M. CARMEN RAMIREZ

Biography

(Maria) CARMEN RAMIREZ has been a strong voice and community leader for environmental justice and sustainable development in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties for a number of years. As an attorney, her leadership abilities have been recognized by her peers who elected her to serve on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California in 2005.  Her current position as the Director of Community Planning for CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance for A Sustainable Economy) has helped to focus her knowledge and skills on local issues that matter to every resident of Oxnard and nearby coastal communities.

Ms. Ramirez began serving the community as an attorney since she was admitted to law practice in California in December of 1974, graduating from Loyola University School of Law, Los Angeles in May, 1974.  From 1975 until 1998, Ms. Ramirez worked in legal aid programs in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. For 16 years she was Executive Director of Channel Counties Legal Services Association, based in Oxnard which served the legal needs of the poor in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Her responsibilities included overseeing litigation, financial planning, grant management, fundraising, personnel, board, community, government, and labor management relations. Ms. Ramirez has represented hundreds of clients in administrative hearings, jury and bench trials, and writs and appeals in cases involving education, housing, consumer rights, employment, and government programs such as Social Security Disability.

Her legal advocacy skills and community leadership abilities have fortified Ms. Ramirez in her current position as the Director of Community Planning for CAUSE, focusing on critical issues of environmental justice and sustainable development in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, such as the recent proposal to build a terminal for LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) off the coast of Ventura County, for example.  Prior to this, she coordinated the Ventura Superior Court’s Self-Help Legal Access Center, located in the Colonia area of Oxnard, serving primarily the Spanish-speaking community, from 1998 to 2007.

In June, 2005, she was elected by her peers to serve on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California, for a three year term, representing the attorneys of five counties, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Her focus during that time was improving access to the courts for all, especially those who could not afford private counsel. She will now serve on the Executive Committee of the Bench Bar Coalition which promotes the needs of the public and the courts before the California legislature.

In 1998, she was President of the Ventura County Bar Association and remains active in the Volunteer Lawyers Services Program Committee and the Lawyers’ Referral and Information Service Committee. She was the chair of the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services for the State Bar of California, from 2000 -2001. She is currently chairing a new committee of the Ventura County Bar to provide more mentoring to young people in Ventura County.

A strong supporter of the arts, Ms. Ramirez serves as the Board President of the bilingual Ventura County theater company and Teatro de Las Américas.  Her commitment to the community also sees her as a member of several boards including, the Community Board of St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, the Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF), the Steering Committee of the Ventura County Civic Alliance (a project of the VCCF), and Public Interest Clearinghouse, in San Francisco, which enhances the delivery of civil legal services to the poor in California.

Known as a community activist in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, she has held leadership roles in El Concilio Del Condado De Ventura County, the Ventura County Women Lawyers’ Association, Ventura County Mexican American Bar Association, and Studio Channel Islands Art Center in Camarillo. Among her recognitions are the Ben E. Nordman Public Service Award of the Ventura County Bar Association, the Ventura Chapter of Rotary’s Paul Harris Award, and named Woman of the Year for the 35th Assembly District in 2003, by Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson.

From humble but proud roots, Ms. Ramirez was raised in the City of Pico Rivera, in eastern Los Angeles County, one of seven siblings. Ms. Ramirez has made Ventura County her home since 1978 and currently resides in Oxnard. She speaks, reads and writes English and Spanish and has traveled extensively in Latin America as well as Europe, Asia and Africa.  Although she has successfully run for leadership roles in the State Bar of California and several community and professional organizations as well as boards of directors, this is her first step into the arena of public office.  And she is ready for this fight and the ensuing challenges, if elected, because she cares about Oxnard and the community where she has lived and worked for many years, and she believes she brings an important perspective to the table of civic policy.  Electoral politics for public office is a new chapter in Ms. Ramirez's career, but the role of leadership and commitment to community values has been her profile for many years.

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