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Gabriel Torres Rivera
Director of Reentry InitiativesLegal Department
212.614.5306
grivera@cssny.org
Gabe convenes monthly meetings of the New York Reentry Roundtable; coordinates with the Roundtable legislative committee to formulate a reentry legislative agenda; coordinates the annual Albany Advocacy Day; issues white papers on reentry-related topic areas; and provides community outreach in support of CSS reentry initiatives and other program areas.
WHY THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT TO ME:
“As a formerly incarcerated person, I know of the unjust barriers faced by people released from prison. I have both a personal and professional stake in the issue.”
MENTORS/IMPORTANT FIGURES IN LIFE/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Richie Perez, former CSS Director of Political Development — an old friend and the person who brought me to CSS
PRIOR EMPLOYMENT:
Center for Constitutional Rights, Coordinator of the Movement Support Resource Center
New York City Housing Authority, Coordinator of the Drug Elimination Program
EDUCATION:
City University of New York Law School, Juris Doctor
City College of New York, Bachelor of Science Degree in Education
Eli Whitney Vocational High School, High School Diploma
PROFESSIONAL HONORS:
Numerous awards for community activism and organizing
PUBLISHED WORKS:
Times of Confinement, “The Militarization of the Police in the United States”
Interview with Rafael Cancel Miranda, “Life in Prison as a Puerto Rican Nationalist”
SIGNIFICANT PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Spokesperson for Amnesty International, 1998 – Toured England, Scotland, and Ireland as an invited guest speaker to discuss police brutality, the death penalty, and the prison industrial complex in the United States
BOOKS I WOULD RECOMMEND:
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Soledad Brother by George Jackson
PLACE OF BIRTH: Carolina, Puerto Rico
ANYTHING ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME:
Winner of an essay competition to attend Berkeley College
Reentry Talk