Carmen Perez has been an activist nearly her entire life. After the death of her 19 year-old sister when she was just 17, Carmen began dedicating her life to creating programs and initiatives that would help transform the lives of young people. As Executive Director of the Gathering for Justice, Carmen has crossed the globe promoting peace, advancing human and civil rights, and building alternatives to incarceration and violence while collaborating in national policy presentations. She has organized cultural, spiritual and educational events and provided support to individuals incarcerated in juvenile detention centers and inside California’s and New York’s prisons. In January 2014, she founded Justice League NYC, a task force of juvenile and criminal justice advocates, experts, artists, and formerly incarcerated individuals brought together to build “Growing Up Locked Down” (GULD) a 3 day juvenile justice conference in September. Carmen Perez has gained respect as an expert in the field of juvenile and criminal justice and system accountability, and in that capacity has recently appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NY1, CNBC, CBS and been featured in articles in the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and more. She recently testified before the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing as a criminal and juvenile justice reform expert. And in April, Carmen was March Director of March2Justice, a 250 mile, 9 day march from New York City to Washington, DC to deliver The Justice Package - 3 pieces of federal legislation to end racial profiling, stop the militarization of law enforcement, and provide for children while protecting communities.