Cynthia Nagendra is the Vice-President of State Strategies and Innovation at NAEH, focusing her efforts on future-facing strategies at the local level. Cynthia brings deep experience in designing homelessness response, health, and housing systems and programs.  She has focused her career on effectuating systems change at all levels of government and in several communities with the goal of preventing and ending homelessness. She has gained experience in homelessness and health policy, systems change, strategic planning, fund development, data-driven program design and evaluation, advocacy, cross-sector partnerships, and research in San Francisco and dozens of communities across the country. 

Cynthia recently completed a mayoral appointment as Deputy Director of Planning and Strategy for the City and County of San Francisco on the executive leadership team of the San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH). She led the development of San Francisco’s first city-wide strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, “Home By the Bay”, designed the District 10 Bayview-focused voucher program during COVID, and was a lead designer of the Macarthur Foundation implementation of the “Just Home Initiative” in San Francisco for justice-involved youth experiencing homelessness. 

Cynthia was previously the founding Executive Director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI), where she worked with major donors to build an organization of multi-disciplinary experts that provide research and policy recommendations to city and state leaders. 

Prior to leading BHHI, she was the Director of the Center for Capacity Building at the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). At NAEH, Cynthia worked closely with federal policy makers and community practitioners to design, document, and share evidence-based policies and interventions to more effectively respond to homelessness. She co-designed national guidance such as “Key Elements to Effective Emergency Shelter” and the “RRH Standards and Benchmarks.” She also designed and delivered technical assistance and capacity building to dozens of communities around the country. 

Cynthia began her career in San Francisco providing direct services to people experiencing homelessness as a Program Manager at St. Anthony Foundation, and later, as a staff attorney at HomeBase, a policy firm.  She earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, where she worked on immigration, criminal justice re-entry, and women’s rights issues and a B.A. from Vassar College, where she majored in English.