Ricard Valentí (34 years old) is President of the Associació de Joves Gitanos de Gràcia and a young European activist from Rome and, in addition, he works as a school promoter for the Fundació Privada Pere Closa with gypsy boys and girls from the Hostafrancs neighborhood to prevent school absenteeism. He started in the world of activism when he was 27 years old. He traveled all over Europe to make the Roma people visible and fight against anti-Gypsyism, visiting survivors of Nazi concentration camps and giving lectures. “It was very difficult to recover and resize the image and the way of claiming the rights and interests of the Roma community in Gràcia. We have carried out activities related to education (English and Romani classes), anti-Gypsyism, historical memory, and we participate in neighborhood activities.”
