Michael Angelo Aranda Arce

Michael is the son of two undocumented immigrant parents from Mexicali, Baja California and Xalisco, Nayarit. As a young person, he was proud of his Mexican heritage and was always fascinated about learning about his culture and his identity. The lack of representation of Mexican culture, history and figures inspired his pursuit in attaining a bachelor’s degree from Long Beach State University in Chicano/Latino Studies.   

Following undergraduate school, Michael was intent on serving the city of Inglewood, where he is originally from. His dedication to serving his community led him to his first job in restorative justice. From there, he used his lived experiences to work with systems impacted youth and worked towards dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.   

While working in restorative justice, he completed a master’s degree and developed a passion for reimagining masculinity and transformative justice. Now, Michael continues his work with young people of color and is focused on liberating all young people from the carceral system, abolishing the prison system, ending the over policing of communities of color, and breaking the cycle of toxic masculinity.