Daniel is a civic engagement and data infrastructure practitioner whose work focuses on democratic participation, immigrant justice, and the intersection of technology, research and community organizing. He currently serves as Data Manager for Florida Rising, where he develops systems that support organizing, outreach, voter participation analysis, and longitudinal membership engagement.
Daniel has contributed to national efforts supporting civic data infrastructure and cross-organizational learning, including serving as a Technical Coach for the Democracy and Power Innovation Fund's first Data Bootcamp in 2025. Daniel began his organizing work within the undocumented immigrant youth movement in 2010 when he joined the Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL), an undocumented youth-led organization. He served in volunteer leadership roles including Mental Health Lead Coordinator and later Lead Coordinator, contributing to efforts that helped introduce mental health considerations into implementation discussions surrounding the Illinois DREAM Act.
During this period, Daniel also moderated the DREAM Act Portal, one of the largest online communities for DREAM Act-eligible youth, connecting more than 120,000 members navigating immigration, education and legal uncertainty in the United States. While attending the Illinois Institute of Technology, Daniel co-founded Undocumented Students and Allies (USA@IIT), an organization that expanded visibility and institutional support for undocumented students in higher education. He also co-founded and became the first Executive Director of UFarmIIT, a student-led initiative focused on expanding food access within surrounding food desert communities.
Over the past decade, Daniel’s professional work has centered on strengthening civic participation among historically marginalized communities through civic technology, voter file analysis, quality control systems and participatory infrastructure development. He is also a former DataXPower Fellow with re:power, where he further developed his work at the intersection of organizing, civic technology and democratic participation. His work increasingly examines how data systems shape democratic inclusion, institutional trust and public participation over time.
Daniel has contributed to research environments connected to leading academic institutions including work associated with NORC at the University of Chicago, and longitudinal research related to DACA-eligible youth with Dr. Roberto Gonzales as a research assistant. His interdisciplinary interests draw from his experiences as a formerly undocumented youth, his educational background in Materials Science and Engineering, and his long-standing engagement with movement-building, systems analysis and public participation.
As an AFSEE fellow, Daniel is interested in examining how culturally and idiomatically grounded civic communication shapes democratic participation among immigrant communities. His work draws from years of direct engagement with diverse and historically marginalized immigrant communities, particularly from Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
I have seen change happen when people gain agency over their lived experiences, develop the language to describe them, and build connections with others who once carried similar experiences in silence. Even a few words, heard by the right person at the right moment, can profoundly reduce isolation and inequality by encouraging others to enter the discourse.Daniel Garcia