José Montaño

José Montaño brings more than 25 years of nonprofit experience to his work as Principal of Contexto Cultural, a consulting company devoted to providing culturally and linguistically relevant capacity building to nonprofit organizations, foundations and government institutions. He is devoted to working with people and organizations to resolve issues of diversity, equity, access and inclusion, especially with community leaders committed to creating lasting change to complex social problems. Issues José has worked on include: improved preparation for kindergarten and the social emotional development of children 0-5; increased access to quality food and medical care; and, enhanced ability to strengthen inclusion within LGBTQ+ organizations.

José has held senior positions at various nonprofit organizations and foundations, including the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and Community Partners, an organization supporting emerging nonprofits and foundation-based initiatives. At Community Partners, José worked to increase the management capacity of emerging organizations and managed several place-based initiatives that dealt with diversity and equity, such as the Violence Prevention Initiative (a The California Wellness Foundation project.) As a foundation executive at Haas, Jr., Fund and the ARCO Foundation, José built direct experience in funding and advancing large-scale community and systems reform to advance the work of education, arts, children and youth issues, and LGBTQ+ change efforts. He is also a former middle and high school teacher, bringing relevant curricular design and training skills to his work. José is bilingual in Spanish and English. He resides in Los Angeles.

While not working, he can be found checking out the best authentic ethnic restaurants in Los Angeles County, or working on his asanas in an Iyengar yoga class.