Community Educator
As the Community Educator, Claudia Martinez travels around New York City running workshops with young people to raise awareness about teen dating violence. Her teaching style mirrors the philosophy of Day One, which is to value young people as the experts in their own lives and to ground education in young people's own perspectives. When facilitating a workshop Claudia feels it is important to connect with young people, engage them through interactive activities and challenge them to think differently about themselves and their relationships.
Claudia was a Posse scholar at Brandeis University and graduated Cum Laude in 2007 with a degree in Women and Gender Studies and Sociology. At Brandeis she was extensively involved with many activist organizations; in particular, she worked for 4 years with the Vagina Monologues building a national movement to end gender based violence. Through her involvement she created a curriculum for the cast to share their stories and heal from their difficult experiences, while at the same time raising over $20,000 for local domestic violence shelters.
Claudia has spent the last three years working with young people as a mentor, educator, and organizer. As an educator, she has developed and facilitated curricula around social justice, leadership, oppression and self empowerment. As an organizer, she led campaigns in Boston and New York City around issues of youth violence, educational justice, police harassment in schools and mayoral control. Throughout all her work, her passion and focus remains the same: to support the development, empowerment and self actualization of young people.
Claudia Martinez is from Villa Nueva, Guatemala and Jackson Heights, NY. She loves art, poetry, food and revolution.
