Río Morales

Associate

Rio@EstolanoAdvisors.com

Río Morales helps clients develop empowering solutions for projects, policies, and movement-based campaigns.

Río Morales is an urban planner with a background in labor policy. He joined EA’s Bay Area team in July 2024 and contributes to the firm’s equitable economic development practice. At EA, he has researched best practices for the recruitment and retention of tradeswomen as part of the LA Metro Workforce Disparity Study project team. He has also supported alternative housing ownership models through project work for the Oakland-based Supportive Housing Community Land Alliance.

Río cares deeply about utilizing policy and data to equip communities and workers with tools to organize for greater power in the economy. He brings a diverse background in union organizing, community-labor coalitions, and project management in previous experiences at the Architecture Lobby, UNITE HERE, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and the UC Berkeley Labor Center. As an organizer with the Architecture Lobby, he was proud to help establish the first union of private-sector architectural workers since the 1940s (Architectural Workers United). At the Labor Center, he produced a campaign guide for community-based organizations and labor unions to organize around federal clean energy investments under the Biden administration. During graduate school, Rio represented his colleagues in organizing and grievance activities as department steward for UAW Local 4811.

Río completed UC Berkeley’s Master of City Planning program with a concentration in community economic development. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Growth and Structure of Cities from Haverford College. Outside of work, you can find him social dancing in a San Francisco ballroom, catching a film at the Roxie, or swimming in the rivers and coves of the Bay Area.