Dianne Morales: The Race for NYC Mayor

Dianne Morales: The Race for NYC Mayor

Image from dianne.nyc

A new mayor race also brings a new face, candidate Dianne Morales. The Brooklyn-native is the first Afro-Latina running for mayor in New York City.

The former nonprofit executive has had experience with many of the topics she touches in her campaign. In an interview with Nancy Ruffin, she referred to herself as an educator, having previously taught at schools at the beginning of her career. She was the co-founder of an organization called Jumpstart, which works to develop literacy skills in children and prepare them for kindergarten. She has dedicated much of her life to providing social services and helping low-income communities. Just last year, she stepped down as CEO from Phipps Neighbors a non-for-profit aiding low-income communities in the South Bronx.

She has made it one of the priorities of her campaign to improve access to better and more equitable education across schools in New York City. Ever since the Brown v. Board decision in 1954, New York City schools have become one of the most segregated in the country. Her campaign speaks out against the use of standardized testing for school admissions, such as the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT).

Like other candidates, such as Eric Adams and Carlos Menchaca, Morales has called for universal basic income for those in New York City. The funding for this program would be determined after careful consideration of the entire city budget, and through a “wealth and luxury tax” on the “superrich that phases out and does not sacrifice the safety net.”

In her plan to fix the housing crisis in New York, she calls for immediate relief during the pandemic, the end of rent-gouging, and for equitable zoning. This would essentially mean, among many things, the automatic cancellation of rent for the tenants who can no longer afford to pay due to the pandemic, and more access to “affordable” housing by “supporting better implementation and enforcement of New York State’s Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act.”

She was also the first candidate to call for divesting from NYPD. Over the past decade, the NYPD budget has increased by 27%, if Mayor, Morales plans to “divest from policing and reinvest in communities towards community-based resources like youth support programs and childcare, safe community spaces and parks, transportation and other public infrastructure,” as stated on her official campaign website. And by implementing an ‘Early Intervention System’, she hopes to further restrict police violence and identify early patterns of inappropriate behavior in police officers.

And although compared to other mayor candidates, Morales has had a harder time fundraising, she has not lost any hope during her campaign, stating that this is something that she expected in her interview with Ruffin, “I don’t have the name recognition, the access to the dollars, the wealthy networks. So I knew it was going to take me a longer time. And sure enough, my candidacy was dismissed from day one.. [but] I am not accountable to anyone but the community, no corporate packs, no luxury developments because I want to keep my integrity.”

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