Emerald Hernández-Parra

Emerald Hernández-Parra is Assistant Director, Special Projects in the City of Columbus Department of Development, where she oversees multimillion-dollar community investment programs addressing homelessness and deeply affordable housing. She also co-chairs the board of the Columbus and Franklin County Continuum of Care and recently authored a FEMA grant application that was awarded $6.8 million. Before becoming a full-time policy advisor in 2018, she spent a decade lobbying at the state and federal levels, helping create the Ohio Department of Veterans Services and the Ohio Veterans Bonus and pass police body camera standards. Her work also contributed to Columbus winning the 2016 U.S. Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge.