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Cristina Jiménez

Biography

Cristina Jiménez

Cristina Jiménez is an award-winning community organizer and a leading voice in movements for social justice. She is the Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. A Distinguished Lecturer at the City University of New York, Jimenez received a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship and a spot on the 2018 TIME 100 Most Influential People List. She came to the US from Ecuador in 1998 and grew up undocumented in Queens, NY.

Cristina Jiménez

Books by Cristina Jiménez

by Cristina Jiménez - Memoir, Nonfiction

Cristina Jiménez’s family fights to stay afloat as Ecuador falls into a political and economic crisis. When she is 13, her parents courageously decide to seek a better life in the U.S., landing in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York. There are many challenges, but eventually, Cristina discovers she is not alone. She finds her calling within a community of social justice organizers. With deep candor and humor, Cristina opens the door to what it’s like to grow up undocumented and the reality that being a “good” immigrant doesn’t shield you from systematic racism, danger, or even the confusion of falling in love.