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Irene Franco Rubio is an abolitionist, activist, scholar and community organizer of Guatemalan and Mexican descent based in Los Angeles, CA. Rooted in community and devoted to movements for social, racial, environmental and gender justice, Irene has multifaceted experience as an intersectional movement builder grounded in multi-racial coalitions and cross-cultural solidarity.
Grounded in grassroots organizing, Irene began organizing locally in her hometown of Phoenix, AZ for the Arizona Coalition for Change and Progress Arizona, for national non-profits such as Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote, to the office of former Congresswoman Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous woman to serve in Congress, among other advocacy engagements. Now existing in abolitionist organizing spaces, from #SchoolsNotPrisons to Community Coalition in Los Angeles, CA, in her role as Impact Deputy at Revolve Impact, a movement building creative agency, Irene continues to advocate for historically oppressed communities of color in the pursuit of justice and liberation for all oppressed people.
As a scholar and public thought leader, Franco Rubio is a Open Society Foundations Soros Justice Fellow, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF), Public Voices Fellow of the Op-Ed Project at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, Othering & Belonging Institute Fellow at UC Berkeley, Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) Scholar, Imagining America JGS Fellow, among others.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minor in Race, Ethnicity and Politics from the University of Southern California (USC), Irene’s seeks to continue her engagements as a scholar-activist in pursuit of a PhD in Ethnic Studies at the intersection of activism, academia, and justice as a global citizen & catalyst for change.
For more on Irene’s work, check out her website.
Updated August 2023