Gina is the Network and Events Coordinator of the Applied Research Center. She received degrees in Political Science and Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and cut her teeth as a student organizer fighting for fair admissions for students of color. As a MAAP intern of the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) in 1987, she worked with the Black Women's Health Project in Portland, OR and organized displaced Filipino senior citizens in the Bay Area. As one of the first participants of the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, she worked with Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in Virginia, Texas, Georgia, and Louisiana and returned to the West Coast to work as a full-time field organizer of Service Employees International Union organizing health care workers. From 1992-1999, Gina served as a senior organizer and trainer of CTWO and during her tenure she organized on issues of community development, police brutality, and gender equity in budgetary issues, as well as serving as one of the first organizers of Californians for Justice. In addition to organizing, Gina has served as a field researcher for the Consumer Union report The Thin Red Line: How The Poor Still Pay More. In 2000, she was awarded the La Fetra Foundation Fellowship to travel to Uganda to work on issues of reproductive health and freedom, and that led to her work on reproductive health and justice for low-income API communities in California. She has served on the boards of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, California Peace Action, and the National Organizers' Alliance.
Joining ARC in 2001, Gina worked on ARC’s response to post 9/11 racial discrimination by serving as the editor of the Reasserting Justice Toolkit and the Racing to War curriculum. She coordinated The Public Truth forums that exposed communities’ stories of how the “war on terrorism” and national security adversely affect the lives of immigrants, refugees, and communities of color and to raise awareness of the scope and scale of attack upon civil liberties and human rights. Currently she coordinates ARC’s Facing Race national conference on racial justice and helps organize Network trainings in the Western region.
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VideoLove, Exciting and New: Van Jones Tells Glenn Beck to Come Aboard — We’re Expecting You
by Gina Acebo on March 1 2010, 1:49PM
Van Jones shows that the work to bring racial equity to the green economy is not over, but in our hands… and in our collective hands, the work must be guided by love. Take that Glenn. (Listen to Glenn…
Topics: News Items, Politics
Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle: Don’t Sweat The Technique
by Gina Acebo on October 12 2009, 12:16PM
West Oakland’s deFremery Park pulsated with color, sound, and people this last Saturday with the 3rd Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle. Taking place in conjunction with Youth Speak’s “Living is Life Festival” by Marc Bamuthi, 16 of the most talented…
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Obama and Willie Mays: The Men of Summer
by Gina Acebo on July 15 2009, 12:22PM
President Barack Obama talks with baseball great Willie Mays aboard Air Force One en route to the MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis, July 14, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Myself, I’m an Oakland A’s fan,…
Topics: Sports
U.S. Congress On Slavery: We’re Sorry…Again*
by Gina Acebo on June 19 2009, 12:16PM
*Disclaimer: But don’t expect any funded mandates for real change. Today is Juneteenth, the national recognition of the ending of slavery in the United States. What makes this year’s commemoration fascinating for me is that yesterday marked the U.S. Senate’s…
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Listen in on “Journalist Webinar Briefing: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap”
by Gina Acebo on June 15 2009, 1:20PM
In April 2009, Jose Garcia of Demos posted in RaceWire that “social investment policies in the past have failed to provide a hand up for families of color in the United States, creating a racial wealth gap that persists today.”…
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UAFA Would Keep Shirley Tan with her Partner and Kids
by Gina Acebo on June 5 2009, 9:37AM
This is Shirley Tan, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). UAFA would allow U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for family-based immigration. Tan fled to the U.S….
Topics: Immigration, Politics, Video & Multimedia
Remembering Professor Takaki, An Activist, Educator and Pioneer
by Gina Acebo on May 27 2009, 2:18PM
As we come to the end of this year’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), I want to take a moment to remember UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Ronald Takaki who passed away today. Now truth be told, I…
Topics: Schools & Youth
Manong Al Has Left the Building…
by Gina Acebo on May 4 2009, 11:34AM
Manong Al Robles passed away yesterday. Now he and Bill Sorro our gone, both whose work with the I-Hotel struggle are what I’d consider essential “people’s history.” He was a tireless organizer on behalf of seniors, especially the first…
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All That Glitters Isn’t Gold… and It Definitely Ain’t Post Racial Bliss
by Gina Acebo on January 12 2009, 12:38PM
by Gina Acebo I don’t watch 30 Rock, but I’ve enjoyed Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin during the 2008 election season. But this bit at the Golden Globes? I’m not lovin’ it. Likely reaction of the room to the…
Topics: Media
Dear Supposed and Still Undecided White Feminist Allies:
by Gina Acebo on August 29 2008, 3:36PM
by gacebo Now that John McCain’s selected Sarah Palin as his VP for the national election, I just have one question: How ya’ gonna throw down now? Sincerely, A Woman of Color for Women’s Liberation and Racial Justice P.S. By…
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On the 20th Anniversary of H.R. 442
by Gina Acebo on August 8 2008, 6:45PM
by gacebo Forgive me… is all that you can say Years go by and still The words won’t come easily Like forgive me, forgive me - Tracy Chapman August 10th marks the 20th Anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of…
Topics: Politics
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