As a spoken word artist, Jackie Ramos uses poetry as a weapon to tear down walls of fear and build bridges of love. Currently, she is working as lead researcher and creative artist on a project funded by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, called Beyond the Blues: Ending the Prison Industrial Complex, with renown bandleader/musician, educator, and activist, Marcus Shelby. They use research and the arts to raise consciousness around mass incarceration in efforts to find solutions to fight this epidemic and bring change. She is also a volunteer healing mentor and poetry/expressive arts instructor at San Francisco’s Juvenile Hall, Unit 7 (maximum security for young men ages 16-19 years old) and at the Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC). YWFC works with young women, who have been involved with the juvenile justice system and/or underground street economy. Jackie is committed to helping others, especially the youth—to recognize their power and exert it in positive ways that will propel them to thrive. With love, community, the arts, and stimulating areas to promote knowledge and expression of self—she believes that the battle against injustice can be won, and will not stop until all our youth are protected, nurtured, and loved.