Renan Ferreirinha

Municipal Secretary of Education in Rio de Janeiro

A native of São Gonçalo (RJ), Renan Ferreirinha, the Deputy Secretary of Education for the city of Rio de Janeiro, had his life transformed by education. He was accepted into nine of the top American universities before choosing to study Economics and Political Science at Harvard, where he graduated in 2017 with a full scholarship due to financial need.
He co-founded Formigueiro, the first crowdfunding platform in Brazil exclusively focused on educational projects; Mapa Educação, a movement advocating for quality education for all Brazilians through youth leadership; and Acredito, an independent political movement working for the renewal of people, practices, and principles in Brazilian politics.
After graduating from Harvard, Ferreirinha returned to Brazil to continue his work as a social entrepreneur and education activist, believing it was time to come back home and make a difference here.
To fight for politics that make a difference in people’s lives, he ran for state deputy in 2018 under the PSB party in Rio de Janeiro. He was elected with 24,854 votes and became, at 25 years old, the youngest deputy in the Alerj for the 2019-2022 term.
In January 2021, he assumed the position of Municipal Secretary of Education in Rio de Janeiro.