Her work focuses on community-based movements and the Latino experience of urban space. Her book Power at the Roots: Gentrification, Community Gardens, and the Puerto Ricans of the Lower East Side was published by Lexington Books. In 2012 she published with Alan Aja the article "Democratic Rights and Nuyorican Identity in the Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño" in Latino(a) Research Review. In November 2009 her article "Attack of the Butterfly Spirits: The Impact of Movement Framing by Community Garden Preservation Activists" was published in the journal Social Movement Studies. She is a board member of the Cooper Square Land Trust in lower Manhattan, and was a board member of the Lower East Side Peoples Federal Credit Union. Currently, Martinez is conducting interviews with Brooklyn homeowners experiencing foreclosure as a result of subprime mortgages. Show Scholarly Activities and Professional Accomplishments