this experience helping to create social and economic justice for families in the Central Valley and brought that home to work in Los Angeles for non-profit affordable housing developers.

Ernesto may not have a degree in finance, but he learned the ropes, fighting side by side with advocates, community members, and politicians to get things done. Throughout his 24 years in the industry, his organizing roots have enriched his work in providing affordable housing for the communities that we serve, always taking into consideration the people that we serve and the community that we house.

Coming back to CRCD and CRCD Partners, LLC feels like a homecoming to Ernesto. He is excited to have the opportunity to blend his organizing, community strengthening, and economic development roots to promote economic justice and community stability.

Ramon Mendez, Jr.

Chief Operations Officer

Ramon joined CRCD Partners in 2021 to lead the implementation of the strategic plan, coordinate and increase organization efficiency, and increase grants procurement to deliver quality housing connected to services and programs addressing the needs of low-income communities. Ramon is a passionate and visionary leader to end poverty through safe, affordable housing and services. He builds, trains, and empowers multidisciplinary teams to achieve by creating strong partnerships that drive results in real estate development, management, resident services, strategic partnerships, governance, and institutional advancement.

As Director of Solutions and Strategic Priorities at Enterprises Community Partners, he led local and national program initiatives tasked with strategically delivering high-quality technical assistance, training programs, and grants to drive innovation on a national scale, leverage capital for affordable housing production, and improve the operations of non- and for-profit housing developers. During his 10-year tenure at California Housing Partner Corporation, Ramon structured the financing of more than $168 million in affordable housing projects representing over 1,000 units.

Alejandro Martinez

President

As an Affordable Housing Executive, Mr. Martinez has dedicated his professional career to ensuring that underserved communities have access to quality affordable housing and appropriate supportive services in Boyle Heights, East LA, and throughout the City and County of Los Angeles. Mr. Martinez has seen how developing affordable housing in these communities is not only a great tool for revitalizing the built environment, but also the human spirit, which in turn inspires people in these communities to participate in civic and social engagement.

Mr. Martinez began his affordable housing career in 1999, and has developed many affordable housing projects throughout the City of Los Angeles and in Unincorporated East Los Angeles (ELACC). While at ELACC, Mr. Martinez was the Vice President of Real Estate and Asset Management, where he led a team that included the Real Estate, the Asset Management, and the Property Management Departments. The Real Estate Department developed a variety of project types including single family subdivisions (for-sale), acquisition/rehab of single family homes (moderate income for-sale), permanent supportive housing, senior, veteran and large family affordable rental housing projects, and utilized every local, state, and federal program imaginable. In his 10-year tenure at ELACC, Mr. Martinez developed over $250MM in affordable housing projects and an additional $400MM+ in projects in pre-development.

Mark A. Wilson

Chief Executive Officer

Mark Anthony Wilson, Jr. co-founded the Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD) in 2005 and served as CRCD’s Executive Director for a decade and now serves as the agency’s President and CEO. Raised in South Los Angeles, Mark previously served as the Director of the Youth Empowerment Project with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference/Martin Luther King Legacy Association and the Director of Community Development with the Dunbar Economic Development Corporation.

As the President and CEO of CRCD and CRCD Enterprises, Mark directs CRCD’s comprehensive community development services in affordable and permanent supportive housing, education, small business, and workforce development for primarily Latino and African American Historic South Central communities. He provides leadership on local and national levels to improve the policies, systems, and long-standing neighborhood conditions that impact young people’s lives. In a high-poverty community, Mr. Wilson spearheads effective collaborations with residents, businesses, nonprofits, community colleges, government, and foundations to create real opportunities for youth to stabilize and pursue their dreams and to bring workforce development and affordable housing options to residents of all ages.

Since 2005, Mr. Wilson has strategically grown CRCD into an agency running 9 affordable and permanent supportive housing complexes, an accredited high school, a YouthSource Center, WorkSource Center, BusinessSource Center, and launched a social enterprise – CRCD Enterprises. Mark serves on the board of the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing, the LA Community College District Community Advisory Board (representing LATTC), and the California Community Economic Development Association. He was recently honored with a YouthBuild USA Rising Star award, a Durfee Foundation Sabbatical, a Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, Durfee Foundation Stanton Fellowship.

Meet Our Leadership Team