Jose Lopez

At 24, Jose Lopez has spent over half his life fighting for justice and opportunity in his native Bushwick, Brooklyn. The son of two working class migrants from Puerto Rico, Jose learned early the importance of family and community. At the age of 14, Jose helped to create the Youth Power Project, the youth organizing arm of Make the Road New York, a member-run organization which helps people in low-income and immigrant communities' advocate to improve their neighborhoods. Currently at Make the Road, Jose is lead organizer of B.R.A.G. (Bushwick Research and Action on Gentrification), a committee which he started with youth in the summer of 2006 as part of the Youth Power Project in response to community trends that began to displace Bushwick residents from their homes.

Jose is a graduate of Hofstra University where he majored in Sociology and minored in Labor Studies. He is very proud to have spent his lifetime living, studying and working in the community and borough that he calls home and is excited to continue his work transforming community members' needs, and anger, into social action.