Diandria Hernandez, Dee for short, is a native New Yorker, wife, and mom of two. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Forensic Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Human Resources both from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NYC.
She has dedicated her career to helping those in need. With more than 18 years of experience in social and direct service, she has worked to address societal issues such as homelessness, mental illness, gentrification, accessibility to public benefits, and affordable housing.
Dee began her career in human services as an intensive case manager. It was in that position that she learned about all the social and economic issues her clients were battling against every day. She worked diligently to help them navigate resources while addressing issues such as substance abuse and mental health. Her passion for working with those in need lead her to oversee a contracted social services program by Amtrak where she worked tirelessly with street homeless individuals who also suffered from mental illness and substance abuse. She later became the Director of Family Services at a family shelter in the Bronx, where she worked to reunite families, and to locate housing and employment opportunities.
It was through this experience that she discovered her interest in audit planning and accepted a position with the NYC Campaign Finance Board as an analyst. During her time there, she honed in on her auditing and analysis skills and eventually used them to return to social services as the director of three-community based Homebase locations in the Bronx. There, she continued to fight against unfair housing practices in NYC and worked closely with the Department of Homeless Services to identify available low-income housing and instances of housing discrimination.
Her hard work, visible through the success of the programs she managed, lead her to be recruited by the New York City Human Resource Administration (HRA). She comes to the Y as their former Deputy Director of Outreach and Program Quality Assurance, where she was responsible for the oversight of the programs she previously managed, expanding her portfolio to 26 contracted programs throughout NYC.
