Aaliyah Person is a formerly incarcerated mother of twin daughters in their twenties now, who loves art, poetry, music, reading, and graphic design. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she now proudly calls Santa Cruz her home. She was released in 2020 from state prison, at the beginning of a pandemic and came to Barrios Unidos for re-entry services. She began volunteering in the food distribution and prison project programs to keep herself busy, then she started to work in the screen-printing shop as a graphic designer when they learned she had airbrush, art, and multimedia skills. After graduating from Chaffey College with dual degrees in Communication Studies and Social & Behavioral Sciences with Honors and a 4.0 GPA in 2021, she became a full-time employee at SCBU as a Graphic Designer for BU Productions and a Communications Specialist. She is happily following Barrios’ Executive Director, Daniel “Nane” Alejandrez, closely as her mentor. She has organized multiple fundraisers, including designing a shirt to sell after the 2020-2021 CZU Complex Fires, called “831 STRONG.” She has also successfully completed three “SC Cares 4 Kids” campaigns to raise funds to buy families in the community gifts to give their children at Christmas, serving a total of over 160 families in the 3 years. Aaliyah has performed with Poet Laureate, former gubernatorial candidate, and author, Luis Rodriguez, at “Poets for Peace.” Aaliyah has served as an expert in incarceration on plenary panels for UCSC students speaking on her life experiences with the Justice System and has organized numerous events at Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos to raise cultural awareness, to increase peace in communities where violence is prevalent, and to reimagine incarceration, including one for formerly incarcerated women, called “I Survived…LIFE.” She currently works with Oakland activist Stanley “Mistah FAB” Cox and serves on the SCBU Development and Administrative Teams and is excited to learn new things about nonprofits to help her community grow and to continue in Nane’s footsteps, as a Peace Warrior, fighting for our brothers and sisters who are still behind the walls and for peace in her community.Read more about this authorRead less about this author