A Conversation with
State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries
(D-Brooklyn-Ft. Greene/Clinton Hill/Crown Heights/Bed-Stuy)
Since 1990, income inequality in New York State has grown more than 3x faster than the nation as a whole - and more than 4x faster in NYC. Since 2006, even before the Occupy Wall Street movement took shape, Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries (D-Central Brooklyn) has worked to protect the American Dream and restore balance to the economy.
On Wednesday, November 9, join DL21C for a conversation with Hakeem Jeffries, one of New York's rising stars in state government, as he discusses the current state of affairs in Albany, his legislative efforts on affordable housing and effective policing, and the importance of leadership on these issues at the federal level.
About Assemblymember Jeffries:
In 2006, Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries was elected to the New York State Assembly representing Central Brooklyn, including the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant. During his six years in office, he has introduced more than 50 substantive bills and has been a thoughtful problem-solver (launching Project Reclaim to transform vacant luxury apartments into affordable homes for working- and middle-class families, and co-sponsoring groundbreaking legislation requiring developers who receive tax breaks to build affordable housing in low-income neighborhoods). Assemblymember Jeffries is a strong advocate of education reform, playing a key role in passing legislation that led to New York States successful Race to the Top application and hundreds of millions of federal dollars for improving public education. He also sponsored and championed legislation to end prison-based gerrymandering, which was signed into law on August 3, 2010. With its passage, New York became the second state in the country to count incarcerated individuals in their home communities rather than in the counties where they are incarcerated for purposes of legislative reapportionment.
Prior to his service in state government, Assemblymember Jeffries practiced law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton Garrison, an internationally renowned law firm, and worked in the litigation department of a Fortune 100 company. He received his BA in political science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he graduated with honors; his Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University; and his JD from New York University School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude, served on the law review, finished in the top 10 percent of his class and delivered the commencement speech at graduation.
To learn more about Assemblymember Jeffries, please check out these links:
Assembly Website: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=057
Campaign Website: www.JeffriesforCongress
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/nyregion/assemblyman-jeffries-seems-ready-to-join-race-for-congress.html?_r=1
NY Observer: http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/how-hakeem-jeffries-became-barack-brooklyn
Crain's New York: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110626/FREE/306269967
Capital New York: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/10/3805502/hakeem-jeffries-musters-bookeresque-coalition-congress-reformers-mac?page=all