In the Spotlight: Manuel Fernandez Leading Latino Outreach Efforts in the LEI

For Manuel “Manny” Fernandez, the newest member of the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Catholic School Advantage team, service to the underprivileged and the importance of education have always been a way of life. A son of immigrant parents who both grew up in poverty—his mother, born in the Dominican Republic and growing up in Spanish Harlem, and his father a child of the Spanish Civil War —Manny was blessed with powerful witnesses to the impact of education as a proven pathway out of poverty. Growing up in Southern California, he watched both of his parents pay forward the opportunities that their education had afforded them by serving as teachers for over three decades in inner-city Los Angeles schools.

Following in the footsteps of his parents, Manny received his degree in Urban Learning—a teaching program designed specifically for educators working with at-risk children in impoverished neighborhoods—from California State University in Los Angeles. He then taught at St. Vincent Elementary School, a Daughters of Charity school located just south of the heart of downtown Los Angeles, for over eleven years.

While teaching in L.A., Manny became familiar with ACE through a number of interactions with Catholic school and archdiocesan administrators affiliated with the organization as either alumni or team members. Never did he expect, however, to find himself leaving the city he had always called home to move to South Bend, Indiana, where he’d play an integral role in advancing one of ACE’s most promising initiatives. But as providence would have it, South Bend is exactly where he landed. While teaching at St. Vincent School in L.A., Manny met his wife, Anne, a South Bend native and alumna of Notre Dame who was, at the time, serving as a Vincentian volunteer at the school. They were married three years later, and shortly thereafter headed to South Bend, Indiana, in order to be closer to family.

Manny quickly resumed his role in the classroom, teaching math and science to English language learners at Goshen Middle School for three years. Each year he was recognized by the state of Indiana for his students receiving the highest growth in test scores per the Indiana Department of Education’s testing growth module.

While always a devoted advocate of quality education, whether it be in public schools or private, Manny returned this past June to the mission in which his heart truly lies – transforming lives through Catholic education. Manny joined the Catholic School Advantage Campaign to lead the Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI), an initiative whose singular focus to close the Latino achievement gap by increasing access to Catholic schools for Latino families, paralleled the mission to which he had been devoted his whole life. “It’s just a perfect fit,” says Manny. “I have always worked with Latino children from low-income families, and working with ACE allows me to continue to do so, albeit on a macro-level. It’s a win-win situation, as not only do I get to play a role in making the gift of a Catholic education possible for Latino children, but we are also helping to sustain Catholic schools and ensure that they thrive in what can be a difficult climate.”

As the program director of the LEI, Manny will work closely with Catholic school principals and administrators around the country, helping to guide their Latino outreach and recruitment efforts. The LEI is currently in its fourth cohort, and since its inception in 2012, has worked with more than 110 schools. Manny is actively planning the LEI for the summer of 2016, exploring opportunities for growth, and serving as a personal mentor to five schools in the current cohort.

Manny and his wife, Anne, live in South Bend, Indiana, and have two children, Alyssa Rae (4) and Luke (1).