Dianne Morales

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Dianne Morales
Born (1967-06-21) June 21, 1967 (age 57)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Education Stony Brook University (BA)
Harvard University (MA)
Columbia University (MEd)
Political party Democratic

Dianne Morales is an American nonprofit executive and politician. She was a candidate in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Morales is Afro-Latina; her parents are from Puerto Rico. [2] [3] She was born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, growing up on DeKalb Avenue, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan in New York City. [4] [5]

Morales then went on to attend Stony Brook University [2] and earned a Master of Social Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Master of Education Administration from Columbia University. [6] [7] [8]

Career

While working at the New York City Department of Education, Morales helped open the Office of Youth Development and School-Community Services under Chancellor Joel Klein, and served as its Chief of Operations from 2002 to 2004. [9] [10] From 2004 to 2005, she served as a director of The Teaching Commission, a national task force that focuses on improving teaching quality in American schools. [11] Morales was a founding member of Jumpstart, a national early childhood nonprofit organization. [9] [12] From 2005 to 2009, she served as executive director of The Door, a youth-development organization that serves over 11,000 young people every year. [13] [14]

Since 2010 Morales had been the executive director and CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods in the South Bronx, a Bronx social services organization that fights poverty, until she stepped down to run for mayor in 2019. [15] [3] [10] [11] She serves on the board of the NYC Human Services Council and the Community Schools Advisory Board. [16] [11]

In 2011, she founded the charter school Broome Street Academy. [17]

2021 NYC Mayoral campaign

In 2019, Morales announced her candidacy for Mayor of New York City in the 2021 election. [1] In January 2020 she quit her job to campaign full time, [18] [19] in her first political campaign. [18]

Her campaign-announced priorities include reforming the New York City Housing Authority, desegregating city schools, promoting equitable and affordable mass transit, creating green jobs, building affordable housing, a guaranteed minimum income, rent cancellation, cutting the New York Police Department budget, an elected police oversight body, and reforming the police. [20] [21] [22] [9] Morales also is looking to create a "community first responders department" to respond to non-criminal issues such as homelessness and mental health that are currently handled by the police. [23] The New York Daily News in November 2020 described her as one of the most progressive candidates in the race. [24] If elected, she would have become the city's first Afro-Latina mayor and its first female mayor. [25] [26]

In May 2021, senior staffers campaign manager Whitney Hu and senior adviser Ifeoma Ike resigned from the campaign. [27] Four other women attempting to unionize remaining staffers were fired. [17] The departures were preceded by allegations of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and employee abuse. [28] The New York Times reported on June 9, 2021: "At least four political groups, including the Working Families Party, have rescinded their endorsements, donations slowed to a crawl and her senior adviser has joined a rival campaign." [27]

Morales finished in sixth place in the Democratic primary election held on June 22, 2021.

Personal life

Morales is a single mother and lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant with her two children and her parents. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 Kirker, Katie. "'Go Big or Go Home': Dianne Morales Goes for the Top Job in New York City". Gotham Gazette. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Iqbal, Zainab (November 20, 2020). "Brooklyn Native Dianne Morales Launches Campaign For Mayor". Bklyner.
  3. 1 2 Durkin, Erin (November 19, 2020). "Dianne Morales officially kicks off mayoral campaign". Politico.
  4. 1 2 Gloria Pazmino (November 12, 2020). "Dianne Morales Touts 'Lived Experience'". NY1.
  5. ↑ Jeff Coltin (December 1, 2020). "Dianne Morales' NYC mayoral campaign theme: 'power to the people'". City & State NY.
  6. ↑ "Dianne Morales: Learning from Missteps". bridgespan.org. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  7. ↑ McCue, Kat (January 17, 2020). "Dianne Morales Hosts Meet and Greet". BeLatina. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  8. ↑ Mays, Jeffery C.; Fitzsimmons, Emma G. (December 7, 2020). "5 Highlights of New York Mayor's Race, as Spike Lee Weighs In". The New York Times.
  9. 1 2 3 Khurshid, Samar. "Dianne Morales Officially Launches Campaign for Mayor of New York City". Gotham Gazette.
  10. 1 2 Jeff Coltin (August 5, 2019). "Dianne Morales wants to be New York City's first female mayor". City & State NY.
  11. 1 2 3 "Dianne Morales; Secretary; Executive Director and CEO, Phipps Neighborhoods". Human Services Council.
  12. ↑ "Una puertorriqueña busca ser alcaldesa de Nueva York". El Ciudadano. November 22, 2020.
  13. ↑ ""Petitioner and Amicus Briefs Summaries; Sullivan v. Florida; Graham v. Florida"" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "The major 2021 mayoral contenders". City & State NY. December 31, 2020.
  15. ↑ David Cruz (August 29, 2019). "Bronx-Based Nonprofit Director Launches Mayoral Bid". Norwood News.
  16. ↑ Coltin, Jeff (August 5, 2019). "Dianne Morales wants to be New York City's first female mayor". City and State New York. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  17. 1 2 Barkan, Ross (July 12, 2021). "How the Dianne Morales Campaign Flopped". Intelligencer.
  18. 1 2 Terrell Jermaine Starr (January 11, 2021). "Mayoral Candidate Dianne Morales Doesn't Want to Return New York City Back to 'Normal'". The Root.
  19. ↑ Honan, Katie (May 28, 2020). "New York City Mayor's Race Feels the Impact of the Coronavirus". The Wall Street Journal.
  20. ↑ Williams, Jordan (December 3, 2020). "NYC mayoral contender challenges New York Times for defining candidacy by marijuana use". The Hill.
  21. ↑ "She Helped House New Yorkers. Now Dianne Morales Is Running for Mayor". NY1.
  22. ↑ Smith, Aidan (September 29, 2020). "The Next Step for the New York Left: City Hall". Labyrinth.
  23. ↑ Shahrigian, Shant (November 2, 2020). "Progressive mayoral candidate Dianne Morales wants to rewrite NYC's 'social contract'". The New York Daily News.
  24. ↑ Shahrigian, Michael Gartland, Shant (November 24, 2020). "Fundraising during a pandemic? That's what NYC mayoral candidates are trying to figure out". The New York Daily News.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ↑ "Dianne Morales Officially Kicks Off Mayoral Campaign". BK Reader. November 20, 2020.
  26. ↑ Kirker, Katie. "'Go Big or Go Home': Dianne Morales Goes for the Top Job in New York City". Gotham Gazette.
  27. 1 2 Hughes, Jazmine (June 9, 2021). "Dianne Morales Faced a Campaign Uprising. Will It Matter to Voters?". The New York Times. NY Times.
  28. ↑ "Dissent Threatens To Implode Dianne Morales's Mayoral Campaign". May 27, 2021.
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