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Introducing: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley!
Ayanna Pressley is the first African American woman that Massachusetts elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ayanna Pressley is an advocate, a policy-maker, an activist, and survivor. Her election to the Boston City Council in 2009 marked the first time a woman of color was elected to the Council in its 100-year history. This laid the foundation for Ayanna’s groundbreaking work, with which she has consistently strived to improve the lives of people that have too often been left behind.
Raised in Chicago as the only child of an activist mother who instilled in her the value of civic participation, Ayanna understands the role that government should play in helping to lift up communities that are in need of the most help. After her election to the Council in 2009, she successfully pursued the establishment of the Committee on Healthy Women, Families, and Communities. The Committee addresses causes that Ayanna has always been most devoted to: stabilizing families and communities, reducing and preventing violence and trauma, combating poverty, and addressing issues that disproportionately impact women and girls.
Ayanna is intentional about engaging community voices in leading and informing policy by making sure they have a seat at the table.
Ayanna’s legislative achievements resulted in her being the top vote-getter in three consecutive elections, making her the first woman in 30 years to achieve this distinction and the first person of color to top the ticket.
In 2016, Ayanna was named one of The New York Times 14 Young Democrats to Watch. In 2015, she earned the EMILY’s List Rising Star Award and was named one of Boston Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful People. In 2014, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce named her as one of their Ten Outstanding Young Leaders, and the Victim Rights Law Center presented her with their Leadership Award. She is also an Aspen-Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership, Class of 2012.
Ayanna lives in the Ashmont/Adams neighborhood of Dorchester with her husband Conan Harris, nine-year-old stepdaughter Cora, and cat Sojourner Truth.
Chocolate Vent’s Question of the Day – What’s the ‘Dollar Store’ of other industries?
Introducing: Mayor London Breed!
She is the 45th Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. She will be the first African-American woman and only second woman to serve as Mayor.
London first won election to the Board of Supervisors in November 2012. In January of 2015, her colleagues elected her President of the Board. She was re-elected as District 5 Supervisor in November 2016 and unanimously re-elected as Board President two months later.
London is a native San Franciscan, raised by her grandmother in Plaza East Public Housing in the Western Addition. She graduated with honors from Galileo High School and attended the University of California, Davis, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science/Public Service with a minor in African American Studies. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.
Before her election as District 5 Supervisor, London served as Executive Director of the African American Art & Culture Complex in the Western Addition for over a decade, transforming the struggling center into a vital, financially-stable community resource that provides after school arts and cultural programs for youth and seniors. She also served as a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner for five years and in 2010 was appointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom to be a San Francisco Fire Commissioner, where she served until her election to the Board of Supervisors.
London has dedicated her entire adult life to serving our communities and improving the City’s housing, environment, public safety, transportation, and quality of life.
London has passed legislation to increase housing along transit corridors and prioritize neighborhood residents for the affordable homes in their community. She helped transform unused public housing units into homes for homeless families, and is leading the effort to renovate thousands more. London has fought for more navigation centers for the homeless and launched a task force to study if safe injection facilities can help IV drug users off the streets and into treatment. She is also working on improving mental health services for all San Franciscans.
In 2014, London tackled the City’s ambulance response crisis, improving safety for everyone, and cutting ambulance response times by over 26%. She has fought for more police officers, and passed a complete overhaul of the City’s graffiti policies, as well as first-in-the-country legislation to protect music and nightlife venues.
London passed the strongest Styrofoam ban in the country, as well as drug take-back legislation that has kept over 40 tons of medical waste out of the Bay and landfills. She spearheaded San Francisco’s clean electrical energy program, CleanPowerSF, which is the City’s most important climate change effort, projected to cut more than 940K tons of CO2each year while reducing energy costs. London passed legislation to replace hundreds of Muni buses and the entire fleet of Muni trains, creating a more reliable, quieter, and faster Muni. And she has consistently advocated for safe streets for all users, whether on the bus, a bike, car, or on foot.
Chocolate Vent’s Question of the Day – What is a childish thing you still do while being an adult?
Introducing: Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver!
Sheila Y. Oliver took the oath of office as New Jersey’s 2nd Lieutenant Governor on January 16, 2018. She is the first woman of color to serve in statewide elected office in New Jersey history. She was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs by Governor Phil Murphy.
Lt. Governor Oliver is a 40-year resident of East Orange, and a native of Newark.
First elected to the General Assembly in 2003, she became Speaker in 2010 – the first African-American woman in state history to serve as such, and just the second in the nation’s history to lead a state legislative house.
She has chaired the Assembly Human Services Committee, and served on the Labor, Higher Education, Women and Children, Commerce and Economic Development, and Transportation and Independent Authorities committees. She also sat on the Joint Committee on the Public Schools and the Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity.
Prior to her election to the General Assembly, she served as an Essex County Freeholder, from 1996 to 1999, and was a member of the East Orange Board of Education. She also served as an Assistant County Administrator for Essex County from 2000 until 2018.
An alumna of Newark’s Weequahic High School, she went on to graduate cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She also holds a Master of Science Degree in Community Organization, Planning and Administration from Columbia University.
Lt. Governor Oliver began her career in public service as the Director of the Office of Youth Services and Special Projects for the City of Newark, where she focused on preparing young people ages 14 to 21 for post-secondary education and entry into the workforce. She later became the Development Director for The Newark Literacy Campaign while working at Caldwell College as the Coordinator of Career Guidance within the Educational Opportunity Fund Program.
She has taught college courses in Achievement Motivation, Non-Profit Management, and Pre-College Preparation, served as a consultant to a variety of non-profit organizations, and spent several years as the Director of the Essex County Division of Community Action, an anti-poverty initiative.
Lt. Governor Oliver has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, including the East Orange General Hospital Board of Trustees, the United Way, the Newark Coalition for Neighborhoods, the Newark Collaboration Group, the Rutgers-Newark Educational Opportunity Fund Advisory Council, the Global Women’s Leadership Collaborative of NJ, the Essex County and East Orange Committees on the Status of Women, Programs for Parents, and a number of other community-based entities. She has held memberships in the Women’s Political Caucus of NJ, the NAACP, and the Urban League.
Chocolate Vent’s Quote of the Week: “DON’T REDUCE GOD TO ‘ANYTHING’ WHEN HE IS ‘EVERYTHING’.”
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” {Lamentations 3:22-26}
