Carmen Ramirez Collection

Overview

Carmen Ramirez was born in Oklahoma in 1948, although she grew up in Pico Rivera, California. She was struck by a car while in a cross-walk and died as a result of her injuries in Oxnard, California on 8/12/2023 – she was 73 years old. Ramirez attended the University of San Francisco, CSU Los Angeles, and Loyola Law School. Ramirez was admitted to the California Bar Association in December 1974. In 1978, she became a legal aid attorney in Ventura County and represented low-income individuals and families before the government and the courts through the legal aid program. That program became Channel Counties Legal Services Association, where Ramirez served as director, until joining the Superior Court to run the Self-Help Legal Center in La Colonia (she later took on the role as coordinator there). Ramirez was elected president of the Ventura County Bar Association in 1998 and to the State Bar Board of Governors from 2005 through 2008. She served on the Oxnard City Council from 2010-2020 (8 years as Mayor pro tem 2020) and in November 2020, she became the first Latina in county history to be elected supervisor. She was also the first Latina to be elected by her fellow board members as chairwoman. Ramirez was involved in numerous civic groups, such as the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, the Ventura County Community Foundation, the Ventura County Transportation Commission, Camarillo and Oxnard Airport Authorities, and the Center for Civic Education. A strong environmentalist, Ramirez worked to halt construction of a Liquified Natural Gas terminal and a proposed Puente Power Plant, close the Ormand Beach Power Plant, and clean up a Superfund metal recycling site, all near (or to be located next to) her constituents' neighborhoods in Oxnard.

Resources

• Finding Guide - CI (ArchivesSpace)

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