Maria C. Fernandez is currently the Senior Coordinator for the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC), a citywide coalition of New York City students of color fighting for comprehensive education reform in NYC public schools. For the past 11 years, Maria has been organizing young people around educational justice issues, including ending the criminalization and push out of low-income students of color in NYC public schools, implementing positive alternatives to harsh disciplinary practices, developing alternatives to the disruptive school closure policies, training and developing school staff and administrations on youth leadership and transformative organizing, local school facility improvements, and developing community based solutions to land use and development.
As coordinator of UYC, Maria has worked to elevate the voices of students in the public debate over education reform, ensuring that young people are at the table and viewed as critical experts in policy change. In 2012, Maria lead the creation of Journey for Justice, a national intergeneration alliance of parents and students working to fight back the privatization of education and stop the disruptive school closures in communities of color.
Previously, in her time as Director of Sistas and Brothas United (SBU) in The Bronx, Maria informed the development and direction of the Dignity In Schools Campaign – New York Chapter (DSC-NY) and the national Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ), working to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.
