About LaunchPad Collective
About LaunchPad Collective
LaunchPad Collective is a nonprofit organization creating community-rooted developments that bring sustainable housing, entrepreneurship, and economic mobility together.
Based in San Bernardino, we work with housing, education, healthcare, workforce, and community partners to connect homes with the services and opportunities that help people build stability and move forward.
Our approach starts with real estate, but extends beyond the building. We bring spaces, partners, and resources together so residents and local entrepreneurs can participate in the opportunities created in their own community.
Our Team
Robert Carrillo
Founder & President
Robert brings over 27 years of experience across institutional real estate finance, investment, brokerage, housing, development, and entrepreneurship, along with experience as a special education teacher. He founded LaunchPad Collective to bring those experiences together in service of community-rooted development. He leads LaunchPad’s vision, development strategy, partnerships, and capital formation, connecting sustainable housing with entrepreneurship, community services, and economic mobility.
Yvette Romero
Director of Operations
Yvette coordinates the people, partners, processes, and priorities that move LaunchPad’s work from vision into implementation. Her work spans development coordination, community and partner relationships, organizational operations, fund management, and follow-through across LaunchPad’s projects and initiatives.
Ruben Mendoza
Housing & Economic Analyst
Ruben supports LaunchPad’s development and community initiatives through housing, economic, market, and policy analysis. His work includes site and market research, economic and impact analysis, grant and funding strategy, due diligence, and project support that helps translate community needs into workable development plans.
LaunchPad Collective’s nonprofit mission is complemented by the real estate development and advisory expertise of Carrillo Group CANY (CGX). The organizations share leadership and collaborate to advance community-rooted development.
The Collective
A Network Built for This Work
LaunchPad Collective is powered by a growing network of mission-aligned partners — organizations delivering housing, services, education, workforce development, health, food access, and more.
Together, we are building something that no single organization could build alone.
Meet the organizations helping build the LaunchPad model on our Partners page.
LUCHA
Changing the Conditions of Home
LaunchPad's origins are connected to the LUCHA documentary — a film that explores the lives of young people navigating communities shaped by decades of disinvestment and constrained opportunity.
The stories in LUCHA helped crystallize the question LaunchPad is trying to answer: What would it look like to change the conditions of a community, rather than asking its residents to leave in search of opportunity?
LUCHA — Changing the Conditions of Home
“We are not asking young people to leave their communities to find opportunity. We are changing the conditions of their communities so opportunity can exist at home.”