Education

Affordable Housing
Immigration
Green Environment
Stimulus Package and Economic Prosperity
Youth and Education
Health and Wellness
Senior Services

From kindergarten to graduate school, I am very proud to have been educated in Brooklyn’s public education system. However, it is a jewel that needs to be polished. All schools in the 45th should be performing above average. Cutbacks should never be mentioned in the same sentence as education. The biggest expansion of the City University of New York (CUNY) actually happened during the Great Depression. This underscores the value of investing in education to help fix the mess we are in.

I will:

• Fight to completely protect education from budget cuts
• Use underutilized land to build more Schools
• Create or retrofit “green” schools that are technologically up to date
• Increase parent participation
• Encourage teachers to creatively teach, not just test
• Use existing schools as community centers for the neighborhood
• Create links between K-12 schools and institutions of higher education
• Create career between with our schools and merchants

Youth Services

Our youth are the future. They need to be nurtured to become healthy, productive citizens. Having grown up in Brooklyn, I understand many of the challenges facing our young people. There are strong influences that lure them towards making negative choices. It will be my duty to provide and support services that will give our youth the best opportunity to thrive as productive citizens. In addition, I support efforts to eliminate child obesity, a growing epidemic in our community.

Areas of youth services for both genders that I will make a priority include:

• Mentorship programs
• Local programs offering music, baseball, netball, tennis, basketball, football, cricket, handball, soccer, scouting etc.
• Afterschool, computer classes, homework help and other educational programs