Crystal Irving, MSW

Crystal Irving, MSW, was born and raised in Los Angeles. She attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she received a bachelor’s in psychology and African & African American studies. Upon graduation, she began working for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica providing enriching after-school and summer experiences for underserved children and teens. As much as she loved that work, she knew that she wanted to gain the tools to positively influence the world at a greater level. She went on to earn a Master of Social Work degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and relocated to San Diego County to serve as a protective services worker for Child Welfare Services.
Over the course of the last 5 years, Crystal has served as a children’s social worker in Adoptions and is currently serving as a recruitment specialist. Her focus is the recruitment and retention of quality foster and adoptive parents. She also works to find forever families for children who have limited placement options. While in this position, she became a member leader of her union, SEIU Local 221. She joined the bargaining team andchallenged our Board of Supervisors to stop hoarding our reserves and instead invest in its employees and the communities they were elected to serve. She has organized and worked alongside colleagues and community partners to bring about positive change with the full voter participation measure that passed in November 2018. Crystal had the honor of being elected by fellow SEIU Local 221 members to serve as the politics chair and the county chapter vice president.
With a strong hope and vision for progress, she plans to bring her strengths to the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute to generate positive changes in San Diego County, the state, the country, and around the world.