One principle
Priscilla Garces is an American disability rights leader, United Nations Representative and Global Ambassador for Peace, Climate Reality Leader, and founder of Always Forward. Over more than a decade of public service, from township advisory boards to the New Jersey Statehouse, from Capitol Hill to the United Nations, she has been guided by one principle: the people a law touches must have a hand in writing it.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University, where she graduated with honors; a Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership and Development from Fordham University, where she was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society; and a Professional Certificate in Bilingual Translation from New York University.
Early life
Priscilla Garces was born in Ecuador. She was born prematurely, with medical complications that left her visually impaired from birth. Her family came to Newark, New Jersey, and she grew up in the Ironbound and went through the Newark public schools.
Beginnings in New Jersey
Ms. Garces entered public life in 2012 through the Lions Club, rising to Global Service Team Coordinator in 2018. She served on the transition team of Governor Philip D. Murphy and on the state's Diversity and Inclusion Council, sat on the Steering Committee of the People's Climate Movement, and helped lead the "Impact of Voting" community campaign to bring accessible assistive technology into New Jersey polling places. She is a founding Cabinet Committee member of Emerge New Jersey, which prepares women to run for and win public office, and a member of the New Jersey Disability Collective, where she coordinated a statewide roundtable between disability advocates and elected officials on prioritizing disability policy.
In 2019 she made history as the first visually impaired woman to run for the Newark Board of Education, campaigning as an independent on a platform of empathy, direction, and unity. The race placed her at the top of Insider NJ's list of New Jersey's most influential Millennials, and in 2021 Insider NJ honored her for Women's History Month.
"Priscilla Garces has never asked for a seat at the table she was not prepared to earn."
Trenton
Her defining legislative achievement came in Trenton. Working shoulder to shoulder with fellow advocates, Ms. Garces submitted written testimony and testified before committee hearings in support of the WorkAbility legislation, which Governor Philip D. Murphy signed into law in 2022 to expand economic opportunity for New Jerseyans with disabilities. That work earned her a place on Insider NJ's Top 100 Policymakers list. In 2026, the year the United States marks its 250th anniversary, she was again named one of New Jersey's Top 100 Most Influential Policymakers.
Washington
Her voice carries to Washington as well. Her open letter to Congress, "Please Save Medicaid," made the case for protecting the healthcare, assistive technology, and support services on which Americans with disabilities depend, and drew the attention of a Member of Congress who weighed presenting it during a committee markup on Capitol Hill. A published commentator on disability, climate, and civic policy, she has written for Insider NJ and the Friends National Resource Center, among other outlets.
The world stage
On the world stage, Ms. Garces co-organized the 2022 international forum "Nothing About Us Without Us" with the UNESCO Center for Peace, convening leaders from Uganda, the United States Senate, and the neurodiversity community. She co-organized the United Nations Day observance at Kean University with the Women's Federation for World Peace International, and in 2023 was appointed United Nations Representative and Global Ambassador for Peace on behalf of the Universal Peace Federation and WFWPI.
She has since addressed Civil Society Town Halls at UN Headquarters in New York, hybrid sessions of the UN Civil Society Conference in Nairobi ahead of the 2024 Summit of the Future, the Hybrid Meet-and-Greet Forum in Vienna, and United Nations Day programs with partner NGOs and universities. As a member of the UN accessibility committee for the Summit of the Future, she helped open the world's largest multilateral gathering of 2024 to delegates with disabilities. In July 2026 she spoke at the High-Level Political Forum side event "From Crisis to Transformation," calling for investment in clean-water access for at-risk populations through modern management systems and technology.
In pursuit of policy ideas to bring home to New Jersey, she has traveled to Japan, Thailand, and Dubai, and in 2026 she received first place in the Mujer Generosidad category of the Inspirando Vidas Awards in Mexico, which honor women whose service inspires others to act.
Always Forward
Through Always Forward, she has convened forums on women's empowerment and disability inclusion; organized the "Act Now for a More Peaceful World" International Day of Peace celebration at Kean University, bringing together State Senator Joseph P. Cryan, diplomats, and young people; launched the NJ Farmacy and Peace Garden with WFWPI; contributed to Echoes of Civil Society, formerly the UN Civil Society Conference Outreach Committee; and led a collaborative campaign to prevent domestic violence during the 16 Days of Activism, which culminates each year on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Protecting the most vulnerable from gender-based violence is a throughline of everything she does.
At home in Union County
Ms. Garces chairs the Union Township ADA Committee and serves on the Union County Advisory Board on Persons with Disabilities and the Human Services Advisory Council. She sits on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Fund for the Blind and serves as State Chair of the Youth Engagement wing of G100, a global network of one hundred wings devoted to gender equality, safety, and economic empowerment. In June 2026 she stood with nonprofit leaders and elected officials at the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits' inaugural Advocacy Day at the Statehouse, testifying on the need for sustained public investment in the organizations that serve New Jersey families and pressing for better access to the technology platforms on which they depend.
Priscilla Garces has never asked for a seat at the table she was not prepared to earn. She has spent her career making sure the next person through the door, whatever their ability, language, or zip code, finds one waiting. Her work for peace, sustainability, and inclusion continues to widen that circle, in New Jersey and far beyond it.
Personal life
Ms. Garces lives in Union, New Jersey. She credits her family and friends with carrying her through the hardest stretches, the pandemic among them: "I have my family around who help me out," she has said, counting her blessings daily. Those months also sharpened a habit of noticing. During the lockdown she heard, in her words, "thousands of birds, in a way I've never heard before."
Her refuge is a backyard herb garden of oregano, chamomile and mint. "When you plant herbs, it creates a sense of peace," she says. "Nature heals and peace starts at home." That conviction became public work when Always Forward joined the launch of the NJ Farmacy and Peace Garden. Travel feeds what she calls an irrepressible curiosity about the world: Japan, Thailand and Dubai in search of disability-policy ideas, and in 2026 Mexico, where she accepted the Inspirando Vidas award and stood at the Pacific Ocean for the first time.