I am a third-generation daughter of Bedford-Stuyvesant. My family walked these blocks long before I did, and every time I walk them now, I am reminded that this community raised me long before any title did.

So when I say representing Brooklyn’s 56th Assembly District is the honor of my life, I mean it deeply. This is not simply a job to me. It is a calling.

I am writing to the Black Adult Society because the work we have done together is real, the work ahead is urgent, and the future of the Vibrant 56 belongs to all of us.

NYC is losing its Black heart. Over the last decade, 200,000 Black residents have vanished from the city – a 9% decline driven by displacement and systemic disenfranchisement. While the wealthy stay, Black working-class families are being priced out of the neighborhoods they built.

The disparities are staggering: Black New Yorkers face a median wealth of just $2,800, compared to $321,000 for whites, and a mortgage denial rate 43% higher than for white applicants. We don’t need “one-size-fits-all” fixes; we need a dedicated Black Agenda that prioritizes economic empowerment and community autonomy.

Few institutions affect the daily lives of working families as directly as the New York City Civil Court. It is where disputes over rent, repairs, injuries, and financial claims are resolved — matters that may seem routine on paper but often carry enormous consequences for the families involved. For residents of Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill, North Crown Heights, and Ocean Hill, the Civil Court of the 2nd Municipal District is not an abstract institution but a place where stability, housing, and financial security are often decided. That is why the election of its next Civil Court Judge deserves serious attention.