Cassandra Hernandez

Cassy (she/they)was born and raised in Chula Vista and is currently a second-year, Xicanx student-worker at SDSU majoring in Chicanx and Women’s studies. Cassy has a deep love for organizing and nourishing a healing environment within activist spaces. Prioritizing holistic well-being and taking into account one’s own mind, body, and spirit in the journey towards collective liberation is something Cassy fosters in the spaces they inhabit. While being guided as a Curandere Scholar Activist and a board member of M.E.Ch.A., they have been able to learn about organizing and building community, as well as sharing the tools and knowledge they have gained.

During their first year of college, Cassy found the need to co-found a Political Organizing Committee to create a space where students could identify issues on campus and in the community they wanted to mobilize around. One result of this collective work was the creation of an Undocumented Resource Center and a Latinx Center proposal that will be in fruition at SDSU within the next year. Their activism has also involved protesting oppressive policies such as increases in tuition, privatization of education, and the erasure of Queer and Trans people of color. They also work as a Feminist Peer Educator at the Women’s Resource Center where they create programming centering the experiences of womxn, non-binary people, and QTPOC, as well as serves as a mentor to students on campus navigating the institution.

Providing low-income, Queer students of color access to education and creating learning environments that do not perpetuate colonial structures such as the gender binary is a goal Cassy holds very close to their heart. Cassy will continue organizing, building, and centering healing while pushing for the liberation of working-class communities. Cassy looks forward to working this summer with CPI to grow as an organizer and heart-driven community member.