The Board of Directors of the CT News Project, publisher of The CT Mirror, is pleased to announce that Juan Figueroa, of Meriden, and Morgan McGinley, of New London, have agreed to join the Project’s Board. The Board looks forward to benefiting from their perspectives about the information needs of the state, as it seeks to enhance its work in increasing civic engagement among all CT residents.
Juan Figueroa, of Meriden, led the Universal Health Care Foundation from 2003 to 2012. The Foundation has engaged a broad-based coalition in a successful organizing
campaign that won passage of two historic laws for SustiNet health reform. The Foundation’s innovative strategies have garnered national recognition including the Council on Foundations’ prestigious Wilmer Shields Award. In 2010, Mr. Figueroa took a leave of absence to run for Governor as a petitioning candidate in the Democratic Party primary and was the first Latino to run for Governor in CT.
Mr. Figueroa has formerly served as president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, as a CT legislator, and as Assistant Attorney General for the CT Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Currently, he is a board member of the Progreso Latino Fund, the Latinos for National Health Insurance, the Partnership for Strong Communities, and the Proteus Fund.
Mr. Figueroa received his J. D. from Santa Clara University, his B.A. from Macalester College, and honorary doctorates from CUNY Law School and Charter Oak College.
Morgan McGinley, of New London, was inducted into the CT Journalism Hall of Fame in 2011, having retired in 2008 after 26 years as editorial page editor of The Day. He is a past president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers Foundation and of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. He served as a Pulitzer Prize juror in 2004 and 2005.
In addition to many CT and New England writing awards, Mr. McGinley was a member of the Task Force on Minorities in the Newspaper Business and established a New England job bank for minorities. He is a Board member of the CT Council on Freedom of Information and of the CT Foundation for Open Government. He was the first James Clendinen Fellow in Critical Writing at the University of South Florida, and he received the Stephen A. Collins Freedom of Information Award and the Yankee Quill Award from the Academy of New England Journalists.
Mr. McGinley is a graduate of Colby College.