Education leader Johanna Garcia (D) announced her City Council candidacy yesterday in front of an enthusiastic, devoted crowd. Garcia delivered her announcement in J. Hood Wright Park – right across from the elementary school she attended as a child.
Garcia is running for City Council District 10, which includes Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill. She is looking to succeed the term-limited Ydanis Rodriguez (D).
“Energized to build a movement by all of us, for all of us,” Johanna Garcia said, “I formally announce my campaign for City Council to make our community voices heard – to provide a good education for every child, to protect tenants’ rights and make sure we are not pushed out or priced out of our neighborhood, and to ensure the economic recovery from COVID-19 works for all of us and includes every single New Yorker, including undocumented and excluded workers.”
A lifelong resident of Washington Heights, Garcia has advocated on behalf of students and teachers in her neighborhood for years. As a Community Education Council President, she used her position to keep class sizes small, protect student data and fight against high-stakes testing. She has also worked as Chief of Staff for State Senator Robert Jackson (D-Washington Heights, Fort George, Inwood) and co-founded the anti-rezoning advocacy group Northern Manhattan is Not for Sale.
As a Council Member, her top priorities would be ousting racism in the public school system; ensuring that our economic recovery efforts don’t exclude undocumented immigrants; and ensuring affordable housing for all. She has also proposed legislation to allow working parents to receive Paid Family Leave, so they can supervise their children while they’re at home receiving remote learning.
“Together, we can reject the failed policies and politics of legacy seats and backroom deals,” said Garcia. “We can break down the old way of doing things that left too many people excluded, anxious, and afraid. At this critical turning point for our city, we have to stop tinkering and start transforming our city’s policies and chart a new course forward.”
