In 2008, I cofounded Greater NYC for Change, a grassroots group advocating for social justice. Under my leadership, the organization grew to 7,000 members, focusing on the fight for health care reform, statewide gun regulations, paid sick leave, living wage issues, and marriage equality.
From 2008 to 2010, I organized over fifty events in support of passing the Affordable Care Act, starting with meetings with Members of Congress to lobby for health care reform in Washington, D.C.
In August of 2009, the political climate had turned volatile and elected officials needed to see a movement in support for the proposed legislation. In conjunction with eighty progressive groups, SEIU Healthcare, Doctors for America, and many others, I organized the Times Square Rally for Healthcare and brought in elected officials to speak such as Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Yvette Clark. The rally was attended by over 1,000 people and achieved press coverage from The New York Times, The Associated Press, NY1, Huffington Post and local outlets.
In February 2010, with the loss of a Senate seat in Congress, the legislation was once again in jeopardy. I led a coalition to organize hundreds of New Yorkers to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to rally for health care reform and shore up final support before the bill was signed in law on March 23, 2010. This rally was covered by various new outlets including CBS 2 News.
See coverage of the Brooklyn Bridge Rally:
After Hurricane Sandy hit the coastlines in 2012, I facilitated meetings between the offices of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Jerrold Nadler with the “on-the-ground” groups actively working with the most devastated communities. Elected officials then got an accurate picture in order to ascertain the priorities for the allocation of emergency relief funds being negotiated in Congress. I also directed a digital media campaign via twitter to call attention to the devastation, enlisting celebrities such as Spike Lee, Alec Baldwin, Mark Ruffalo, Leslie Mann, Neil Gaiman, etc., whose combined posts reached the feeds of 5.8 million followers.