Celida Soto
Celida "Celi" Soto, formerly Celida Soto Garcia, (born June 24, 1980 in North Bergen, New Jersey) is the Hunger Advocacy Coordinator for Alabama Arise, serves as the board president for SWEET Alabama, and is an organizer with Alabama Rally Against Injustice.
Soto earned a dual bachelor's degree in sociology and criminal justice administration from Rutgers University in 2002.
She began her career as an Academic Advisor at the Harlem Center for Education in 2002. Next she served as a child protective service investigator with Division of Youth and Family Services and the Department of Human Resources, and worked for the Social Security Administration.
Soto founded Puente, Inc. in 2009, before starting an assignment with the Census Bureau of the US Department of Commerce. After moving to Birmingham, Alabama in 2014 she became an educational liaison for the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC), where she supported the development of the Bessemer Coalition, and organized with community residents, community based non-profit, and the Fountain Heights Neighborhood Association to form the Fountain Heights Coalition. In 2018 she served on the social justice committee for Mayor Randall Woodfin's transition team.
After a Hoover Police officer killed EJ Bradford at the Riverchase Galleria, she worked with the Bradford family to support their calls for justice. In 2019 she joined the board of directors for SWEET Alabama, where she serves as board president, and began working as a Hunger Advocacy Coordinator for Alabama Arise.
Soto has two sons and lives in Birmingham's Bush Hills neighborhood.