Karla Acevedowas born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts at the age of 4. Being involved in the community from an early age and having mentors to guide her have heavily influenced her passion for social justice and working with youth. Growing up, Karla was involved in a local non-profit organization called MissionSAFE, which uses a relational/trauma-sensitive youth development model. Karla became intimately familiar with the organizations programs and approach first as a participant and then as a peer-leader practitioner. 

Karla next worked as a Youth Programs Associate at the Boston Center for Community and Justice, which strives to develop a diverse community of socially responsible leaders, both individuals and organizations, which advance social justice throughout the Greater Boston area. This position provided Karla the opportunity to work with a diverse group of high school students and facilitate cross-cultural understanding, dialogue and community building.

Karla went to the DC area after being selected for the highly competitive Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Fellowship program, where she attended weekly leadership, networking and policy related trainings and workshops, worked on Capitol Hill, and began her involvement with the Latin American Youth Center.  Based on the strength of her work, she was hired after her Fellowship ended to direct the organization's cutting edge youth leadership development and volunteer mentoring programs. She later transferred to the Community Peace Building Team where she worked on gang prevention and helped youth make healthy choices.

She graduated from Boston College in 2008 with a degree in Human Development and Women's Studies.

Her passion is to help young people find their voice and achieve their dreams.