Mr. Fernando Mateo

A hard-working and prosperous businessman, Mr. Mateo is a well-regarded community activist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. In a classic “rags-to-riches” story, Mr. Mateo built a small carpet business into a multi-million dollar operation. Eager to repay society for his good fortune, he established an effective job training and placement program for drug-free prison inmates nicknamed “M.I.T.” (The Mateo Institute of Training). Concerned about community violence, he then launched the overwhelmingly successful gun swap program “Toys for Guns”, which received national and international attention from all sectors; including government, press and private business.

Mr. Mateo has championed other causes, such as the "Goods for Guns" program, which gradually has helped remove guns off the streets, while lowering the incidence of crime and violence throughout our communities. As President of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, Mr. Mateo has sought to continuously improve upon passenger and driver safety through the use of cameras, partitions and global positioning systems, as well as by encouraging safety training courses of Federation members and non-members alike. In response to the myriad of problems facing the Federation, Mr. Mateo joined the NYSFTD in November of 1998 in order to explore advanced and innovative ways of reducing the high rate of violent assaults, injuries and murders, and in broader terms, to find ways of improving the relationship between the local and state authorities and the Federation.

As president of the NYSFTD, Fernando Mateo has lobbied successfully to secure changes in law on behalf of the livery cab population.As a result, State legislature increased punishments on criminals who perpetrate attacks upon taxi drivers from three to five years above current sentence limits. Also through these efforts, the New York State Police Department deployed an additional 300 police officers specifically for the protection of taxi drivers.