Our Platform

Deliver Affordability for Harlem
Fighting Displacement in Harlem with Stable Housing for All
Investing in Our Future - Public Education
Delivering Reparations for Black Harlemites 
Defending Harlem and Protecting Our Community - Community Protection
Making College a Right, Not a Luxury - Making CUNY Affordable
Solidarity With Labor - Building Worker Power, Not Boss Power
Organizing our Community and Building Robust Constituent Services

Deliver Affordability for Harlem

The people of Harlem are struggling. The median income for a Harlem household is just under $51,000, a full 36% less than the citywide median income of $79,480. The poverty rate in Central Harlem hovers at 28.6%, approximately 10 percentage points higher than the citywide poverty rate. Everything costs too much. And, the People bear those costs. I will change that by fighting with you and for you to make things affordable for the average Harlemite.

  • While many New Yorkers struggle to make ends meet, the wealthiest have only gotten richer because they  don’t pay their fair share. Fortune 500 companies made record profits this year. That’s why we need to tax the rich: to be able to pay for important services for all New Yorkers, but Harlemites especially. By expanding the number of tax brackets, creating an heirs’ tax, taxing the most successful corporations, and creating a capital gains tax we can fund quality education, rental assistance, universal healthcare, universal childcare, and more to provide material changes to everyday Harlemites.

  • Raising children anywhere is an expensive endeavor, but with daycare costs reaching tens of thousands of dollars a year, it is incredibly hard for parents to be able to afford having and caring for their children. Universal childcare would make it possible for parents to raise their children here in Harlem. Everyone, from Governor Hochul on down, believes we need to give parents a fighting chance. But the pilot program in the budget, while good, does not go far enough. We need to give every family access to childcare, from six weeks until kindergarten. And we can’t just pass universal childcare, we need to fight for our childcare workers–who are consistently paid some of the lowest wages in the state even as the cost of daycare has jumped by as much as 43% over the past seven years–to make not just a living, but a thriving wage. A fully funded universal childcare system with properly compensated childcare workers will provide the best care for the youngest in Harlem.

  • Everyone has been late to work or even to a gathering with friends because a train wasn’t running or the bus was running ten minutes late. Being late costs Harlemites time and money. But we can have a public transit system that serves Harlem regularly, quickly, and efficiently. By fighting for a State budget that includes MTA funding specifically for repairing aging subway infrastructure, ensuring stops are accessible, and making buses free, we can have a world class public transit system that everyone can depend on down to the minute.

Fighting Displacement in Harlem

with Stable Housing for All

It’s expensive to live in our city. The working people of Harlem are being crushed and forced out by ever increasing rents. For those who want to own homes, that dream is deferred due to out of reach prices. Small business owners are struggling to make ends meet, forcing them to give up on their stores altogether. Making Harlem affordable requires tackling the affordability of residential and commercial rents. Together we can ensure no one is displaced from Harlem.

  • We’re in a housing crisis and we must build more housing. But the solution can’t be building luxury towers where most of the units are completely unaffordable to Harlemites. Other places around the world have tackled this problem through social housing: mixed-income housing backed by the government as a public good. This approach insulates housing from market forces and keeps rents low while maintaining quality. 

    We can once again bring social housing to Harlem by creating the Social Housing Development Authority. Similar to developments like Riverton, which successfully created housing that was affordable for Harlemites who worked in a range of professions from bus driver to medical doctor and fostered a strong and interwoven community, the Social Housing Development Authority would develop housing for all Harlemites, not just those with the biggest bank accounts. The Authority would build green social housing managed by residents using union labor. By pursuing social housing, particularly green social housing, we can ensure that Harlem remains a place where no one is pushed out, where families can grow, and where our environment is protected.  

  • Tenants should never feel like they’re at the mercy of their landlords. This is especially true when a landlord decides to thwart a tenant association by selling their building and disrupting negotiations. Giving tenants a right of first refusal on rental housing being sold gives them the ability to band together and continue living in their homes, create permanently affordable housing, and forge a pathway to homeownership. The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act ensures tenants have the ability to take housing into their own hands.

  • Harlem’s small businesses are part of what make Harlem, Harlem. Some are core to Harlem’s history and identity. But, they are struggling to make rent just like Harlem’s families. With rents going up more and more, businesses are being forced to choose between passing on costs to our neighbors or shutting their doors for good. But we can help keep the businesses that have served Harlem in Harlem without forcing them to break the bank. By applying rent stabilization to commercial rents for the small businesses that provide the backbone of our community, we can make sure that Harlemites thrive, not just survive.

Delivering Reparations for Black Harlemites 

Black Americans continue to endure the financial impacts of slavery, Jim Crow-era policies, and decades of redlining. According to data from the Federal Reserve, despite accounting for 13.7% of the population, Black families hold just 3.4% of the wealth. In contrast, white households hold 84.2 percent of all U.S. wealth. Harlemites intimately understand this struggle. So many of us are  renters without the comfort and stability that is afforded by ownership, and we’re all constantly fighting to make ends meet. It is time to abolish the continuing vestiges of slavery and begin righting one of our nation’s original sins.

In 2023, the state established the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies to examine the legacy of slavery and the ongoing impacts of discrimination against people of African descent. While this represents a necessary first step towards justice, Black Harlemites deserve far more to rectify a long history of racist inequity. I am committed to fighting for real reparations for Black New Yorkers—implementing the recommendations of the State Commission’s future report, putting funds into the pockets of Black citizens, promoting homeownership by funding rent to own initiatives, preserving our sacred Black spaces, and funding small business loans and social enterprise programs for Black small businesses.

Defending Harlem and Protecting Our Community - Community Protection

Harlem is home to generations of people who have survived and thrived in the face of racist and unjust laws, violent policing, and state surveillance. This is especially true today, as the Trump administration wants to lock up and deport our neighbors because they don't fit into their racist definition of what it means to be an American. But Harlem has always been tied together by our culture, which has blossomed because of the millions of people who have walked these streets, shared themselves and protected their neighbors. And I am going to make sure that we continue protecting Harlem and give people a true chance to build or rebuild their lives here.

  • Predominately Black and brown neighborhoods like ours experience disproportionate policing, resulting in higher rates of arrest and incarceration. And, corporations profit off of our incorporation — resulting in a system, where our bodies and labor are still used to build profits for other people. In New York City, Harlemites experience some of the highest incarceration rates. Our criminal legal system often locks people up and doesn’t look back — it doesn’t truly take into account an individual’s rehabilitation, the efforts and activities they have undertaken since being incarcerated, the likelihood of recidivism, their age, or their health. It decimates communities, separates families, and inflicts generational trauma. We must address the broken system and recognize the humanity of our neighbors by improving opportunities for an individual’s sentencing to be revisited by passing Fair and Timely Parole, Elder Parole, Second Look Sentencing, and the Earned Time Act. Further, we must allow the circumstances of an offense to be taken into account at sentencing through the passage of the Marvin Mayfield Act.

    We must ensure that those who are imprisoned in New York facilities are not subject to abuse or inhumane conditions. In Albany, I will work to  pass Rights Behind Bars to improve conditions for individuals who are incarcerated, and address New York’s unjust prison labor system. Currently, people in New York prisons are forced to work–often in unsafe conditions–for as little as 10 cents an hour and, if they refuse, they can be subject to loss of visitation, lengthened sentences, or solitary confinement. Our state must pass the No Slavery in New York Act, to prohibit individuals from being punished for refusing to work, the Prison Wage Act, to increase the wage of workers who are incarcerated, and the Fairness and Opportunity for Incarcerated Workers Act, to guarantee people who are incarcerated health and safety protections and provide job opportunities that set people up for success upon release.

  • Every year the NYPD responds to approximately 200,000 calls involving mental health crises. However, the police are not mental health professionals – they are given deadly weapons and are often not trained to desescalate the situations they are sent to handle. New York must end its overreliance on law enforcement and change how it responds to people in crisis. Albany must pass Daniel’s Law to ensure that mental health responders and peers are the first line of response when someone is in crisis to truly keep our community safe.

  • Every New Yorker should feel safe regardless of their immigration status. To make sure that happens, we need to ensure that police and corrections officers across the state do not question people about their status and that they don’t share information with ICE. Passing New York for All would bar information sharing about immigration status between New York law enforcement and federal immigration officials and would ensure that state and local law enforcement do not divert their resources to help carry out Trump’s deportation agenda.

  • To stop the deportation machine that threatens our neighbors, we have to end collaboration between New York State and federal immigration enforcement. Dignity Not Detention would bar the use of local and state facilities for ICE detention, ending New York’s complicity in the caging of our immigrant neighbors.

  • Deportation is a cruel punishment, tearing people away from family and community — often to countries they no longer know, or where they face grave danger. Yet, even with stakes that high, people facing deportation do not have a right to a free lawyer, as they would in criminal court. The Access to Representation Act will guarantee that every person threatened by the deportation machine has someone standing beside them to fight for a real chance at staying home, and the Build Act will create the infrastructure we need to do that. 

  • Right now, in addition to a push to erase black history, there is a push to erase the history, struggle, and way of choosing to live for our Queer and Trans siblings. And, our Trans siblings — especially our black Trans siblings are at the intersection of every struggle that divides the power of the working class. Every single Harlemite deserves to be able to lead a dignified life. And, we have to protect the rights of Queer and Trans siblings to be able to do so.  I will fight fight to Decriminalize Sex Work, Pass the GIRDS Act, and fight to prohibit New York from contracting with cointractors, who do not provide health insurance which covers services for transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive people.

  • Our trans siblings deserve care that affirms their identity. Services that allow people to transition, regardless of whether those services are surgical, hormonal, or involve other treatments, are healthcare. Our trans siblings deserve healthcare that addresses their needs. And I will support requiring all insurers to cover that care.

  • You don't stop being who you are once you're incarcerated. Everyone deserves access to the health products they need and to be treated with the respect they deserve. And this means ensuring that if a person is incarcerated they're placed in the facility that most closely aligns with their gender. Not doing so puts our trans siblings at far greater risk as being placed in a facility with people who don't align with their gender can lead to their abuse. We must ensure everyone is treated with the dignity they deserve, and passing the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity and Safety Act will help make that a reality.

Solidarity With Labor - Building Worker Power, Not Boss Power

The power of the working class is what makes Harlem run. We all hustle to make ends meet. But that hustle should benefit us, not our bosses. That’s why we need to fight for legislation that builds the power of workers, giving us more say in what we do and how we do it.

Investing in Our Future - Public Education

The students of Harlem deserve a quality education where they are supported socially and emotionally. Providing the highest quality of education that is owed to the children of Harlem requires fully funding our schools, abolishing the school to prison pipeline, and winning for community-based schools where teachers live in the neighborhood and are invested in their communities.

  • For decades, our leaders in Albany have failed to fund our schools at the level necessary to provide a quality education. I will invest in our students by fighting to fix and fully fund the foundation aid formula. We need a foundation aid formula that better measures where people are struggling, reflects the many cultures and languages in our community, keeps pace with the increasing costs of living in Harlem, and is developed with real input from the Harlemites. Funding a fixed foundation aid formula is necessary because adequate funding ensures our schools can provide essential resources, hire qualified staff, and improve educational materials. We must advocate for a transparent budgeting process that allows community input and addresses disparities among schools that hurts our community.

  • Black and Brown students are too often subjected to disciplinary measures that disproportionately impact their futures. Suspensions lead to learning loss, more suspensions, and increased contact with the criminal legal system. Suspensions have a detrimental effect on the students who are suspended. Students are more likely to be suspended again, and, compared to their peers who have not been suspended, are more likely to end up trapped in the criminal legal system. We need to drastically drop the number of suspensions given to students and replace them with restorative options that escape the punitive and carceral mindset represented by suspensions. I would do that by working to pass the Judge Judith S. Kaye  Solutions Not Suspensions  Act.

  • The average student spends over 1200 hours a year in school. Given the amount of time our kids are spending in school, we need to ensure they have access to quality education, health services, mentorship opportunities, and more. Community schools successfully integrate social services, implement teacher residency programs, and foster partnerships with local organizations to manage neighborhood recruitment. The community school model leads to stronger outcomes which allow students to not just learn facts and figures, but explore who they are and how they relate to those around us.

  • Learning doesn’t end at the end of the school day. After school programs provide opportunities for kids to continue exploring topics from robotics to art to sports. Harlem’s kids deserve access to these programs which help develop future interests, potential careers, and friendships. As an Assemblymember, I will fight to ensure that our schools have the funding to provide the enriching after school programs our kids deserve.

Making College a Right, Not a Luxury - Making CUNY Affordable

CUNY has lifted generations of working-class Harlemites out of poverty, but today, too many young people here are shut out of higher education or buried in debt chasing it. It’s a proven engine of social mobility for Black Harlemites, but decades of austerity have weakened the institution. For 130 years, CUNY was tuition-free. It only began charging tuition in 1976, just as Black and Puerto Rican students fought to desegregate CUNY by winning open admissions. Today, buildings are crumbling, class sizes are too big, adjuncts are underpaid, and students are juggling full‑time work and debt just to stay enrolled, all in the richest city in the history of the world. Public colleges should be a guarantee for working-class Harlemites, not another bill they can't afford. Here's how I'll fight:

Organizing our Community and Building Robust Constituent Services

As a public defender, I know that immediate crises can get in the way of planning for the future. I stand next to clients where I believe my job isn’t just to defend them in court — but to help them solve the problems that contributed to their contact with the criminal legal system in the first place. Whether that’s helping people get access to housing vouchers, navigate professional licensing, or understand immigration forms, I understand that my job as an Assembly member will be to provide the best support I can for our community. 

That’s why I believe that constituent services are the backbone of any legislative office. I plan to ensure that my constituent services office has a strong community organizing arm, where we don’t wait for people to come to us when their problems are at their worst, but we are consistently in the community, meeting people where they are at. That’s how I plan to immediately give back to Harlem—solving problems on day one and ensuring that we are constantly getting ahead of future problems. Legislation takes time, it takes a movement, it takes all of us. But you give me a call and I can connect you to an agency, I can write a letter on your behalf, I can reach out to an immigration defense organization, or I can organize press conferences and rallies to raise awareness for the issue. When you need me, I will be there. 

My office will be a hub for organizing in the community. Not only will I be there for you, but I’ll make sure Harlem is able to organize to defend our community from institutions like ICE, who are the modern day slave catchers, as well as to push the Harlem revitalization agenda forward. Together, we will organize to use city and state services to hold bad landlords accountable, keep businesses open, and protect our people. We must always remember that we keep each other safe!