National Issues Forums Institute Welcomes Christine Fernando as Communications and Creative Coordinator

​The National Issues Forums Institute has welcomed Christine Fernando as its new Communications and Creative Coordinator, bringing to the role a distinguished journalism career that includes national democracy reporting for the Associated Press and coverage of civil rights and democratic institutions for USA TODAY and other outlets. Fernando's approach to storytelling — grounded in trust-building across difference, clarity amid complexity, and centering lived civic experience — translates directly into strengthening the way NIFI communicates deliberative practice to communities, partners, and the broader public. In her new role, she will help shape NIFI's narrative presence as the organization moves toward the launch of What's Next, America? ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary. Her hire represents a meaningful investment in the field's ability to connect deliberative democracy to the communities it most needs to reach, advancing NCDD's mission to strengthen public engagement and democratic participation.

---

---

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), a longtime anchor of the dialogue and deliberation field and a key partner organization in the NCDD network, has announced the hiring of Christine Fernando as its new Communications and Creative Coordinator. Fernando brings to the role an accomplished career in national journalism, including work as a democracy reporter for the Associated Press and reporting experience at USA TODAY and other national and local outlets. Her career has centered on translating complex, high-stakes public issues into clear, human-centered narratives — covering civil rights, democratic institutions, and the communities most directly navigating contested public questions. Her personal history, shaped by her family's roots amid political upheaval in Sri Lanka, has instilled in her a deep and abiding understanding that democracy is both fragile and worth protecting.

Fernando's transition from journalism to communications work at NIFI is less a departure than a deepening of the same commitments that have guided her reporting. Across her career, she has been recognized for building trust across differences, holding complexity without reducing it, and centering the lived experiences of communities whose voices are too often absent from civic narratives. At NIFI, she will apply those same capacities to shaping how the organization communicates its work — amplifying deliberative practices, elevating community voices, and making the case, through accessible and compelling storytelling, that democratic participation is not abstract or distant but something people practice every day. Her background in digital platforms, newsletters, and visual storytelling adds a creative dimension to NIFI's communications capacity at a significant moment in the organization's growth.

Fernando joins NIFI as the organization moves toward the launch of its What's Next, America? initiative, timed to the United States' 250th anniversary — a moment that invites the kind of broad, inclusive public deliberation that NIFI has championed for decades. For the NCDD community, her arrival is a meaningful signal: that the skills of careful, trust-building journalism and the values of deliberative democracy are not just compatible but mutually reinforcing. As the field works to connect with broader publics, communicate its methods and impact, and invite new communities into civic life, Fernando's expertise represents exactly the kind of capacity the D&D field needs. NCDD members are encouraged to follow NIFI's work and share this announcement through their networks.

​Read the full announcement at https://nifi.org/nifi-welcomes-christine-fernando-as-communications-creative-coordinator/