MIRAMAR – Democratic Congressional Candidate from the 40TH District in Brooklyn, New York ,Yvette Clarke will be in South Florida this weekend for a fundraiser reception in her bid for a seat in Congress.
Clarke comes to South Florida because of the large Caribbean-American population to seek support.
Yvette Diane Clarke, born in 1964 to successful Caribbean immigrant parents, has lived all her life in the heart of Flatbush and has emerged as an inspiring testimony of the American dream.
Yvette received a scholarship to Oberlin College and was a recipient of the prestigious APPAH/Sloan Fellowship in Public Policy and Policy Analysis.
Yvette Clarke
Upon her election to the City Council, Yvette Clarke quickly emerged as a good listener and a true leader. Among council leaders she distinguished herself as a strong negotiator with a record of getting things done to meet the needs of the residents of her district.
Meeting the health care need of the people of Brooklyn has been at the forefront of Yvette’s legislative agenda. She has obtained funding for at Kings County, Brooklyn hospitals and a Bio-Technology Incubator at SUNY Downstate. She has help fund health care outreach programs, preventive care services and expanding women’s health care coverage. Yvette sees first hand in her community the damages Bush’s health care cuts and policy have done to the sick and disabled. The new Republican Medicare prescription drug program has already led to confusion and cuts in guaranteed health benefit for America’s seniors and people with disabilities.
As Co-chair of the New York City Council’s Women’s Caucus, Yvette has been an outspoken champion of women’s rights, obtaining first time funding for more than 20 different projects and organizations. She has spoken out against budget cuts by Bush and the Republican Congress on the following federal programs: Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Elimination of the Women’s Educational Equity Act (WEEA), the elimination of nutritional food stamp programs and early education services for low-income children and families.
Yvette is known by the parents in her district as a strong advocate for education. She has been a champion of education since her election to the Council, fighting for smaller classes, teacher development, and literacy programs. Under Yvette’s leadership, city funding for school, computers in the classroom and library services has increased by millions in her district. Yvette supported the successful lawsuit by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity to give New York City billions more in New York State education funding. Yvette has been working in Washington with the local democratic leadership to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act, and find proper alternatives to it some of the stick reliance on testing.
As a Director of Business Development for the Bronx Empowerment Zone (BOEDC) and as the first director of the Bronx portion of the New York City Empowerment Zone where she administered the $51 million budget that resulted in the revitalization and economic development of the south Bronx. Yvette understands how to build affordable housing and how proper economic development can create jobs in high unemployment areas and business opportunities for small minority businessmen and women. Clarke also understands the need to keep and create new high end high paying professional jobs in the city and help high tech geniuses get funding for their inventions.
Councilmember Clarke’s constituent services program allows residents of her district to seek help from district office in navigating the often-complex world of government services. Every day, Clarke’s constituent services staff help residents meet their basic needs, finding them access to healthcare, and acting as a liaison with government agencies, and in many cases helping with citizenship requests.
Clarke’s voting record reflects her philosophy that government should serve to protect people, uplift local communities and build bridges that bring everyone together. This means promoting the rights of every member of her district. Yvette is known as a passionate, intelligent, and effective rising star of the Democratic Party.
The Hon. Yvette Diane Clarke was elected to the New York City Council in November 2001 as the representative for the 40th District in Brooklyn. Councilmember Clarke was overwhelming re-elected to office in November 2003 and November 2005.
She succeeded her pioneering mother, the former City Councilmember, Dr. Una S.T~Clarke, making them the first mother-daughter succession in the history of the Council. Councilmember Clarke is chair of the powerful Contracts Committee and is also co-chair of the Council’s Women’s Caucus. She also serves on the Education; Fire & Criminal Justice Services; Health; Land Use; Planning, Dispositions & Concessions; and, Rules, Privileges & Elections committees.
As the child of immigrant parents, Councilmember Clarke has worked to insure that the rights of immigrants are protected and they have opportunities to realize the American dream that generations of immigrants before them had. She provides thousands of dollars in funding for the Immigration Center at Medgar Evers College/CUNY, as well as to the Caribbean Women’s Health Association, the Haitian Centers Council, the Crown Heights Jewish Community Center, the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush, the Caribbean Research Center at Medgar Evers College/CUNY and the Consortium for Haitian Empowerment to provide immigration transition services.
Additionally, Councilmember Clarke was one of several leaders in the Council who worked to create the Immigrant Opportunities Initiative, which provided $10 million in funding for job-training, English language programs, legal services, civics classes and immigrant seniors assistance throughout the city. She is currently working with her colleagues in the City Council to pass the Voting Rights Restoration Act, which would empower immigrant residents of New York City to vote in municipal elections.
