My name is Gene Martinez. I was born here in Tucson in 1998, and spent over ten years in Nogales. Now I have been living in Tucson for 14 years. My journey working in my community didn’t start until 2015. I discovered my passion through my work and learned a lot from my experiences working with different organizations around Tucson.

I began working in my community when I became an intern at the John Valenzuela Youth Center in 2015. I was 16 at the time, and that is when I discovered my passion for human, youth, and community development. After working at the JVYC for four years as a program aide and receiving an Associate’s Degree at Pima Community College, I accepted an incredible opportunity to live and work at Casa Maria Soup Kitchen. I was the Executive Coordinator at Casa Maria. While the organization paid for my tuition at the University of Arizona, I studied law for over two years. After I left Casa Maria Soup Kitchen, I worked at Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage (BICAS) as their Volunteer Program Coordinator until I was offered the position of Program Coordinator at the JVYC. I currently work with the Tucson Youth and Peace Leadership Program as their Program Coordinator, and I am working here for Higher Ground as the Family Support Specialist at Apollo Middle School and the Restart SMART Site Coordinator at Southside Community School.

The experiences I gained working over the past seven years with different non-profit organizations, communities, and families helped me realize that everyone deserves and needs to realize their autonomy, sense of self, and capabilities to develop communities. I am devoted to helping people, those especially that have been marginalized, become liberated and empowered.