Meet Charniele Herring

Charniele’s lifelong commitment to public service began at age 13, when she testified before a committee serving President Ronald Reagan’s White House about the need for continued health care coverage for military children.  As an adult, she has combined this advocacy with a thriving career in business, building bipartisan coalitions seeking solutions for issues such as the homelessness of children.

Delegate Herring has lived in Northern Virginia area for almost 30 years, 22 of them in the West End of Alexandria.  She is a Past President of the West End Business Association (WEBA), serves on the Board of Directors for the Hopkins House and is a member of the Greater Washington Board of Trade (BOT) Policy and Outreach Committee.

Prior to her election, Delegate Herring was very active in issues affecting the homeless and children, an issue that has touched her personally after experiencing homelessness as a child.  As a participant with Social Action Linking Together (S.A.L.T.) she received the Monsignor Geno Baroni Award for Social Justice for her work to get full funding for the Homeless Intervention Act.  She founded and co-chaired the Virginia Privileged Communication Task Force which was comprised of counselors and advocates around the state. She worked with a bi-partisan delegation to get a bill sponsored to protect communications between victims and advocates. Governor Tim Kaine twice appointed her to the Council on the Status of Women.

Delegate Herring earned a B.A. in Economics from George Mason University and a J.D. from the Catholic University Columbus School of Law.