Candidate for
Board of Supervisors; County of San Francisco; Supervisorial District 7

Joel Engardio received a 2011 Master in Public Administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, with classes at Harvard Business and Law Schools. He was a scholarship winner from the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Engardio is currently a candidate for the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. He is running for an open seat in District 7 on the November 2012 ballot.

As a journalist, Engardio wrote for Washington Post.com, USA Today, San Francisco Weekly, Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe. His essays have won opinion-writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Academy of Religion Journalism Awards.

In radio, he wrote essays broadcast on NPR Weekend Edition and KQED San Francisco. In television, Engardio was an associate producer for ABC News 20/20.

Engardio wrote, narrated and directed KNOCKING, a documentary on Jehovah's Witnesses and First Amendment history that was nationally broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens. It was named Best Documentary at the USA Film Festival.

At the American Civil Liberties Union, Engardio implemented a process that applied journalism methods to plaintiff finding. Engardio found plaintiffs who had narratives that played well in both the court of law and public opinion. Then he started an online video department to produce short films featuring the most compelling stories.

Engardio received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, majoring in journalism and history. He was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. Engardio moved to San Francisco in 1998.