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. She also serves on the
Joint Legislative Commission on Female Recidivism.
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.
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 in Liberal Arts at the Community College of Rhode
Island.
Representative Cruz runs an early-childhood development program at CCAP
through the Love That Baby programs supported by the Rhode Island
Department of Health.
She currently serves on the Rhode Island Senate Commission on Justice
Reinvestment, the board of the RI Welcome Back Center, the board of the
Reentry Campus Program, the board of the Transcending Through Education
Foundation, and the executive board of the RI ACLU, and is the
co-founder of the Formerly Incarcerated Union of Rhode Island. In
addition, her past public service includes serving on the Rhode Island
Special Education Advisory Committee, the board of OpenDoors of Rhode
Island, 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.