Oscar Gutierrez is a PhD candidate and NASEM Ford Foundation Predoctoral fellow in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He was born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles where he currently lives and conducts research with queer communities of color and analyzes their relationship to landscapes of environmental justice. His involvement in the Environmental Justice movement is what drew Oscar to pursue his doctorate in ethnic studies. For over a decade, he has worked alongside his community to address environmental impacts through his involvement with organizations like Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ). Oscar is an alumnus of the Marina Pando Social Justice Research Justice Collaborative, an environmental justice research program at EYCEJ where he built collaborative community- based research on land-use and local indigenous collaboratives. His commitments to environmental justice scholarship comes from his ongoing work in his community. Oscar currently serves as a member of the board of directors at CBE, a California based environmental health and justice organization where he has been a member and organizer for over a decade. In 2020, Oscar was awarded the Robert and Patricia Switzer foundation fellowship for his contributions to environmental education and social justice movements. He continues his work with EYCEJ, The Communities and Renters Autonomous Collective and is an active member of the board of directors at CBE where he works on local environmental justice, housing, and mutual aid issues.
