Dear Friends,
We are excited to announce that U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng and Council Member Margaret Chin will be joining us at our Asian American Political Power 101 event this Saturday, December 2nd, 11am at the LGBT Center. They will be giving opening remarks, so please RSVP and arrive punctually. This is a great opportunity to meet the only Congressmember of Asian descent in the Northeast and the first Asian American woman elected to the New York City Council. A little about them below:
U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng is serving her third term in the United States House of Representatives. Grace was born and raised in New York City, attended public schools, and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997. After attending Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, she served as a public interest lawyer before being elected to represent Queens in the New York State Assembly in 2008 and the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012.
As a DNC Vice Chair, Grace has focused her efforts on representing new and diverse constituencies within the Democratic Party. During the 2016 presidential campaign, she focused her efforts on turning out voters in the major Asian American communities, resulting in almost double the rate of early voter turnout in those communities—and a dramatic increase in the number of non-English and new media outlets with which the DNC communicated.
Grace is the first Asian American Member of Congress from New York State, and the only Congressmember of Asian descent in the entire Northeast. She is also the first female Member of Congress from Queens since former Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. In Congress, Grace has focused her legislative efforts on vulnerable women and children as well as America’s minority and rural communities. She is a founding member and Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Kids’ Safety Caucus, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Leadership PAC, and a member of the Democratic Future Forum.
Through her AT THE TABLE! PAC, Grace supported 11 successful minority candidates in their elections to federal office in 2016. She also serves as an original member of the Board of Directors of EQUALITY PAC, the political arm of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, of which she is also a member.
Grace lives in Queens with her husband Wayne and their two sons, Tyler and Brandon.
Margaret Chin took office in the New York City Council in 2010, as the representative for District 1, Lower Manhattan. She is the first Asian American woman elected to the New York City Council and the first Chinese American council member to represent Chinatown.
Margaret is Chair of the Council’s Committee on Aging, and is a member of the Committees on Education, Youth Services, Rules, and Transportation. Margaret is a proud founding member of the Progressive Caucus and a member of the Women’s Caucus. Margaret is also Co-Vice Chair of the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus.
Margaret Chin immigrated to the U.S. with her family from Hong Kong when she was nine years old. She grew up in NYC Chinatown and attended P.S. 130 and JHS 65. She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and from the City College of New York with a degree in education.
For over a decade, Margaret worked at Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), an organization that she helped to form when she was in college. At AAFE, she fought for affordable housing, as well as equal opportunities for immigrant families. Before taking office, Margaret successfully fought to get bilingual ballots for the Asian community.