Gina Ramirez, Street Outreach Case Manager at New Life Centers, Exemplifies Restorative Justice

Operating as a credible messenger of Community Violence Intervention (CVI) often means working in the same neighborhoods that shaped you. It requires a delicate balance between the responsibility of creating change with the realities of trauma. For women in boots-on-the-ground roles, that responsibility often carries an added layer: serving as nurturers, protectors, and steady figures in communities that may not always provide that stability in return.

Gina Ramirez, Street Outreach Case Manager at New Life Centers, is intimately familiar with the responsibilities of playing that role in her home communities of Brighton Park and Bridgeport. As she prepares to welcome a new addition to her family and transition from her role at New Life Centers, Ramirez has no intention of stepping away from her commitment to her neighborhood.

Her aspirations of serving the young people of her community began early. As the first in her family to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in 2014, Ramirez started her journey as a Youth Development Specialist in a juvenile detention center that same year. It was a dream job, she shares.

“Working with juveniles was really eye-opening,” Ramirez says, explaining that she felt her purpose was to build strong relationships with the young people, often acting as a maternal figure in the absence of one. “I did notice a lot of juveniles came back [to the detention center]; sometimes they just didn’t have anybody positive on the outside.”

Being vulnerable about her experiences made her a trusted mentor to young people in the juvenile correctional system.

“I did share stuff that has happened to me, as far as getting arrested, being in a gang, dealing with domestic violence… That’s just me being the person I am—using my experiences to help others and guide the youth,” she says.

“That’s just me being the person I am—using my experiences to help others and guide the youth.”

Even as she earned her degree and began building her professional career, Ramirez found herself navigating two worlds at once. Yet her professional growth did not immediately separate her from the realities of her environment. She describes that period of her life as being “one foot in, one foot out” of the world of street organizations.

After several years of confrontations with the law and surviving a shooting from a rival group in the neighborhood, Ramirez began to reflect on her decisions.

“I was angry with myself. But I still continued to be in the neighborhood, doing things that were illegal. In hindsight, you don’t think you’re doing illegal stuff—you just think you’re hanging out with your friends, chilling on the block,” Ramirez says. “But I didn’t realize it, what I was doing is why I was facing these obstacles.”

Ramirez says she hit a turning point, admitting, “I was so tired. And when I say tired, I mean tired of getting in trouble, tired of being on the wrong side, tired of my mistakes. And that led me to therapy.”

“I was so tired. And when I say tired, I mean tired of getting in trouble, tired of being on the wrong side, tired of my mistakes. And that led me to therapy.”

“[…] I was finding that what I did in the past, I could use this to my advantage and help others,” Ramirez says, noting that therapy was essential to her growth and put her on a new path to purpose.

Ramirez left the juvenile correctional system in 2016 and began working at nonprofit organizations in the neighborhood. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, her path brought her to CVI and Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P).

“Something in me wanted to be outside doing something, helping people with what was going on at the moment,” she explains. Ramirez started her journey as a street outreach worker at Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) and joined New Life Centers in 2023.

As a Street Outreach Case Manager, Ramirez connects with community members, supports her participants, and shares essential resources, everything from groceries to employment opportunities. Her relationships run deep, something she says is the source of a complex “duality” in the work of CVI; her history gives her LTO—or “License to Operate” in the community. She can provide effective support to participants, but the depth of her relationships can also make the work emotionally challenging and sometimes triggering.

“These participants grow to be like my family. It’s hard not to get wrapped up emotionally,” she explains. And while that closeness can be rewarding, she says it can lead to burnout.  However, over time, Ramirez says she’s learned how to understand and manage her feelings.

“These participants grow to be like my family. It’s hard not to get wrapped up emotionally.”

The other side of the coin is having to face people she had negative experiences with during her time in street organizations. The reality of her role means swallowing her feelings to provide the best support and services for her community. She admits it still brings up a lot of trauma, but therapy has helped her process and let go of past hurt. She’s also found that helping others helps heal those strained relationships. In that way, Ramirez exemplifies the principle of restorative justice that fuels the work of CVI.

And while she won’t be returning to New Life Centers after her maternity leave, Ramirez will certainly carry her expertise in street outreach and youth mentorship to her own nonprofit Party Per Purpose (PPP). Founded in 2017, PPP aims to connect teenagers in her community of Brighton Park to employment, education, mental health support, and more. Now with a brick-and-mortar location, PPP has hosted community events, outings, and educational workshops.

“I know with the stuff that I went through, who better than me to be the person to mentor these youth? And especially being from Brighton Park, I always tell people, imagine if we had a teen center on this block the entire time,” Ramirez says.

“I’m very grateful for this transition. Leaving New Life is a bittersweet moment, because they have grown to be my family. But I think this pregnancy has opened the door to focus on the teen center. And I’m excited.”

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives is proud to celebrate the life and work of women in community violence intervention (CVI). Read more stories here.