Carmen Beatrice Perez was born on January 21,1977 and 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.
23 Facts About Carmen Perez
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Carmen Perez 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.
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Carmen Perez was one of four national co-chairs of the 2017 Women's March.
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Carmen Perez started her undergraduate career at Oxnard College where she received an associate degree in liberal arts.
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Carmen Perez then transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz, as a psychology major where she studied Chicana Feminism and was involved in Rainbow Theater.
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In 2001, Carmen Perez began work with the Santa Cruz Youth Community Restoration Program, providing alternatives to incarceration for juvenile offenders.
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Carmen Perez co-founded the Girl's Taskforce to provide gender-responsive programming for girls, regardless of probation status, in Santa Cruz County.
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In 2004, Carmen 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.
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In 2005, Alejandrez invited Carmen 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.
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Carmen Perez was promoted to Deputy Probation Officer II in 2007, providing gender responsive programming for an intensive caseload of girls.
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Carmen Perez moved to NYC in 2008 to work full-time as the National Organizer for The Gathering for Justice.
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In 2013, Carmen 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.
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Carmen Perez 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.
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In 2015, Carmen Perez testified as a criminal and juvenile justice reform expert before the President's 21st Century Taskforce on Policing.
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In 2017, Perez was a national co-chair of the Women's March on Washington, with Tamika D Mallory, Bob Bland, and Linda Sarsour.
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Carmen 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.
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Carmen Perez was a panelist at the 2017 Women's National Convention.
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Carmen Perez has worked with Danny Glover, America Ferrera, Hot97 hosts Ebro and Nessa, Jussie Smollett, and Colin Kaepernick.
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Actress Jackie Cruz praised Carmen Perez for "unlocking her zeal" for social causes.
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Carmen Perez was named one of Times 100 Most Influential People in 2017, as well as Fortune's 50 Top World Leaders and Glamour's Women of the Year.
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Carmen Perez was named a "Latina of the Year" in 2017.
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In 2025 it was reported that Carmen Perez earned over 1 million dollars from the labor union 1199 SEIU between 2009 and 2024 despite not doing any work directly for the union.
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Carmen Perez did not respond to emails or calls requesting comment.