Henry Fernandez
Senior Fellow
Henry Fernandez is a Senior Fellow at American Progress focusing on state and municipal policy.
Fernandez has worked broadly in local government, including as economic development administrator for New Haven, Connecticut where he oversaw the city’s seven development departments as well as the Port Authority, Development Commission, and Redevelopment Agency. He led downtown and neighborhood growth strategies, negotiated deals, and represented the city to investors, developers, and community groups. He was responsible for lobbying the board of aldermen as well as state and federal governments. He supervised housing, retail, higher education, theater, public infrastructure, and commercial development projects totaling over $1 billion.
Fernandez has helped lead local and state political campaigns, including the early campaigns of Ken Reeves, Cambridge, Massachusetts’ first African American mayor, and John DeStefano’s primary and general election campaigns for governor of Connecticut.
Fernandez was the founding executive director of LEAP, a nationally recognized child development program serving over 1,200 low income youth, primarily public housing residents, in Connecticut. He is principal of Fernandez Advisors, LLC a strategic and management consulting firm counseling businesses, foundations, non-profits, and government agencies. He has been interviewed by a diverse set of media ranging from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal, to Variety, Black Enterprise, and “Good Morning America;” as well as local print, television, and radio news.
Fernandez graduated from Yale Law School and Harvard College. He taught high school in Zimbabwe, worked for a rural organizing group in Mississippi, and was the Stupski fellow at Yale Law School. He has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the National Commission on Civic Renewal; the Connecticut Commission on Arts, Culture, and Tourism; and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. He was vice-chair of the Center for Community Change and is chair of the Campaign for Community Change.
Fernandez lives with his wife Kica Matos and their son in New Haven, Connecticut.
Email: hfernandez /@\ americanprogress.org
Articles by Henry Fernandez
- Chris Christie Needs a History Lesson on Referendums and Civil Rights, February 4, 2012
- Mississippi Voter ID Law Would Disenfranchise Black Voters, November 8, 2011
- Is the Gulf Coast Safe for Immigrant Women?, November 8, 2011
- SAT Scores Drop Dramatically: Is It Because of Race?, September 21, 2011
- Immigrant Rights Activists Are Obama’s Freedom Riders, August 22, 2011
- Arizona Bajo Fuego, February 18, 2011
- Arizona Under Fire, February 15, 2011
- Death at the Border, August 31, 2010
- Fighting Back Against Copycat Immigration Laws Like Arizona’s, August 24, 2010
- La Falsa Premisa del Enfrentamiento entre Afro-Americanos e Inmigrantes, March 19, 2010
- Blacks vs. Immigrants Is a Zero-Sum Argument, March 19, 2010
- A Promise Deferred Is a Promise Broken, March 9, 2010
- Rules for (Dealing with) Radicals, August 7, 2009
- Supreme Court Rules that Immigrants Have Rights, Too, May 5, 2009
- New Beltway Bandits, February 9, 2009
- Killing Itself for the Right to Discriminate, July 8, 2008
- The Perils of Mortgage Fraud: Why Cities Should Care, March 4, 2008
- Unconstitutional Cowboys, October 24, 2007
- Safer Driving, Stronger Security, September 26, 2007
- Conozca bien sus fuentes de información: los medios dominantes y los supuestos 'expertos' en inmigración, September 19, 2007
- Know Your Sources: The Mainstream Press Keeps Finding Wacky Immigration “Experts”, September 19, 2007
- Hypocritical Editorial Policies, July 18, 2007
- Inaction Begets Reaction: Stalled Immigration Reform Sparks Problems, July 11, 2007
- Today I Am Proud to Call New Haven My Hometown, June 5, 2007
- Limited Benefits: Insurers Peddle “Limited Health Care” to America’s Working Poor, May 7, 2007
- Phoning Home: High Cost Calls Hinder Prisoner Rehabilitation, April 9, 2007
