Ashley Hernandez

Ashley Hernandez is an Assistant Professor and CRP Founders Fellow in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She previously served as a researcher in the Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine. Her work bridges academic research and community engagement, focusing on issues of urban inequality and displacement in marginalized neighborhoods.

Her research explores housing and community development, urban inequality, social movements, and race, particularly within Latinx communities. Through ethnographic investigations, she examines anti-gentrification activism and the role of community-based organizations in shaping neighborhood change. Key themes include the Latinx right to the city and strategies to empower underrepresented groups against displacement. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates urban studies, sociology, and public policy to address systemic inequities.

Ashley’s research outputs include a co-authored report for the California Endowment, Increasing Community Power and Health Through Community Land Trusts, which analyzes pandemic-era responses by five historically Black and Brown communities. This work underscores her focus on grassroots solutions, health equity, and the intersection of urban planning with public health crises.

She has been recognized with the Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship and the 2020-2021 Haynes Lindley Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, reflecting her contributions to scholarship and community-centered research.

In terms of advising and grants, Ashley’s professional activities include international presentations at the Institute of Economic Development in Delhi, India, and the Laboratoire D’Urbanisme in Paris, France. While specific grant details are not provided, her work has been supported through fellowships such as the Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship and the Haynes Lindley Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, which underpin her research into community resistance and urban equity.

Information about her participation in specific laboratories or research teams is not explicitly provided in the text, though her work suggests involvement in interdisciplinary urban studies projects.