Letitia James

Public Service Award

 

New York City Public Advocate Letitia (Tish) James serves as chair of the City Council’s Contracts Committee. In her roles, she helped uncover the CityTime scandal which cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions od dollars. She also held hearings on the privatization of public service jobs and ensuring the MWBE programs were working for communities across New York. She fought to make sure mega-projects like the Atlantic Yards development included affordable housing and represented a fair shake for local communities.

 

Ms. James used her City Council position to take on Stop and Frisk abuses and anti-choice extremists who use “limited-service” health clinics to deny women the right to choose.

 

In the General Election, Ms. James won the most votes of anyone running for office in New York, making her the fourth Public Advocate of New York City, and the first woman of color to ever hold citywide office.

 

Ms. James is a graduate of New York City public schools, CUNY’s Lehman College, and Howard University’s School of Law.