Cristina Jiménez Moreta (born 1983 or 1984) is an Ecuadoran immigration activist who co-founded United We Dream in 2008. In 2017, Jiménez Moreta was named a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

and won the Freedom From Fear Award. Jiménez was included in ''Time'' magazine's ''100 Most Influential People of 2018.''

Early life and education

Jiménez Moreta was born in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. At the time of her birth, Jiménez Moreta's mother was a seamstress and her father was a bank security guard. When she was a teenager, she and her family moved to the United States as undocumented immigrants. Jiménez Moreta completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

at Queens College in 2007 and a Master of Public Administration at

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates unde ...

in 2011.

Career

When Jiménez Moreta illegally immigrated to the United States, she became a babysitter and an assistant. After experiencing educational barriers as an undocumented immigrant, she dedicated herself to public service and advancing civil rights, focused primarily on youth activism. Early on in her advocacy career, Jiménez Moreta created multiple activism groups in New York, including

Make the Road New York Make the Road New York (MRNY) is the largest progressive grassroots immigrant-led organization in New York state. The organization works on issues of workers' rights; immigrant and civil rights; environmental and housing justice; justice for trans ...

. In 2008, she joined

Drum Major Institute The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) is a non-profit American progressive think tank and community action group. The group was founded in 1961 in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. It later became defunct until it was relaunched ...

to work in immigration policy and remained with the institute until 2010. At the same time she started working with Drum Major, Jiménez Moreta became a co-founder of United We Dream, which is an organization that advocates for undocumented Americans. With United We Dream, Jiménez Moreta influenced the enactment of the

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive ...

in 2012.

Awards and honors

In 2017, Jiménez Moreta was one of the recipients of the MacArthur Fellows Program. The same year, she was awarded the Freedom From Fear Award. In 2019, she won the Robert Coles "Call of Service" Award, given by the Phillips Brooks House Association at Harvard University. In 2020, Moreta was named as one of

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

's Women of the Century, which recognizes women who have made a "substantial impact on our country or our lives over the past 100 years".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jiménez Moreta, Cristina Living people 1984 births Ecuadorian activists Ecuadorian women activists MacArthur Fellows Immigrant rights activists Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award Undocumented immigrants to the United States 21st-century Ecuadorian women