Armando Jimenez

Armando Jimenez was born in Mexico and raised in Allentown, PA. He was two-years-old when his parents migrated to the U.S. pursuing a better life. Growing up undocumented meant that he was always well aware of the challenges and risks of navigating life in this country. Applying for college was no different. It was in this struggle that Armando first started organizing his own community. He organized undocumented youth and their parents to speak up and challenge the system. It was through actions organized by Armando and hundreds of undocumented and unafraid youth that the DACA program was finally won. After years of fighting for tuition equity for undocumented students, and being denied in-state tuition in his own community college, Armando won a full community service scholarship and was accepted at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. At the same time that he started his college studies he also first met Make the Road PA at one of their anti-ICE protests in Reading PA in 2016. In 20017, and after volunteering with the organization he was hired as a Community Organizer in their newly founded Allentown Organizing Center. In 2020 Armando was promoted to the position of Lead Community Organizer in Allentown where he leads campaigns around immigrant's rights and climate justice. He is currently finishing his studies and is on track to be the first in his family to graduate college with a double major in Political Science and Spanish.