From Sao Paulo to Lynchburg and back, public policy graduate aims to impact homeland with biblical principles

When it came time for Liberty University alumnus Henrique Krigner, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to decide where to pursue a master’s degree in the United States, one factor stood out to him above the rest: a place where he could grow in his relationship with God.

“What I desired most about choosing a school was the ability to get teaching from a biblical perspective,” Krigner said, recalling his journey from being raised in a non-Christian home to being saved at 16 after a friend invited him to a church small group event, and now holding a Master in Public Policy through the Helms School of Government.

Even before coming to America in 2021 to pursue his master’s at Liberty, Krigner had begun to build a career for himself in Brazil. As an undergrad, Krigner amassed experience working on projects for the United Nations in Brazil and then moved into a full-time role at the World Bank, which allowed him to travel to various regions of the country. At age 28, he ran for the City Council of Sao Paulo, and while he garnered enough votes for a position on the council, his party failed to secure a majority of the seats, meaning he would become a deputy city councilmember.

All these stops not only allowed Krigner to build his résumé but also opened his eyes to an issue facing Brazil and many other nations around the world: homelessness.

As he became stronger in his faith, with the help of his pastor back home (who had attended Liberty), Krigner became more familiar with the biblical view of homelessness and poverty, driving him to make an impact.

“The Bible has the keys to show you that you can make a difference in the world wherever you are,” he said. “You don’t have to be behind a pulpit; you can be wherever you are right now. That’s your congregation.”

“I believe poverty is the greatest manifestation of the absence of biblical principles being applied (by society),” he continued, “and I think it’s the number one enemy we should be targeting. How can we be OK with some people making nothing more than $2 per day?”

His passion for fighting homelessness and poverty became central to the pursuit of his master’s degree when he participated in the prestigious Hoover Institution Policy Boot Camp at Stanford University during the summer of 2023, joining more than 100 students from other colleges to engage in active discussions about major political issues and hear from prominent professionals such as former Secretary of State and current Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice.

The students were challenged to embrace a specific topic and write a public policy proposal to the Board of Directors.

Krigner said his proposal, “Housing First but Not Only, and Certainly Not Forever,” could be read as controversial to some but not to those who take the time to dive into the issue of poverty and homelessness and the response to it in recent years.

“What homeless people are lacking is more than just a roof over their head,” Krigner said. “In most cases, there are other root causes to it. The American model has lately been ‘housing first only,’ which grants free housing to those who declare to be homeless without leading the person through a treatment process that can fix the issue that led them to be homeless in the first place. And as a country, America isn’t investing as much into projects that aren’t ‘housing first.’”

Krigner’s policy proposal is to create a system that not only provides a roof over heads but also a “treatment first” method through programs that address issues such as battling addictions or financial literacy.

Doing so, he said, will reduce the need for people to rely on the government for assistance when they can get back on their own feet.

“In the Brazilian mindset, the state is the solution for everybody’s problems,” Krigner said. “I want to work on that. I want to run for office again so I can develop policies that change the laws that allow the state to overreach like that. I want to get the state focused on what, biblically, it has the authority to work on: protecting the right to life, liberty, and property.”

Krigner’s proposal earned him a spot as one of seven winners of the 2023 Boot Camp Director’s Award, presented to students who demonstrate creativity in addressing complex policy issues. The winners were invited to the Director’s Award ceremony WHEN and WHERE, where Krigner got the opportunity to meet Rice, who took the time to read each winning proposal.

“She actually came around to each table and took the time to comment on mine,” he said. “To know that she actually read our proposals, that’s so cool. She was impressed and also curious as to what my next steps were. It was a short conversation, but a moment to remember for sure.”

For all of his experiences in the United States, Krigner was thankful for the smooth transition he had when he came to America and credited Liberty’s International Student Center with helping him through that major life change.

“I never felt like I was alone,” Krigner said. “I think that’s the hardest part of the transition for international students because you come from a place where you have your family, you have your church, you have your ministry, it’s all there.”

“But from day one, I could tell these professors care about me,” he added. “Dr. Kahlib Fischer (Department Chair for Government and Professor of Government) would invite students to his house for dinner, or make sure we had a place to go on Christmas. Those things were huge for me.”

Now with a master’s degree and experience at the Hoover Institution, Krigner is back home in Sao Paulo working with the Dunamis Movement to create the first Christian university in Brazil. He is continuing his career in public service with hopes to soon run for the National Congress of Brazil. Krigner also recently became a political commentator for Brazil’s top conservative news station, Jovem Pan.

“When you come to a country that has biblical roots and is built on biblical foundations, then you learn what the Bible is saying about government,” Krigner said about his time in America. “You say, ‘Oh, these are the differences and maybe that’s the reason why it’s not working (in Brazil).’ “We can work on that. We can make social and economic policies that would make our lives better in Sao Paulo.”