Chanelle P. Hardy, a passionate advocate for economic opportunity and civil rights for African Americans, leads the Policy, Research and Advocacy activities of the National Urban League as SVP for Policy and Executive Director of the Washington Bureau. She represents the League before the Congress and at federal agencies on all Urban League priorities, including the federal budget, job creation and entrepreneurship, asset-building and homeownership, education and training, and access to quality healthcare. She is particularly focused on telecommunications and technology policy, which she believes is a key driver of community empowerment through access to information, culture and opportunity.
During her tenure, Ms. Hardy has established the Urban Solutions Council to explore areas of strategic policy alignment between the League and private sector. She has led the growth and expansion of the "NUL on the Hill" Legislative Policy Conference; worked with the Association of (Urban League) Executives to launch Affiliate Policy Task Forces in Jobs, Housing & Asset-Building, Education and Healthcare; and launched Project Advocate – an initiative to promote civic engagement and non-partisan voter registration and education activities across the affiliate movement. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the State of Black America and Equality Index, which is going into its thirty-seventh publication.
Prior to joining the League, Ms. Hardy served as a Counsel and Chief of Staff to a Democratic Member of the US Congress, as a Staff Attorney in the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection, as a Policy Fellow and Legislative Counsel to Consumers Union, and as a Teach for America Corps member, teaching fifth graders in Washington, DC. She received her JD from the Howard University School of Law.
Ms. Hardy has been quoted as a policy expert and offered commentary in numerous media outlets, including The Root, National Public Radio, The Washington Post and the Associated Press.
Ms. Hardy is a member of the boards of Excel Academy Public Charter School, the first all-girls public school in Washington, DC; and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute; and is a member of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA.