Cristina Jiménez + Paola Ramos: Dreaming of Home

Join us for a release event with award-winning community organizer Cristina Jiménez, discussing her new book Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change. Joining Cristina in conversation is Emmy award-winning journalist Paola Ramos. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at ZXZlbnRzIHwgc3RyYW5kYm9va3MgISBjb20= by May 14 to request.

Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact ZXZlbnRzIHwgc3RyYW5kYm9va3MgISBjb20=

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A MacArthur “Genius” shares her inspiring story, from undocumented newcomer to leader in a powerful immigrant youth movement

Dreaming of Home is a coming-of-age story both for a young woman finding her true self and for a social movement of immigrant youth trailblazers who inspired the world and changed the lives of millions.

Cristina Jiménez’s family fights to stay afloat as Ecuador falls into a political and economic crisis. When she is thirteen, her parents courageously decide to seek a better life in the U.S., landing in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York. There are many challenges, but eventually, Cristina discovers she is not alone; she finds her calling within a community of social justice organizers. With deep candor and humor, Cristina opens the door to what it’s like to grow up undocumented and the reality that being a “good” immigrant doesn’t shield you from systematic racism, danger, or even the confusion of falling in love.

Through personal stories and historical truth telling, Cristina invites us to acknowledge the America that never was and to imagine the America that could be when everyday people build power and fight for change. And she reminds us that home is more than a physical place on the map, offering each of us a roadmap for finding the home within even when the world around us seems to be crumbling.

Cristina Jiménez is an award-winning community organizer and a leading voice in movements for social justice. She is Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. A Distinguished Lecturer at the City University of New York, Jimenez received a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship and a spot on the 2018 TIME 100 Most Influential People List. She came to the U.S from Ecuador in 1998 and grew up undocumented in Queens, N.Y.

Photo credit: Samantha Bloom

Paola Ramos is an author and Emmy award-winning journalist. She is a contributor for Telemundo News and MSNBC, where she is the host of “Field Report.” Ramos is a former Correspondent for Vice News. Prior to her career in journalism, Ramos was the Deputy Director of Hispanic Media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, a political appointee during the Obama Administration, and served in President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

She is also a former Hauser Leader in the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, where she received her Master’s in Public Policy, and recently joined the board of trustees of her alma mater, Barnard College. She is the author of Finding Latin-X: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity. Ramos was born in Miami to Cuban and Mexican parents, grew up in Madrid, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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