Alexie Torres-Fleming, founder and executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, will speak in two chapels and interact with students and faculty in a variety of activities on campus. Alexie is also the recipient of the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism.

Founded in 1994, the mission of Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice is to rebuild the neighborhoods of Bronx River and Soundview/Bruckner in the South Bronx by preparing young people to become prophetic voices for peace and justice. Their vision recognizes the developmental needs of young people, but also realizes the role of young people as essential stakeholders in their communities. They work to support the development of the minds and bodies of young members, never separate from the development of their spirits and their community, and are rooted in the principles of Catholic social teaching.

Alexie writes: "The fires that led to the devastation of the South Bronx in the late 60s and early 70s still rage in my mind. I witnessed them day after day as a little girl perched on the ledge of my ninth floor window in the Bronx River Public Housing Projects. I was too little to understand things like 'Planned Shrinkage', 'Urban Renewal', 'Disinvestment' and 'white flight' back then. All I knew is that they were frightening and tumultuous times for me and all of the children of the South Bronx. No wonder so many of us ran away. Understanding only that our success in life would be measured by how far from the 'ghetto' we could someday escape."

For more about Alexie, click on the web site.