Nelson Rascon, MPA
On The Road Board of Directors, Vice President
Term: January 2026 - January 2028
Nelson is also the founder of Community Impact Solutions
Nelson's Bio
Nelson Rascon is a nonprofit and behavioral health leader with more than a decade of experience specializing in father engagement, peer support, family advocacy, and leadership development. His work is deeply rooted in lived experience and guided by a steadfast belief that meaningful father involvement strengthens families, improves outcomes, and builds healthier communities.
Nelson’s professional journey began with his own family. As the father of three children with special needs, he encountered firsthand the complexities and barriers families face when navigating educational, clinical, and behavioral health systems. These experiences shaped his professional calling and continue to inform his approach to systems change, program development, and family-centered practice.
While seeking support for his children, Nelson became actively engaged with community organizations, parent networks, and statewide advocacy efforts. Over time, this involvement evolved into leadership roles across multiple nonprofit and community-based organizations. Drawing on his lived experience as a father, Nelson helped launch Dads MOVE, supporting its early efforts to engage fathers as leaders, advocates, and partners in their children’s behavioral health care. He has since used both lived experience and professional training to support parents, build programs, develop and author trainings, and contribute to statewide initiatives aimed at ensuring families—especially fathers—feel seen, supported, and empowered.
Nelson has been engaged in nonprofit leadership since 2008 and holds certifications in more than a dozen trainings and professional development programs, including Peer Counselor Certification and National Peer Certification (2012). He has presented at and participated in numerous state and national conferences focused on peer support, children’s mental health, trauma-informed care, family systems, and organizational leadership.
He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration, pursued to deepen his expertise in public systems, governance, and nonprofit management. Nelson also serves on several advisory boards focused on behavioral health, family systems, and strengthening father engagement within state and community programs. Through these roles, he contributes to policy development, statewide strategy, and cross-sector collaboration, ensuring that parent and father voices remain central in decision-making spaces.
Today, Nelson continues to work in the behavioral health and community support fields with a focus on program development, family engagement, advocacy, and organizational leadership. His mission remains clear: to elevate parent voices, champion father involvement, and help build systems that support families with compassion, dignity, and respect.