Jovita Fontánez is the first Hispanic woman to serve as head of the Boston Election Commission
and the first Hispanic woman elected to the
Electoral College of
.
In 2014, she was honored for her contributions to the
Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños (Center for Puerto Rican Studies) archive at
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
of the
City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
.
Early life and education
Fontanez was born in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
to a Puerto Rican family.
In the 1950s, she moved to the
South End of Boston with her family
when she was eight,
and later became active in Boston politics.
After she arrived in Boston, her English skills were underdeveloped, and she was held back in fourth grade.
She graduated from
UMass Boston
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
in 1984 with a sociology degree,
holds an MPA from
Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...
, and has completed executive management
graduate programs at
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
and the
Harvard Kennedy School
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
of Government.
Career
During the course of her career, Fontanez has worked for a variety of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and political campaigns.
She served as the head of the Boston Election Commission for three years.
She has served as one of the first Latina commissioners of the Boston Fair Housing Commission, was the founding member and associate director of the South End Community Health Center,
a family case worker for South End Neighborhood Action Program,
and worked as a business manager for the City of Boston Business Development Office.
She has regularly attended the Democratic National Convention as a delegate.
In 2013, she was a member of the Massachusetts Democratic Latino Caucus.
She has also been a grassroots community activist, and in 1994
helped found and served as a director of Casa Esperanza's Latinas y Niños, a residential treatment facility focused on the needs of Latina women,
including to allow mothers to maintain custody of their children while they complete treatment, as well as additional supports such as job training and parenting classes.
She has also served as a board member of
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
Founded in 1967, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) is a community development corporation whose goal is to make sure the residents of Villa Victoria in South End, Boston keep long term control over their housing and neighborhood. They offer ma ...
(IBA),
Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, and the South End Community Health Center.
Honors and awards
* 2012,
La Alianza Hispana
La Alianza Hispana is a social service agency founded in 1969 by residents of Roxbury/ North Dorchester to support Boston's Hispanic population. La Alianza advocates for equal access to services and public resources for the Hispanic Community b ...
honor, for support of the Latino community
Personal life
She raised her two children in her home on Dartmouth Street in Boston.
In 2004, she survived a successful operation to remove a benign brain tumor.
References
Further reading
Massachusetts Electoral College 1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontanez, Jovita
Women in Massachusetts politics
University of Massachusetts Boston alumni
Living people
Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women