Emily Byrne
Executive Director
Biographical information
Emily Byrne, M.P.A., is the Executive Director of Connecticut Voices for Children.
She has extensive experience in developing human-centered policies and programs as well as driving effective advocacy strategies in service of progressive change. Byrne has led and contributed to work that has been recognized by past White House administrations and has appeared in numerous publications. Most notably, she was the founding Executive Director of New Haven Promise, a nonprofit at the intersection of education and economic development.
Emily earned an M.P.A. from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a B.A. in Political Science from Providence College. A public servant by training, she started her career as a policy analyst for the City of New Haven, CT where she helped design the nation’s first municipal identification card for residents irrespective of immigration status. Since then she has held various governmental leadership positions as a systems intrapreneur within the social and economic justice arenas.
She is also a past U.S. Visiting Fellow with the Robert Bosch Foundation in Germany. Her research focused on migrant rights and racial justice vis-à-vis democratic participation and education.