NYC Council District 39 Race: Shahana Hanif Seeks Seat

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Voters in New York City's 39th Council District, which extends from the Columbia Waterfront District down to Borough Park, will see seven names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election.

One of those names will be Shahana Hanif, a local organizer who has also worked as Lander's director of organizing and community engagement, which includes running the Participatory Budgeting program.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Hanif's responses are below.

Age (as of Election Day)

30

Position Sought

City Council In District 39

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Neighborhood of residence

Kensington

Family

I was born and raised in Kensington, which is home to the largest Bangladeshi Muslim enclave in Brooklyn. My two younger sisters and I attended PS. 230. In the early 1980s my father migrated from Bangladesh and while undocumented navigated the City as a restaurant and construction worker to support our family. My mother is my inspiration, and has been so supportive of my run for office — for months my parents have been calling and visiting neighbors and friends to share my candidacy with them.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Throughout my life, I have attended schools in Brooklyn from PS 230 to CUNY Brooklyn College. At Brooklyn College, I studied Women and Gender Studies and Media Studies.

Occupation

I was the Director of Organizing and Community Engagement at Council Member Brad Lander’s office (2017-2021) and a Public Housing Organizer at CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities (2014-2016). I’ve also done lots of community organizing with groups like Sakhi for South Asian Women (2013-2014), the Transdiaspora Network (2010), and Law at the Margins (2016).

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

N.A

Campaign website

www.shahanafrombk.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I’m running because District 39 is my home. Growing up in the southern part of the district in Kensington, I saw first hand how the City has failed some of our neighborhoods, particularly those home to the most marginalized — BIPOC folks, women, immigrants, and working-class and disabled New Yorkers. Our schools in the District 15 middle school district are deeply segregated, our more affluent neighborhoods have robust public services and open spaces unlike neighborhoods like Borough Park and Kensington, and government programs are not accessible to limited English proficient community members especially in Kensington. I’m running for City Council to end these inequities. I am a community organizer, and interfaith activist striving to create a feminist government that centers care and keeps all our communities safe, housed, and fed. At 17, I was diagnosed with Lupus and my immigrant family, not having the English proficiency to navigate a broken healthcare system, was left at the mercy of an uncaring bureaucracy as I fought for my life. Through my recovery I had both hips and my left shoulder replaced which left me disabled and forced to navigate our city’s inaccessible public transportation system. Since my diagnosis at 17, I have not stopped fighting for health for all, an accessible transit system, and language justice. I’m running for City Council because I want to ensure the communities often excluded from the conversation have a voice at the table. If elected I will be the first woman to represent our district in the City Council and the first Muslim woman and first South Asian person ever elected!

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Housing justice is the most pressing issue facing our District. Since 2013, I’ve volunteered and worked with Sakhi for South Asian Women, the largest anti-domestic violence organization serving South Asian survivors in NYC. The leading cause of homelessness is domestic violence and our City is lagging behind on providing truly affordable housing options for survivors of gender-based and intimate partner violence. The Mayor’s current housing plan is over-reliant on private developers, and has failed to create sufficient affordable housing. As a former public housing tenant organizer where I organized working-class, limited English proficient Asian immigrant public housing residents, with CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, I know that housing and land use must center tenant control. As City Council Member, I will invest in community land trusts to create truly affordable housing and to prioritize the preservation of our public housing stock, especially our NYCHA developments. I will also continue to stand with groups like VOCAL-NY to demand guaranteed housing for all, not temporary shelters.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

As the Director of Organizing and Community Engagement in Council Member Brad Lander’s office I have significant experience working in a City Council Member’s office and intimately understand how to use the office to benefit our community. While at Council Member Lander’s office I led Participatory Budgeting and oversaw more than $4 million invested into our community from improved school play yards, to laptops at libraries, to a downpayment for an elevator at the 7th Ave F/G stop which will finally make Methodist Hospital accessible by public transportation. I am ready to hit the ground running on day one.

Additionally, my candidacy represents a geographical shift in representation for the district. My community in Kensington is home to the largest Bangladeshi Muslim enclave in Brooklyn and we haven’t had a City Council Member from outside of Park Slope since the 1990’s. It’s critical the entire district is represented. I’m also an interfaith organizer and have worked closely with our Jewish neighbors in Borough Park to handle the uptick in hate crimes as a community without involving the police as well as working together to fight white supremacy in our city. And finally I was born and raised here. I attended PS 230, went on dates at the Pavilion (now Nitehawk) movie theater, and have dedicated my life to fighting our local battles here in Brooklyn every day.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

Council Member Brad Lander stood in solidarity with workers during the COVID-19 crisis by championing New York City’s Essential Workers Bill of Rights, supporting our open streets, voting ‘no’ on the FY21 City budget, and prioritizing clear and frequent communication with constituents including frequent and detailed email updates and virtual community meetings. I would build on CM Lander’s community engagement, prioritizing our limited English proficient community members. All communication should be translated into Bangla, Spanish, Yiddish, and other languages as needed and outreach strategies should also include local ethnic media. If elected, I would also advocate strongly for comprehensive relief for undocumented residents. Throughout the pandemic, I raised over $40,000 in survival funds to support undocumented folks in our district. We should not need to crowdfund to provide relief for New Yorkers. If elected, I will work hard to ensure constituents do not need to rely on the good will of community members for public benefits.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

My Green New Deal For Brooklyn platform is an essential component of my campaign. Part of this means pushing for accessible, resilient green spaces in District 39 and across the City. This issue is particularly close to my heart because in 2015 I helped turn an empty lot into the now vibrant Avenue C Plaza. I believe everyone should live within 10 minutes of an open green space. I will create green union jobs through park stewardship initiatives and allocate funding so our green spaces are properly maintained. I will also fund and partner with local arts and cultural organizations to create open street public programming in plazas and public spaces throughout the district. I will also create more transportation infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, particularly in communities in our district that have been neglected. As someone who has both hips and my left shoulder replaced, biking in the district and the City overall can be dangerous. As Council Member, I will work to make biking more accessible and safer for all New Yorkers. I’ll partner with the Department of Transportation to construct protected bike lanes throughout the district, particularly in Kensington and Borough Park, where there are higher incidents of bicycle injuries or fatalities.

I also believe in a feminist, moral budget, which means defunding the NYPD by at least 3 billion dollars. This is possible through freezing new hires, cancelling new cadet classes, cutting budgets for surveillance infrastructure that’s already been shown to target Black and brown New Yorkers, and strengthening the power of the Civilian Complaint Review Board to dismiss officers with excessive disciplinary complaints. These changes would shift funds away from the bloated NYPD budget and into other crucial agencies and public services deeply in need of more funding. I support removing the police from mental health responses, homeless outreach, child welfare calls, and other social services. Additionally we must remove police from schools. Allowing the NYPD to have a role in the social sector puts our resources towards the perpetuation of violence, racism, and classism, without getting close to addressing the root causes of instability and poverty. I experienced the harm of the NYPD first hand as a 10 year old. After 9/11, the US government started a wave of targeting and surveillance upon Muslim families, community organizations, campuses, and mosque. Growing up as a Muslim child in Brooklyn I, along with my neighbors, experienced surveillance from the NYPD and Islamophobic attacks from fellow New Yorkers so we gathered to do something - we wrote to President Bush asking for protections, protections for Muslim youth like us who want to grow up in a city without surveillance and discrimination. We never heard from him, but continued to meet because we needed to keep each other and our families safe. Later, as a student at Brooklyn College, I organized with the Muslim Students Association an organization surveilled by undercover NYPD officers and informants on campus. These issues are more than policy for me, they are personal. I will bring my personal experience with me as I fight for these issues as Council Member for the 39th District.
Finally, education defines my campaign. Equitable public education is close to my heart and I’ve advocated for students and families throughout my career. We need fully funded, integrated, and equitable public schools. During my time as a public school student at PS 230, I witnessed the egregious inequities and immoral budget cuts that have resulted in a school system that fails to care for students and families. As the former Director of Organizing and Community Engagement at Council Member Brad Lander’s office, I worked closely with the School Construction Authority to secure funding through Participatory Budgeting to repair our school buildings. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve not just been asking “how can schools reopen safely” but also “how can schools recover equitably?” I support 5-day a week in-person school in the fall and know we need a recovery plan rooted in care, equity, and justice.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

While there are several experiences I could discuss when answering this question, I’m going to focus on one, my time as the Director of Organizing and Community Engagement for Council Member Brad Lander. Through this work I have a thorough understanding of the nuts-and-bolts of how City government operates and have years of experience building strong coalitions in the district. I started working with CM Lander after Trump was elected, and my community saw the grave and immediate impacts of Trump’s legislative agenda targeting Muslims and immigrants.
One aspect of my role was to lead our constituent services work. I supported hundreds of neighbors across our district, brought in much needed City services, coordinated and mobilized actions to protect neighbors against ICE and hate crimes, and much more. I also led Participatory Budgeting. I’m proud to say that during my time leading Participatory Budgeting we had the most diverse PB volunteers leading our District Committee and in Cycle 8 broke the record for most votes in the history of Participatory Budgeting in the 39th District. Additionally in CM Lander’s office, I am most proud of my advocacy for survivors of domestic violence - particularly with Ms. Zahan, a Kensington-based survivor who I supported in 2018. Ms. Zahan, like many immigrants or limited English proficient folks, did not speak English and was stuck in an abusive relationship. I advocated for Ms. Zahan in her native language, Bangla, and with the support of District 39 raised over $4000 in survival funds for bills and a safe transition from the shelter system to a new apartment while she searched for work. My advocacy for Ms. Zahan was featured in The New York Times, bringing attention to how many people and organizations it takes to successfully remove one woman from an abusive situation.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

I’ve appreciated advice from friends, colleagues, and mentors about how to navigate the patriarchal and sexist nature of campaigning. Recently I read Stacey Abrams’ book Lead From The Outside and it has been a lifeline as I’ve navigated running as a first time woman candidate of color. She encourages leaders of color and those traditionally sidelined in politics to stand up for our communities, speak our minds, and be ambitious. As a first-generation daughter of immigrants and woman of color, her words are important as I think about how to be a leader and representative for this diverse district.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

If elected, I would be the first woman to represent District 39 in City Council and the first Muslim woman and South Asian person ever elected to New York City Council.
I would love for voters to learn more about my work with Participatory Budgeting. Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members can directly decide out to spend public funds. PB in the 39th District has led to critical and creative reinvestments in our schools, streets, and parks with every idea coming from and voted on by the community. Participatory Budgeting is one of the few ways all New Yorkers, regardless of age, (you can vote starting at 11) or citizenship status, are able to meaningfully engage in civic life. I was intentional about who was at the table and where the ideas were coming from. I made sure to center marginalized voices and recruit and onboard youth and women of color leaders. Because of this focus, the projects that made it onto the ballot reflected the needs of our entire community — 10-week self-defense classes for Muslim women, peer-to-peer workshops to destigmatize reproductive and sexual health for middle schoolers at MS 442, solar panels on government buildings, diaper changing stations in parks and playgrounds, improved school play yards, new laptops in libraries, and much more. Participatory Budgeting recognizes budgets as moral documents and allows for constituents to take an active role in how discretionary funding within their district is spent. Engaging our neighborhoods in this process is not easy work and it is not intuitive but it’s a crucial tool for investing back into our communities by working with the people who know it best, the constituents themselves.