ACLU of Hawaiʻi Welcomes Mandy Fernandes as Policy Director

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT
Mandy Fernandes, Policy Director, 858-361-8959
Sergio Alcubilla, Community Engagement Director, 808-522-5908In community,

ACLU of Hawaiʻi Welcomes Mandy Fernandes as Policy Director

HONOLULU, HI – The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi (“ACLU-HI”) is pleased to welcome Amanda (“Mandy”) Fernandes as its new Policy Director. Mandy will lead the strategic development and execution of the organization’s legislative campaigns to protect civil rights and liberties across the state. Mandy will focus on issue areas ranging from criminal legal reform to immigration to LGBTQ+ rights and other key policy areas.

Prior to joining the ACLU-HI, Mandy worked as a Senior Attorney with ChangeLab Solutions, a nonprofit that uses the tools of law and policy to advance health equity. At ChangeLab, Mandy identified high-impact, community-driven solutions to pressing public health concerns, such as leading the development of a resource for school administrators to help implement alternatives to harmful punitive school discipline policies.

Mandy brings more than a decade of policy expertise and advocacy experience working in community and with nonprofits and government agencies to promote progressive policy change. She has led lobbying efforts for local nonprofits including ACLU-HI, Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network, and Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute, serving statewide campaigns on legislative issues like paid family leave, eliminating debt-based driver license revocation, and tobacco control and prevention.

Mandy also serves as a Board Member of Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks! as well as the Hawaiʻi LGBT Legal Association. Mandy earned her B.A. from California State University, Long Beach, and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
ACLU-HI Executive Director, Salmah Y. Rizvi, shared:

I am excited to work with Mandy as our new Policy Director at the ACLU of Hawaiʻi. In this critical time when our most fundamental civil liberties are at risk, her vast experience leading policy campaigns across sectors and her familiarity with the ACLU’s specific lane for changemaking gives her a unique advantage to make an immediate impact. As we prepare for the upcoming legislative session, I look forward to designing with Mandy a strategic plan that ensures we are prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors first and foremost and building state veils to protect our people from the federal government’s harmful agendas.

Kāwika Riley, board member of the ACLU-HI adds:

We are fortunate to have a Policy Director of Mandy’s caliber join the Hawai‘i ACLU. Her policy and legal expertise and her advocacy experience will help to ensure the success of our affiliate’s efforts at the legislature. The ACLU of Hawai‘i Board looks forward to supporting Mandy’s efforts to help our lawmakers fulfill the promises made in our state and federal constitution.

In starting her new role as Policy Director, Mandy strongly believes that recognizing the interconnectedness between issue areas championed by the ACLU-HI is the key to liberation. She shares:

I’m honored to step into this role under Salmah Rizvi’s leadership at this pivotal time. While the federal government moves to weaken protections for voting rights, immigration, and LGBTQ+ equality, Hawaiʻi has the opportunity to lead with a vision of justice rooted in community and collective liberation. I look forward to working with partners across the islands to defend and advance the rights and dignity of all people.

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