Councilmember looks out for Spanish speakers

By IJEOMA OPARA

Fidel Alfaro, 42, has run Alfaro Barbershop on Rhode Island Avenue since 2019, but he speaks very little English.

So most of the information he learns about the city comes from one of his regular customers, City Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1), who gives him the information in Spanish.

“Even [on days] he just comes to cut his hair, he always gave me some ideas about how the city works,” Alfaro said through an interpreter.

When Hernandez told him about College Park’s economic development grants last year, Alfaro’s shop was in need of renovations. With guidance from Hernandez, who has served on the council since 2023, Alfaro filled out the application forms. By the end of 2024, the shop had $14,000 to spend on new floors, doors, ceiling repairs and security cameras.

“He always had time to get here,” Alfaro said of Hernandez.

Now Alfaro encourages other Spanish-speaking business owners in North College Park to be more involved with the city government.

When Hernandez took office, one of his priorities was engaging both English and Spanish communities through a bilingual approach, the councilmember said.

To that end, he supported the city’s hiring of a bilingual staff member in 2024 to translate city documents into Spanish.

A first-generation American born in Kansas City, Kansas, Hernandez, 32, learned English as a second language in school. He spoke only Spanish at home because his father was not bilingual when he was a child.

“For me, one of the difficult things that I, like many others … experienced is walking your parents through every single step, whether that is interpreting at a parent-teacher’s conference or having a conversation with your parents about important documents that they need to sign,” he said. “Everything from registering you for school to field trips. For me, it was trying to help them stabilize their lives.”

He said the experience of helping his parents navigate society as non-native English speakers has influenced his work on the city council, where he advocates for sharing city information in Spanish.

At 13, Hernandez left Kansas City and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he attended high school.

Navigating a childhood that he described as complicated after his parents divorced, he applied for legal emancipation at 16. By 17, a court in Phoenix granted him full emancipation and he joined the military shortly after.

He was admitted to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, but graduated from the University of Arizona in 2016. He earned a master of professional studies and applied intelligence from Georgetown University in 2019.

Hernandez spent seven years in active military service before moving to the reserves in 2017, where he has remained.

In 2021, he moved to North College Park, where he lives with his mother and siblings. 

Two years after moving to the city, Hernandez ran for office and won the vacant District 1 seat.

“One of the things that I’m really passionate about is trying to engage and inspire a new civically engaged resident, whether it be an English speaker, Spanish speaker. … Many people aren’t aware of the various services the city does for the community,” he said.

To achieve this, Hernandez engages in Spanish with Spanish-speaking constituents on social media.

“The most exciting thing … is seeing that first ‘like,’” he said. “You know somebody read that update. Or having them come up to you and say: ‘Thanks so much for posting that, it’s super helpful.’ That’s one person at a time.”

Offline, he engages with business owners on city programs, noting that those in North College Park typically do not take advantage of them as frequently as proprietors in other parts of the city.

“There is a visible difference in private economic investment in the northern part of the city,” Hernandez said. “I think it’s because there are a lot of small business owners [there] for whom English is not predominantly their first language. … What I have been able to do is talk to some of the Spanish-speaking business owners and try to encourage them to apply to some of these economic development grants. … I literally walked into every business in the Hollywood Shopping Center to try to encourage them.”

Still, he said skepticism among the business owners is limiting these efforts to promote more interaction with the government among Spanish-speaking residents.

Although he contacted various business owners, Hernandez said Alfaro was the only one who acted on the information he shared.

“I can’t want it more than them, but I can tell them that the resources are there,” he said.

For his full-time job, Hernandez works at the U.S. Department of State in the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

“It is one of the most rewarding roles I’ve had in national security,” Hernandez said.

His responsibilities include communicating with families of U.S. citizens wrongfully detained outside the country and working with colleagues to secure their release.

In 2023, Hernandez was part of a team that secured the release of 10 U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela. 

In January, 2025, he was also part of the negotiations between the U.S. government and the Taliban that led to the release of two Americans detained in Afghanistan.

Beyond his interest in national security, Hernandez said he hopes to build a community of Spanish-speaking College Park residents who will continue to engage with the local government even after he leaves the city council.