Work / Trabajo

 

Organizing

In 2012, my life transformed when I first began organizing in California against the Secure Communities program. For the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of learning and growing among people who convert their love for their communities into action.

In 2014, I helped organize an anti-militarism youth encuentro, or action-oriented conference, in Venezuela called “Rooted in Resistance, Sowing Sovereignty.” You can read more about the work we did with organizers from across the Americas in this recap and photo-essay. I shared some of these experiences in 2018 with a group that would later become Dissenters, an anti-militarism youth organization in the United States. 

From 2014 until 2020, I was an active member of Organized Communities Against Deportations, an undocumented-led organization. As a member of OCAD, I led education workshops on criminalization, strategized campaigns for the release of detained community members and participated in campaigns such as #ErasetheDatabase, #ExpandedSanctuary, #ByeAnita, #NoCopAcademy and #CareNotCops.  Because of this background, I consulted for the book Balls, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary before it was published. 

In 2018, in collaboration with James Kilgore and Myesha Hayes, I organized the first Chicago gathering on the impact of electronic monitoring in the criminal legal system and in immigration. I did this in my capacity as a staff member of the Chicago Community Bond Fund, where I also organized rallies and events demanding an end to pretrial incarceration.

 
 

Trabajo comunitario

En 2012, cuando comencé a organizar en California contra el programa de Comunidades Seguras, mi vida y mi trabajo se transformaron por completo. Durante la última década, he tenido el privilegio de aprender y crecer entre personas que convierten en acción el amor por sus comunidades. Aquí hay algo de mi trabajo.

En 2014, ayudé a organizar un encuentro juvenil antimilitarista en Venezuela llamado “Enraizados en Resistencia, Sembrando Soberanía”. Pueden leer más sobre el trabajo que hicimos con militantes de todo el continente americano en este resumen y ensayo fotográfico.

En 2018, formé parte de un grupo asesor que brindó ideas iniciales para lo que luego se convertiría en Dissenters, una organización juvenil antimilitarista radicada en los Estados Unidos.

Desde 2014 hasta 2020, fui miembro activo de Comunidades Organizadas en Contra de las Deportaciones (OCAD), una organización dirigida por personas indocumentados. Como miembro de OCAD, dirigí talleres educativos sobre la criminalización, creé estrategias para la liberación de miembros de la comunidad detenidos y participé en campañas como #ErasetheDatabase, #ExpandedSanctuary, #ByeAnita, #NoCopAcademy y #CareNotCops. Debido a estas experiencias, consulté el libro Balls, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary antes de que se publicará.

En 2018, en colaboración con James Kilgore y Myesha Hayes, organicé la primera reunión de Chicago sobre el impacto del monitoreo electrónico en el sistema legal penal y en la inmigración. Hice esto como parte del personal del Chicago Community Bond Fund, donde también organicé acciones y eventos exigiendo el fin del encarcelamiento previo al juicio.

 
 

Press

 
 

Selected Panels

  •  Panelist, Polarization Conversation Series: Publishers Serving Polarized Immigrant Communities, Craig Newman Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, Virtual, 2021

  • Panelist, This is What Public Trust Looks Like, Institute for Nonprofit News’ Racial Equity in Journalism, Virtual Conference, 2020

  • Panelist, Reporting More Inclusive and Complete Narratives, Journalism's Role in Healing and Rebuilding Chicago A Funders Briefing, MacArthur Foundation, 2020

  • Panelist, Transformative Imaginations: Decarceration & Liberatory Futures, Imagining America Conference, Studebaker Theater, 2018

  • Panelist, Challenging the Normalization of Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance, Against the Use of Electronic Monitoring, University of Chicago, 2018

  • Panelist, Chicago’s Gang Database and Deportations, Week Against Mass Incarceration, Chicago Kent College of Law, 2018

 
 

Awards

I have received the following awards in my professional career. If you’re a person of color and want to hear about my experience or need help applying, send me a message. I didn’t think I would get many of these but I did and so can you. 

  • Named a 2022 Leaders for a New Chicago by the Field Foundation.

  • Finalist 2022 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting small newsroom category for investigation about gang contracts in Cicero schools.

  • Finalist for three Peter Lisagor Awards 2022 including Best Multimedia Collaboration, Best Online Reporting on Race and Diversity and Best Neighborhood News.

  • Awarded the 2021 Sarah Brown Boyden Award in Education by the Chicago Journalist Association for reporting on ‘gang contracts’ in Cicero. 

  • Participated in the Power of Diverse Voices, Poynter training in 2021 for underrepresented journalists. 

  • Awarded the Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism and the Breaking Barriers Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News  in 2020 for work on the series “Unrest in Cicero: How One Day Shook a Town”

  • Named Institute for Nonprofit News’ Emerging Leader in 2020 for work with Cicero Independiente. 

  • Awarded the 2020 Voqal Fellowship for social justice leaders to advance tech-based solutions for equitable social change.

  • Received the 2018 Seed Fund Grant at the People-Powered Publishing Conference to launch a news project. 

  • Named a 2012 Bill Emerson Hunger Fellow to advance solutions to end hunger and poverty.