Olivia’s nine years at Justice Matters brings together her background as a daughter/sister of immigrants, mother, community organizer and policy analyst. She has dedicated herself to changing the conditions she experiences at public schools by combining critical public policy analysis with powerful community organizing for educational justice.

While at Justice Matters she has developed organizing, research and policy methodologies that view communities of color as assets to schools. She uses this perspective as a launching point for conducting investigations, analysis and organizing into what is needed in our public schools.

As part of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California, Olivia worked as the Campaign Coordinator for the Driving While Black and Brown Campaign. Before this, Olivia worked as an organizer for police accountability in Oakland, CA for People United for a Better Oakland (PUEBLO).

Olivia relocated to the Bay Area from her home in Santa Ana, CA to go to UC Berkeley where she completed her degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish & Latin American Literature. She is a first generation college graduate that benefited from Open Borders, Head Start and Affirmative Action programs and policies. In 2002, she completed her M.P.A. with a focus on public policy at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

She is a first generation college graduate that benefited from open borders, Head Start, and Affirmative Action programs and policies. She is a parent on the look out for racially just public schools that will embrace her children's languages, religious background, and thirst for creative learning.