Education equity: A vision for the future of our schools

Quality education is a human right, not a business, not a commodity to be sold to those with the most money.

Alexa is a union-backed mom who joined the fight for education justice because of her experiences as a parent. The mother of two public school students, she has witnessed the inequities and injustices of NYC’s school system firsthand. In nearly a decade as president of the Parent-Teacher Association of her daughters’ school, Alexa dramatically expanded the PTA’s budget and secured funding and equipment for a number of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) programs. She also fought to give parents a voice in their children’s education, bridging linguistic divides, and bringing to light issues related to overcrowding, culturally responsive curricula and learning environments, IEP support, and more. During her tenure, Alexa learned that politics is about talking to people — in this case, bringing teachers, parents, and students together — learning what they need, and recognizing the power of solidarity to fight for what we deserve.

The crises of the last year have made painfully clear the ways in which our education system perpetuates injustice, particularly for working-class, immigrant communities of color, like ours in City Council District 38. According to the Alliance for Quality Education, even before the pandemic swept through the state, New York was ranked 49th in the nation in terms of educational equity. The organization further notes that “8 out of 10 Black and Latinx students attend a school that has been systematically underfunded by the state.”

Elected leaders at every level of government must recognize that fully funding our public schools is essential to the future of our city, but that investment alone will not undo the damage.

Today, schools across the city, particularly those of District 38, are overcrowded and understaffed, lacking a proper number of teachers and counselors. COVID, has devastated our community, leaving schools gutted of resources, and families and school workers struggling to ensure that students have what they need to survive.

Safe, affordable and dignified housing

A people’s budget

District 38 has suffered from years of disinvestment and neglect. Alexa will always fight for the working people of this district, and demand that we receive sufficient resources to meet people’s basic needs.

That includes defunding the NYPD, and investing in the social services that keep working people safe. The NYPD budget has grown from $4.7 billion in 2014 to $5.6 billion today. We know our City’s budget system is broken, and that our priorities are misplaced. We’re funding cops, while draining money from public education and healthcare. In fact, no other police force in the United receives a budget as bloated as that of the NYPD, and it is past time that New Yorkers correct this error. Alexa will fight to cut NYPD’s budget in half, and to redirect those funds to community care.

Alexa has spent years fighting for prison reforms while working to shrink the carceral state. As a City Council Member, she will legislate and advocate to dismantle these carceral systems, fighting to build the support systems our community needs. Our campaign believes that we must work toward a justice system that supports the dignity, safety, and humanity of all people, particularly Black and brown residents in District 38. 

Cutting cop money does not mean falling into the trap of cutting other services. The Council must say NO to austerity budgeting that disproportionately harms working-class communities like ours. Together, we will demand a people’s budget — one that is equitable, and one that supports the services and infrastructure needs of our District.

Immigrant justice

District 38 is a community of immigrants — those who recently made our neighborhood home, and those who have been here for decades. All of them face ongoing discrimination and significant barriers to services and support. 

We must fight to strengthen protections for our beloved immigrant residents and advocate for deeper investments in service and support programs, like legal representation, immigration integration centers, and language access. We must also fight for municipal voting for resident immigrants, giving them the voice in government that they deserve as members of our community. 

Together, we can dismantle the structures that keep our immigrant neighbors living in fear. We can transform our city into one where everyone can thrive.

Healthcare for all

New Yorkers have a right to quality healthcare, and a right to live free from pollution and other environmental hazards.

But District 38 residents have not been afforded that right. Instead, our neighbors have some of the highest rates of being uninsured, coupled with limited access to public hospitals. This duality of inaccessibility is by design. And it’s why Alexa will fight for funding our public hospitals and expanding NYC Care.

The Council must fight for increased funding to strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations that work on health and resiliency directly with residents. Alexa will advocate for the institution of a resident-led Community Health Advisory Table that can map, guide, and vision a proactive set of new policies that serve our residents’ needs — not the for-profit, private health industry’s bottom line. 

Additionally, Alexa will demand the passage of the New York Health Act at the state level. This act will create a single-payer system for New York State, providing quality healthcare for all.

Environmental justice: Our vision for a sustainable and resilient district

Every New Yorker deserves the ability to move, to live, to thrive. Alexa is running for council to protect these basic, necessary human rights and freedoms. If you’ve spent even a moment in District 38, you know that it is lively and bustling — with awe-inspiring vistas, a park that overlooks our beautiful city, and good neighbors, who interact with our city’s streets, buildings, trees and waterfront every day as they work, raise families and take care of one another. Alexa will preserve our district’s vibrancy by fighting for environmental justice that includes good, clean jobs — so that every District 38 resident can count on reliable public transportation, dignified and sustainable housing, clean air to breathe, and community ownership of our land and resources.

Climate change is hitting frontline communities like ours hard and fast. The Red Hook Houses, the largest public housing complex in Brooklyn, have never recovered from Superstorm Sandy nor preceding decades of divestment. NYCHA has been unable to address appalling conditions, at times leaving residents stuck with toxic mold, no heat, no water and no means to cook. And all of us suffer from poor air quality, whether from traffic along the Gowanus Expressway or from cruise ships idling at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Environmental racism is not a coincidence — it is a product of a capitalist system that puts profit before people and sells out our fresh air, water and health to private interests.

As District 38’s next City Councilmember, Alexa will prioritize community-driven land use with a vision for resiliency and good, green jobs, in partnership with the District’s long-standing neighborhood leaders. Industry City’s vision for the Sunset Park waterfront was wrong for the working-class people of our district. We need a community plan that ushers in a just transition for workers and the planet. Residents of our district walk or take public transit more than the average New Yorker, and more of them work in local retail corridors and in manufacturing and light industrial firms along the waterfront. Workers in sectors servicing the building trades, like those along the waterfront, are more likely to earn higher wages and have union benefits, and we must prioritize creating good jobs like these for workers without a college degree. As major companies explore investments along the Sunset Park and Red Hook waterfront, and the City’s landmark energy efficiency law draws new investment in existing construction and light manufacturing firms, we must compel firms, the City and the State to respect their workers and judge new development based on whether or not it delivers racial, environmental and economic justice, maximizing community leverage in a citywide land use process. 

According to the Climate Justice Alliance, whose work informs this platform, “Just Transition must be liberatory and transformative. The impacts of the extractive economy knows no borders. We recognize the interconnectedness of our communities as well as our issues. Therefore, our solutions call for local, regional, national and global solidarity that confronts imperialism and militarism.”

Our vision for a better future, for people and planet, means ensuring all of us can move, with free and reliable public transportation and streets that are safe for pedestrians and bikers. Our district must be a place where people can live. We need sustainable and dignified housing, and we need our next Councilmember to listen to NYCHA residents and respond to their needs. We deserve a city where all people thrive, and we will build it by fighting for good jobs and union jobs. We will return the district — from the power grid to the parks — to the people, ensuring a future with good jobs, breathable air, dignified homes and safe streets for us all.

Arts and culture

To create a city where the arts can flourish, the City Council needs to plan for more than just COVID-19 recovery. While the pandemic has drastically impacted the livelihoods of arts and culture workers, artists have endured deep-rooted systemic obstacles for too long. We have to build a city that truly supports arts and culture workers and their families. Artists and musicians are workers, and their work contributes to thriving communities, just like ours. In District 38 and beyond, Alexa will fight to invest in making the arts accessible and sustainable for all.  

Make D38 an Arts Haven for its Residents

• Rectify decades-long cuts to NYCHA’s community centers, and co-create arts programing with Red Hook Houses residents.

• Offer Open Culture permits permanently, prioritizing performances in parks serving low income communities. Work with artists to establish a wage floor to pay performers, and split the cost.

Safety, Not Cops

• Abolish the surprise late-night raids of community arts spaces by dismantling the Multi-Agency Response to Community Hotspots (MARCH) task force. Invest in free safety resources and education for venues to help community spaces stay up-to-code.

Invest in Independent Artists

• Fund work programs for artists, like those established by the Works Progress Administration. Extend the recent City Artist Corps program and establish benchmarks to ensure funding increases over time. 

• Streamline the application process for artists to obtain Department of Cultural Affairs, Borough Councils of the Arts, or discretionary funding. 

• Establish a quota of Department of Cultural Affairs advisory board seats reserved for independent artists.