Rep.
Cherie L. Cruz (D-Dist. 58, Pawtucket) was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in November 2022.
She represents Pawtucket’s Fairlawn and Woodlawn neighborhoods, where she was
born and raised. She is a member of both the House Judiciary Committee and the
House Municipal Government and Housing Committee.
During
her first legislative session in 2023, Representative Cruz sponsored a law
which eliminates
certain housing rental application fees. She also introduced
legislation which would create the Office of Early Childhood Development and
Learning to provide access to affordable, quality child care and to create a
child care system that supports families, workers, and the Rhode Island
economy. Representative Cruz also introduced a bill which would provide legal
representation to tenants in eviction proceedings along with various tenant
protections bills to address housing conditions.
She
is a graduate of Brown University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Education
Studies Cum Laude and a Master’s degree in Urban Education Policy as the Urban
Education Policy Fellow. She also earned an Associate’s degree with Highest
Honors in Liberal Arts at the Community College of Rhode Island.
Representative
Cruz is a tenant organizer with ReclaimRI. Formerly she ran an early-childhood
development program, Parents as Teachers at CCAP through the Love That Baby
programs supported by the Rhode Island Department of Health. Representative
Cruz is a certified CLC and CPRS.
She
currently serves on the Joint Commission on Reducing the Recidivism of Women.
She has served as a board member of the RI Welcome Back Center, The Reentry
Campus Program, The Transcending Through Education Foundation, and the
executive board of the RI American Civil Liberties Association, and is the
co-founder of the Formerly Incarcerated Union of Rhode Island. In addition, her
past public service includes her appointments on the Rhode Island Special
Education Advisory Committee and the RI Governor’s Council on Behavioral
Health.
Born on January 14, 1972, she is the mother of four children,
Christopher, Charice, Aaron and Terrell, and grandmother to Jazzlynn.