Daniel “Nane” Alejandrez

Daniel "Nane" Alejandrez is a nationally recognized organizer, prison abolitionist, restorative justice practitioner, and founder of Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos. For nearly five decades, he has helped shape community-based alternatives to violence, incarceration, and systemic injustice by centering healing, culture, and human dignity. He founded Barrios Unidos while a student at UC Santa Cruz, transforming it from a grassroots peace movement into one of California's most respected organizations serving youth, families, incarcerated people, and communities most impacted by poverty and violence.

Drawing from his own lived experience as a Vietnam veteran, survivor of addiction, and formerly justice-impacted community member, Nane has become one of California's most trusted voices on violence prevention, prison transformation, and restorative justice. His work challenges the systems that produce incarceration while creating pathways for healing, leadership, and successful reentry. Through Barrios Unidos, he has spent decades teaching inside California prisons and juvenile facilities, mentoring thousands of incarcerated people through Transcommunal Peacemaking, cultural education, and restorative justice practices that reconnect people to identity, accountability, and community.

Nane's leadership extends far beyond California. He has worked alongside civil rights leaders including Harry Belafonte, Dolores Huerta, Father Greg Boyle, Danny Glover, and countless grassroots organizers dedicated to advancing human rights and ending cycles of violence. His ability to build trust across communities—from incarcerated people and gang intervention workers to policymakers, educators, and movement leaders—has made him a respected bridge-builder in the national movement for justice.

Under his leadership, Barrios Unidos has become a nationally recognized model for community-led public safety, combining violence interruption, reentry support, youth leadership development, behavioral health services, workforce development, environmental justice, cultural arts, and economic development. The organization continues to demonstrate that lasting public safety is created through investment in people rather than punishment alone.

Nane has received numerous honors recognizing his lifelong commitment to justice, including the Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award from the Northern California chapter of the ACLU, one of the nation's highest recognitions for civil rights leadership. He is also the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Award from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Sankofa Lifetime Achievement Award, and a California Wellness Foundation Fellowship. Barrios Unidos has additionally received the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award from the Institute for Policy Studies.

Today, Nane continues to mentor the next generation of organizers, formerly incarcerated leaders, and youth advocates while helping shape conversations around abolition, restorative justice, violence prevention, and community self-determination. His life's work demonstrates that healing communities and transforming systems are inseparable—and that those closest to injustice are best positioned to lead lasting change.

Highlights

• Founder & Executive Director, Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos

• Founder of the National Coalition of Barrios Unidos

• Nationally recognized leader in prison abolition, restorative justice, and violence prevention

• Nearly five decades teaching and mentoring inside California prisons and juvenile institutions

• Developer of the Transcommunal Peacemaking model for healing, accountability, and community transformation

• Trusted advisor to policymakers, universities, community organizations, and justice reform leaders

• Recipient of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award (ACLU of Northern California)

• Recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Award (Fellowship of Reconciliation)

• Recipient of the Sankofa Lifetime Achievement Award

• California Wellness Foundation Fellow

• Led Barrios Unidos to receive the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award

• Mentor to generations of formerly incarcerated leaders, youth organizers, and community advocates