LEADERSHIP TEAM
Hernán Carvente-Martinez (He/They/El)
Executive Director
Hernán Carvente-Martinez is a passionate Mexican-American leader advancing sustainable, community-driven progress rooted in cultura, comunidad, and healing. With lived experience as a formerly incarcerated youth, Hernán brings a unique and powerful perspective to his leadership role. His personal journey through the justice system has fueled his passion for reform and commitment to creating pathways for other impacted individuals to succeed. Under his leadership, Alianza for Opportunity has flourished with innovative narrative change projects, research initiatives, and grassroots partnerships to dismantle systemic oppression and create thriving Latine/x, Afro-Latine/x, and Indigenous communities.
Hernán's extensive background includes his tenure as National Youth Chair of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, his work with the Youth First Initiative strategically supporting state campaigns to close youth prisons and reinvest funds into community alternatives, and his role at the Vera Institute of Justice leading efforts to include impacted families throughout the country in policy reform. Hernán has provided expert consultancy to the U.S. Department of Justice and New York City Department of Probation, as well as to philanthropic partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrus Family Fund, and The Prospect Hill Foundation.
Born and raised in the New York City area, Hernán holds a B.S. from John Jay College. He serves on the boards of Community Connections for Youth and the Alliance for Youth Organizing, and is passionate about creating access to wellness resources for BIPOC communities through his social enterprise, Healing Ninjas, Inc.
Julia Ramirez (She/Her/Ella)
Program Manager
Julia Ramirez, a California native of El Salvadoran and Honduran descent, leads Alianza’s portfolio of projects to uplift and advocate for Latine/x, Afro-Latine/x, and Indigenous communities, with an emphasis on LGBTQIA+ populations nationwide. Julia believes that youth voices need to be cultivated and centered to advance sustainable change for future generations. She is passionate about ethnic and racial identity research and particularly enjoys collaborating with Alianza’s diverse network of partners to develop and promote culturally-sensitive healing resources.
Julia holds a B.A. in Collaborative Health and Human Services with an emphasis on Public Administration and earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the California State University, Monterey Bay.
Additionally, she pursued several years of continuing education in the field of Behavioral Health Workforce Education Training. Julia’s capstone focuses on ethnic and racial identity as an intervention in schools, proposing it as an option to help students understand what their racial and ethnic identities mean. This understanding allows students to engage in finding their identity that connects to them rather than feeling compelled to adopt an externally imposed identity.
Julia plans to continue her research on racial and ethnic identities at the Ph.D. level, further exploring how reconnecting with indigenous cultural roots from all parts of the world can help individuals understand and claim their identity in contemporary society.
