Jacob Martinez

Jacob X. Martinez (born November 23, 1977) is a Latino Social Entrepreneur and Community Leader. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Digital NEST, a non-profit with sites in Watsonville, CA and Salinas, CA. 
Jacob Martinez has spoken at the 2015 Whitehouse Tech Meetup, was named an Entrepreneur Fellow by the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation in 2018. Jacob was most recently awarded the 2020 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. Jacob Martinez currently resides in Watsonville, CA. 
== Career ==
Since 2006, Jacob has been advocating against social, educational, and economic inequities in underserved rural communities. As an educator, he worked to provide STEM training for Latinx students and was deeply troubled by the way our communities have been historically locked out of the economic opportunities and digital innovation brought by tech to other California communities. Seeing this disparity first-hand, Jacob began laying the foundation for what would become Digital NEST, Jacob’s dream to create a safe co-working space for the youth of Watsonville. Jacob is working with the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation to take Digital NEST to scale. 
== Community Involvement ==
Jacob is a mentor and advocate for young professionals.. 
Jacob helped co-found the Watsonville Film Festival in 2012, and currently sits on the Board. The Watsonville Film Festival now in its 9th year has engaged the public with films and filmmakers that come from – or speak to – the diverse community. 
Jacob founded the Santa Cruz County Ag-tech meetup in March of 2015 and currently sits on the board. Jacob served as a board member of the UCSC Alumni Council from July 2017 to June 2019, he served with the Opportunity Fund Community Impact as an advisory board member from January 2015 to December 2017, he served with the Santa Cruz Children’s Discovery Museum from August 2013 to May 2014, he served with Above the Line from 2011 to March 2014, and he served on the Santa Cruz Next/ Works board from 2012 to October 2013. 
== Education ==
* City College of San Francisco, 1997-2000 
* University of California, Santa Cruz B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2000- 2003
* California State University, Monterey Bay Masters 2007-2009
== Recognition ==
* 2012: Good Times Santa Cruz Nexties Award
* 2014: 2014’s Top 10 Men in the Country Supporting Women in Technology
* 2015: Named the Santa Cruz County Entrepreneur of the Year by the SCCC
* 2016: Recipient of the UC Santa Cruz Tony Hill Awardfor local community impact
* 2018: Awarded the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership Community Impact award
* 2018: Entrepreneur Fellows 
* 2019: Jacob received the Community Hero Award through the Community Assessment Project and United Way
*2020: Jacob Martinez was awarded a James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award
== Top Publications ==
* Giving Bright Youth the Gift of Opportunity
* Strategies for Engaging Hispanic/Latino Youth in the US in Computer Science
* Computing For the Social Good ETR
== External Links ==
* Jacob Martinez on Linkedin
* DigitalNEST Official Website
== References ==
Category:Social entrepreneurship
Category:Social Entrepreneu
Category:Hispanic and Latino American
Category:Latino American people