I am the son of Yolanda Ramirez and Rudy Perez. I am the husband of Kim Jansen and father to Tristan, Chase, and Devon. I am the brother of Marla Madrid, Rudy Perez, and Rebecca Perez. My experience is deeply American as a gen X Chicano born in California, raised in Washington State, educated in Idaho and Wyoming, and serving students and families in Louisiana, Texas, and Washington State.

I am especially moved by opportunities to witness students discover their voices and affirm their self-worth. I consult with educational institutions, frequently speak at schools, facilitate student programs and train adult staff to better serve their students. I earned an AAS in photographic communications at Northwest College, an undergraduate degree from the University of Idaho, and a Master of Public Administration at Evergreen State College. As an educator, I aim to sustain the integrity, courage, and commitment of children, families, and service providers.

My vocation is dedicated to the art and skill of learning and teaching. Meaningful learning experiences that honor the dignity and identities of participants are my first priority. As an educator, I value humanizing and historicizing practices in the pursuit of liberation and healing. This has led me to focus on cross-racial solidarity, intersectional social justice, Indigenous epistemology, carceral studies, healing-centered masculinity, and emancipatory education. My practice is rooted in experiential education, culturally responsive pedagogy, trauma-informed systems, juvenile justice reform, family engagement, near-peer mentorship, Latine/x bilingual leadership, and ethnic studies. I am blessed to serve as a lead visionary for the Equity Institute, Rethink Manhood, and La Cima y ¡La Chispa! Bilingual Leadership.

As co-founder with Kim Jansen and a leader of the Equity Institute, I serve with a national collective of equity consultants supporting schools, governments, and nonprofit organizations to grow racial literacy, emotional intelligence, and humanizing practices. Over the past six years, I developed the Equity Audit Window (EAW) as a practical tool for organizations to map their equity journey. By assessing measurable indicators, the EAW illuminates an institution’s prevailing reality and supplies systemic direction for pathways forward. The EAW is designed as a team-based evaluation and planning tool. The EAW can be used for introduction dialogue on equity in our institutions or as a multi-year equity implementation process.

The Equity Institute also sponsors the Tu Hogar WA program serving Spanish-speaking families focused on education, health, and housing. We support rental and utility assistance, provide education and outreach for the new Working Families Tax Credit in Washington State, and organize health fairs with vaccine clinics, blood drives, free books for children, and other health access opportunities. We’ve truly loved the journey since our founding in the summer of 2020.

Professional History

I am deeply grateful for the leaders, mentors, and colleagues throughout my career. Specifically, Kim Jansen, Marla Madrid, Marty Fortin, Susan Fortin, Joe Fenbert, Lana Yenne, Erik Marter, Luis Ortega, Elizabeth LeCompte, Karen Skoog, Anita Garcia Morales, Terry Chadsey, Shonda Houston-Dotie, Gina Hobbs, Scott Hughes, Armando and Norma Garza, WJ Nelson, Erika Ambrocio-Vasquez, Lupe Ledesma, Sylvia Reyna, Vicki Bates, Dan Call, Meja Handlen, Ricardo Heredia, Meche Brownlow, Sonia Servantes, Travis Ruhter, Luis Escamilla, James Laymen, Kristeen Johnson, John Norlin, Griselda Guevara-Cruz, Sergio Barrera, Irvin Enriquez, Oscar Licon, Gaby Fernandez, Anita Fernández, Jose Gonzalez, Norma Gonzales, Sean Arce, Chris Daikos, Courtney Daikos, Randy Nuñez, Ray Corona, Fernell Miller, Érica González Jones, Jen Self, Liz Cruz, Cory Gann, and Erin Jones.

I managed the Cispus Challenge Course in the Gifford Pinchot National Forrest from 2001-2006. I learned a great deal about human behavior and interactions in this role and explored experiential education. In 2004, I founded La Cima (the Summit), a bilingual leadership camp. This later led to the middle school program ¡La Chispa! (The Spark!). La Cima y ¡La Chispa! exist to impart leadership and life skills to Latine/x youth. As an educator, I’ve learned it is important to honor students’ mother tongue and hold space where students can explore their identity development. I took La Cima to the Ark-La-Tex when my family moved to Shreveport Louisiana in 2007.

I passed from Vice-President to President of Louisiana’s LULAC Chapter 16001 from 2007-2011, while working in the Caddo Parish juvenile court system coordinating GEMS & GENTS mentoring program and diversion programs through Volunteers for Youth Justice (VYJ). It was a gift to serve families involved with the juvenile justice system through healing-centered conversations and learning that supports family connections. I served as education coordinator of the Alliance for Education towards the end of the Louisiana years.

I served as the Latinx outreach coordinator for the Association of Washington School Principals’ (AWSP) student leadership program (AWSL) from 2012-2017 and was a member of AWSP’s Diversity and Equity Committee from 2012-2016. I co-chaired Washington State’s 2018 Teaching Equity Conference. I am currently a member of Central Washington University’s CAMP/HEP advisory board, a member of the Hispanic Roundtable, and a member of AWSL’s equity committee. In addition, I have served as MC for the Latino/a Education Achievement Project (LEAP) Conference and Legislative Day, MC for the Encanto Gala at CWU, and as a keynote address at WSU’s CASHE Conference.

During this period, I also served for three years as co-chair of the Lewis County Thrives collective impact efforts. In a partnership with OSPI’s Migrant Ed division and the CAMP programs at CWU, EWU, WSU, WWU, and UW, I co-founded and developed a curriculum for the credit-bearing Dare to Dream Academies serving high school, migrant youth for a week-long experience in a university setting. In addition, as a Chicano, cis-gendered man I found it important to establish Rethink Manhood in 2014 working with men and boys to confront the violence of patriarchy. We hold a men’s circle on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. In 2014, I also established my role as Green Hill School’s (state juvenile rehabilitation facility) Latino culture group leader of Grupo Ollin. Grupo Ollin is exploring Indigenous knowledge and healing ceremonies (la cultura cura), examining the impact of toxic masculinity and violence on our lives, and developing a critical thinking approach to criminal justice reform.

The students at Green Hill sought Indigenous knowledge and were inspired to find XITO (Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing) in 2014. XITO changed my life and my career. I have since organized annual winter 3-day institutes to inform WA’s conversation on ethnic studies since 2016. I served as a consultant with the Continua Consulting Group (Trauma-Informed MTSS) from 2017-2020 and a trainer with the team at Character Strong (SEL curriculum and character education) for that period. I am blessed to connect with organizations working to honor access, agency, community, connection, dignity, equity, healing, inclusion, joy, justice, liberation, and sovereignty.