Miguel Ernesto Melendez
Revson Fellow 2004-2005
Regional Supervisor of Parent Support Services
New York City Department of Education
Miguel Melendez is Regional Supervisor of Parent Support Services at the New York City Department of Education. Prior to this position, he worked for three years at the Department of Education as Director of the Office of Parent and Family Involvement. Born in New York City and raised in “El Barrio,†he has been a leader in the Puerto Rican activist community for many years, organizing protests against the U.S. bombings of Vieques, demanding the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners, and working to improve health and sanitation services for his community. In 1970, he led the takeover of Lincoln Hospital and established the first drug detoxification and acupuncture clinic on the East Coast. From 1985-1995, he was also the on-air host of “Con Sabor Latino†(WBAI 99.5 F.M.), a program focused on Latino music and issues. He is the author of a memoir, We Took to the Streets: Fighting For Latino Rights (St. Martins Press, 2003). Mr. Melendez has a B.A. from SUNY College at Old Westbury and an M.P.A. from Baruch College, CUNY. As a Revson Fellow, he examined New York City’s educational delivery system through courses in education, law, sociology, and Latino studies.
(The Revson Fellow’s biography that appears above was last updated in 2004. Revson Fellows may update their biographies on this site by sending email to: revson@columbia.edu)
More than anything that Columbia had to offer, I feel that I’ve lived 9 new lives vicariously through the 9 other fellows. These are the 9 lives struggling and working for the City, while I was too, that I never knew about. My horizon has been broadened through which I would never have gotten in my classrooms.
[Robin is a Master’s degree candidate at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Mailman School of Public Health.]
