Lea Patricia Francisco - USA

Santa Clara University Law Graduate
Connecting Stories of Militarization for
Community Based Cross-Cultural Education

Immigrating to the United States at a young age, Lea was empowered by the realization of her mother’s sacrifices and became determined to advocate for underrepresented and disadvantaged communities. Serving as the Board Co-Chair of the Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), a transnational environmental justice organization, she witnessed the global impact of U.S. militarization and its negative effects on communities. The purpose of her project is to collect stories and historical information about militarized sites in California, create local education programs that connect global issues of the struggles of the Ohlone people, African Americans, and recent immigrants who lived through the militarization of their communities. The hope for this collaborative endeavor is to create an educational model focusing on critical, community-based, cross-cultural, feminist, and demilitarization frameworks.

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