Sandra Hernandez is a program assistant in the Strengthening U.S. Democracy program. Her previous work experience includes serving immigrant communities through the Office of Immigrant Services and Language Affairs at the NYC Administration for Children’s Services and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
At the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, Hernandez built up system capacity to help the agency address the intersections of immigration, child welfare, and language access. Additionally, she translated and transcribed agency material and media inquiries (English to Spanish and Spanish to English) for the division of external affairs’ marketing and language access teams. At the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Hernandez worked primarily with the NYC Care program, which provides support to community-based organizations that work to enroll undocumented and low-income New Yorkers in NYC Care, a low-cost to no-cost health services access program offered by NYC Health + Hospitals. She also collaborated with the Language Services Team for Spanish and French translations and transcriptions, and she volunteered as a facilitator for the We Speak NYC program, New York City’s free English-language learning program, created and managed by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Hernandez triple majored — in linguistics and French studies; emergency preparedness, homeland security, and cybersecurity; and urban studies and planning — at the University at Albany–State University of New York. Throughout all three majors, she focused on systemically marginalized communities and intersectionality. During her undergraduate studies, Hernandez was a Spanish language tutor and supported nonprofits in the South End of Albany that addressed food insecurity, community wealth, and environmental justice. She also interned for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and at both the CEHC Makerspace and the Drone Research Laboratory at the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity.
