Cristina Patricio serves as GRACE’s Cradle to Career State Policy Director. She believes that our coordinated and collaborative efforts will positively impact the lives of poverty-impacted communities, for this generation and the next seven generations. Cristina has over 20 years of professional experience in community organizing, youth empowerment, cross-sector collaboration, and school transformation. The foundation of her education and commitment to social justice is rooted in her experience as the daughter of immigrants, a first-generation college graduate, and a youth organizer. Previously, she supported the Los Angeles Education Partnership in developing and implementing community schools.
Cristina holds a B.A. in Chicanx Studies and History and an M.A. in Chicanx Studies from California State University, Northridge. Her research captured the experience of Latinx students who connected their post-secondary academic success to the resiliency they developed through community cultural wealth that was cultivated at their community school. Cristina is a proud East Los Angeles native who continues to reside on the same block where her parents planted their roots.