Inspiring Conversations with Robert Carrillo of Carrillo Group CANY (CGX) | LaunchPad Collective, Inc.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Carrillo.

Hi Robert, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Where do I start?
I’m a first-generation Afro-Latino kid from Washington Heights and the South Bronx. Those neighborhoods raised me – the block, the schools, the coaches, the families who held us together. I grew up seeing two things at the same time: incredible resilience and incredible disinvestment.

I got into real estate over 25 years ago, long before I understood the power it had to shape entire communities. During that time, I coached youth – first through triathlons, then through wrestling. That work became a calling. I co-founded programs that helped young people earn scholarships, stay healthy, stay focused, and see themselves as leaders.

In 2021, I had a life-changing accident. It forced me to slow down and re-evaluate everything. And what became crystal clear was this: the same kids I’d been coaching for years were growing up and entering adulthood with the same barriers their parents faced – housing, opportunity, and access.

That’s when the idea for LaunchPad was born.
I realized I needed to bring my real estate experience and my youth development mission together. Today, I run Carrillo Group CANY and lead LaunchPad Collective, a nonprofit building modular, mixed-use developments in San Bernardino that create housing, small-business spaces, workforce pathways, and a deep sense of belonging for underserved communities.

It’s the most meaningful work I’ve ever done, and everything in my life – New York, the South Bronx, teaching, coaching, real estate, LUCHA – connected to bring me here.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I grew up in neighborhoods where nothing was handed to you – you had to navigate systemic challenges, financial hardship, and limited access to opportunity. That shaped my resilience early.

Later in life, I survived a major accident that forced me to rethink my purpose. It slowed me down physically, but it pushed me to accelerate the work that actually mattered.

And now, as a community developer in San Bernardino, the challenges look different but feel familiar: slow public processes, under-resourced cities, skepticism around new models, and a real lack of investment in places that deserve it most.

But I’ve always believed that “without struggle, there is no progress.” Every obstacle has sharpened the mission and strengthened my resolve. The road doesn’t have to be smooth to be meaningful – it just has to move you toward the work you’re called to do.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Carrillo Group CANY (CGX) | LaunchPad Collective, Inc.?
I lead two organizations that work hand-in-hand: Carrillo Group CANY (CGX) and The LaunchPad Collective, Inc. CGX is our real estate and development firm, and LaunchPad Collective is the nonprofit driving our community-centered development model in San Bernardino. Together, they allow us to build in a way that’s financially strong, socially intentional, and deeply rooted in the community we serve.

Right now, we’re in the active pre-development and site-work planning phase for our first LaunchPad projects – and the model is already getting a lot of traction from partners, investors, and the community. LaunchPad is a modular, mixed-use approach designed to bring affordable housing, small-business spaces, workforce pathways, youth development, and wellness under one roof. We take vacant or underutilized commercial corridors and turn them into engines of opportunity.

What sets us apart is how we build and why we build.
Most development starts with the building and tries to fit the community in later. We flip that. We begin with the needs, dreams, and lived experiences of the people who actually live here and design the building around them. We use modular construction for speed, sustainability, and cost-control, and we pair that with long-term master leases to keep rents affordable for decades.

Even at this early stage, we’re known for taking a truly holistic approach: planning housing for youth aging out of foster care, creating space for Women, Hispanic and Black entrepreneurs, building pathways into construction and culinary careers with local partners, and centering health, culture, and belonging in everything we design. It’s real estate with a purpose – not just a product.

Brand-wise, I’m most proud that LaunchPad has already become more than a project – it’s become a movement. People see themselves in it. They feel ownership in a way that rarely happens with development. And I’m proud that CGX has evolved into a firm that uses real estate not to extract value, but to build it – with the community, not at their expense.

At the end of the day, our work is simple:
We’re creating places where people will be able to live, work, start businesses, grow, and belong. Places that prove revitalization can be done with the community at the center – not pushed out.

That’s what we’re building in San Bernardino.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
One of my favorite childhood memories is going window-shopping down Park Avenue during the holidays with my mom and sister. We didn’t have the resources to actually go into the stores, so we’d just walk, look at the displays, take in the lights, and enjoy being together. It felt magical, even though we were on the outside looking in. We’d always talk about how one day we’d be able to walk into those stores, not just stand on the sidewalk dreaming.

Another memory that stays with me is going to the arcade downtown right after ringing in the New Year. The three of us would play games, laugh, and forget everything else for a while. Those moments felt like pure joy.

And then there was Coney Island. For us, that was our Disney World. Just my mom, my sister, and me — taking the D train, spending the whole day out there, riding what we could afford, eating what we could afford, and making the most of it. Those trips made the world feel bigger than our block.

All of those memories have the same thread: simplicity, joy, and family. They taught me that you don’t need wealth to feel magic — you need love, togetherness, and places that make you feel like you belong. That’s a big part of why I do the work I do today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carrillogroupcany.com
• Instagram: @carrillogroupcany
• Facebook: @carrillogroupcany
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrillogroupcany/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@carrillogroupcany

Image Credits
DearJohnnie