Laura J. Ramírez was born in Mexico City and raised in Nezahualcoyotl and Little Village from the age of 13.  She holds a doctorate in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work to advance a quality public education for all children at the local, national, and international levels spans the gamut of grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, collective responses to injustice, community building and healing, and radical acts of resistance. In 2011, she became part of the 43-day sit-in for a library and field house, known as “La Casita” in the heart of the Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen in the city of Chicago. She has also helped to build an international network to demand accountability from the Mexican government in the enforced disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students. A Spanish teacher by training, she has taught in Chicago area public schools, and she has also worked for over 13 years as a youth worker and human rights enforcer.

Tony is a multi-issue community builder working and living within an anti-oppression and harm reduction framework. Most recently, Alvarado-Rivera completed his tenure at Broadway Youth Center as the Mentor Program Coordinator. Additional experience includes work with the groundbreaking About Face Youth Theatre and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in New York.

Jacqulyn lives her work. She blends theory and practice to address the social and institutional impact of power and oppression on our physical, emotional and political bodies. Her work prioritizes the intersections where politics, policy, identity and institutions meet. She draws on her background in political theory, grassroots organizing, strategy, popular education and healing justice to support others as they become agents for their physical, political and emotional wellness. Though a seasoned facilitator, youth advocate and post-secondary school educator, you may also find her in private practice as a licensed massage therapist. A proud daughter of Chicago’s West Side, she carries the lessons and values her community has taught her as she travels to teach and learn about African diasporic technologies and traditions.

Former board member and adult ally with the Young Women’s Empowerment Project and co-founder of Sage Community Health Collective, Tanuja Jagernauth is currently exploring the practice of healing justice and prison abolition through theatre and ceramic arts. When she is not constructing plays or creating vessels for community building, Tanuja loves listening to music, walking around, and taking photos. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @tanuja_devi or check out her blog at tanujadevi.wordpress.com.