Carmen Perez

Carmen Beatrice Perez (born January 21, 1977) is an American activist and Chicana feminist who has worked on issues of civil rights including mass incarceration, women's rights and gender equity, violence prevention, racial healing and community policing. She is the President and CEO of The Gathering for Justice, a nonprofit founded by Harry Belafonte which is dedicated to ending child incarceration and eliminating the racial disparities in the criminal justice system. She was one of four national co-chairs of the 2017 Women's March.

Early learning and education

Perez was born in Oxnard, California to Marcel Perez and Alicia Ramirez Perez, as the youngest of five. In 1994, her sister Patricia was killed in a single vehicle accident and the funeral coincided with Perez's 17th birthday. it was this event that lead Perez to feel inspired to dedicate her life to initiatives that would help transform the lives of young people. “I remember somebody coming to our home, asking if we wanted to press charges. And my father said ‘I would never take another mother’s child away,’” Perez said. “And so I didn’t learn restorative justice from studying it. I learned it from a man who would never take another mother’s child away.”

Perez started her undergraduate career at Oxnard College where she received an associate degree in liberal arts. She then transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz, as a psychology major where she also studied Chicana Feminism and was involved in Rainbow Theater. She credits this time as formative to her dedication to intersectional and transformative leadership. Through the Chicano Latino Resource Center, Carmen was mentored by psychology professor and Chicana feminist Aida Hurtado who she also worked for as her research assistant.

Career and activism

Mass Incarceration

In 2001, Perez began work with the Santa Cruz Youth Community Restoration Program, providing alternatives to incarceration for juvenile offenders. In this position she established Reforming Education Advocating Leadership (REAL), a youth mentoring program. In 2003, she was elected to serve as the Chair of the Latino Affairs Commission of Santa Cruz County. Perez also co-founded the Girl's Taskforce to provide gender-responsive programming for girls, regardless of probation status, in Santa Cruz County.

In 2004, Perez began working for her mentor, Nane Alejandrez, as his executive assistant and the prison project coordinator focused on cultural programming inside youth detention centers and prisons. In 2005, Alejandrez invited Perez to serve as a youth representative for The Gathering for Justice, a social justice organization established in 2005 by singer, songwriter, actor and activist Harry Belafonte. By 2006, Perez had become a board member of Barrios Unidos and started working for the Santa Cruz County probation department as an intake and investigations officer focused on system accountability. She was promoted to Deputy Probation Officer II in 2007, providing gender responsive programming for an intensive caseload of girls. Perez moved to NYC in 2008 to work full-time as the National Organizer for The Gathering for Justice. Since 2010, she has served as the executive director of The Gathering for Justice, a social justice organization dedicated to ending child incarceration by utilizing Kingian nonviolent direct action, engaging artists and cultural leaders, advocating for policy initiatives and providing direct services inside juvenile facilities. From 2011-2013 she also developed Purple Gold, a young leaders program for 1199 SEIU.

In 2013, Perez co-founded Justice League NYC, a taskforce of young criminal justice experts, direct service providers, activists, advocates, artists and formerly incarcerated individuals bringing their resources to the table to create a blueprint to reform the criminal and social justice system in New York City and State. She organized Growing Up Locked Down, a three-day juvenile justice reform conference, in New York City in 2014 and a second in her hometown of Oxnard, California in 2016. The Oxnard conference was the beginning of Justice League CA.

In May 2014, she had the opportunity to share her life's work and delivered her 1st TEDx Talk inside Ironwood State Prison hosted by Richard Branson and produced by Scott Budnick. In 2015, Perez testified as a criminal and juvenile justice reform expert before the President's 21st Century Taskforce on Policing.

Women's Rights and Gender Equity

In 2017, Perez was a national co-chair of the Women's March on Washington, with Tamika D. Mallory, Bob Bland, and Linda Sarsour. Perez's contributions included facilitating the creation of the mobilization's Unity Principles, leading the Artist Table and Honorary Co-Chair selection, and recruiting over 500 partners. In addition, The Gathering for Justice, the organization for which she serves as executive director, was a fiscal sponsor of the Women's March on Washington and donated its office space to organizers during the planning phase. She was a panelist at the 2017 Women's National Convention.

Racial Healing and Community Policing

Carmen has worked with Danny Glover, America Ferrera, Hot97 hosts Ebro and Nessa, Jussie Smollett, and Colin Kaepernick. On November 16, 2017, she publicized the case of Meek Mill. Actress Jackie Cruz praised Carmen for "unlocking her zeal" for social causes. “She trained me to not care anymore and just fight for what you believe in,” said Cruz in a 2018 interview with Bustle.

Support for Louis Farrakhan and related criticism

Bari Weiss and others criticized Perez for her support of Assata Shakur, a former Black Liberation Army member convicted of murder, and of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Asked about Farrakhan, Perez said “there are no perfect leaders,” while affirming that the Women’s March “abhor antisemitism and homophobia.”

In 2018, Teresa Shook, who had created the original Facebook post that inspired the 2017 Women’s March, publicly called for Perez and other co-chairs to resign, citing concerns over their failure to denounce Farrakhan. However, Shook was not part of the organizing team that developed the logistics, partnerships, or messaging of the march. The original name Shook used, “Million Women March,” also drew criticism for erasing the legacy of the 1997 **Million Woman March**, a historic gathering led by Black women in Philadelphia.

Also in 2018, march co-founder Vanessa Wruble alleged that she felt pushed out of the organization due to her Jewish identity. However, no independent investigation or journalistic reporting has corroborated Wruble’s claims, and analysts later noted that the controversy became amplified by outside actors, including partisan groups and disinformation campaigns.

Russian disinformation campaign

A 2022 investigation by ''The New York Times'' revealed that Russian intelligence-linked troll networks had systematically targeted the Women’s March leadership, including Carmen Perez, as part of a broader effort to sow division in American democratic movements. According to the report, these networks "exploited racial, religious and political differences" and worked to "depress turnout and fracture alliances." This campaign contributed to the spread of misinformation and personal attacks against Women’s March leaders across social media.

In January 2019, Perez published an op-ed in the Jewish publication ''The Forward'' reaffirming that antisemitism and homophobia were unacceptable in the movement, and acknowledging that the organization had been too slow to denounce hate speech from public figures not affiliated with the Women’s March. She also published a reflective op-ed in the ''New York Daily News'' in which she took accountability and stated her intention to “recommit to being a moral leader.” Perez later participated in antisemitism training and continued in roles promoting interfaith and intersectional dialogue.

Awards and recognition

Perez was named one of ''Time''s 100 Most Influential People in 2017, as well as Fortune's 50 Top World Leaders and Glamour's Women of the Year. She was named a " Latina of the Year" in 2017. She has also been recognized for her contributions to criminal justice reform, with the "Gutsy Award" from the National Juvenile Justice Network, a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the Community, the Santa Cruz County Women's Commission “Trailblazer’s Award in Criminal Justice”, and the “Zaragoza Award” from the Committee for the Mexican Culture at D.V.I. Prison in Tracy, for her contribution and dedication to bringing hope to incarcerated men.

Controversy

In April 2025, ''Politico'' reported that Perez had received more than US$1 million in payments from 1199SEIU between 2008 and 2024, while “doing no identifiable work directly for the union.” The article quoted unnamed critics who questioned the expenditure; Perez did not respond to requests for comment.

Work with 1199SEIU

From 2008 to 2024 Perez worked on a range of youth-engagement and social-justice initiatives supported by 1199SEIU. She founded **Purple Gold**, the union’s young-workers programme, and chaired the Youth Student Roundtable for 1199SEIU during the 2012 Silent March on Fifth Avenue. Perez also joined a delegation of young U.S. workers to Havana, Cuba; organised shop-floor film screenings and political-education sessions; and collaborated with 1199SEIU on major public actions, including the 2015 “March2Justice” (New York City to Washington, D.C.) and participated in the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, for which the union served as a sponsor. Her day-to-day organising inside the union is featured in the documentary *Following Harry* (2024).

Compensation context

The US$1 million total cited by ''Politico'' over a 17-year span averages to roughly **US$58,800 per year** before taxes and benefits, a figure comparable to mid-level organising salaries in the U.S. nonprofit and labour sectors.

References

External links

* https://www.gq.com/story/5-ways-to-effectively-protest

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Carmen
1977 births
Living people
People from Oxnard, California
Women's March
Oxnard College alumni
21st-century American women