Meet Our DMO of the Month: Brad Lander, NYC Council Member
From the Columbia Waterfront inland, Brad Lander is making waves in New York City. We got to know Council Member Lander through his efforts to bring Participatory Budgeting to New York City. Participatory Budgeting was first launched in the United States three years ago by DMO's Past President, Joe Moore of Chicago. This month, DMO is proud to name Brad Lander our DMO of the Month for many reasons.
Brad Lander is finding creative ways to engage his constituents in community problem-solving. Lander uses Google mapping technology to track stalled development projects in his community, and to engage residents in helping solve the problems those sites can create. You can check out how he is using it here: http://bradlander.com/stalleddevelopment.
Lander has developed a "Shop Local" campaign and invites community residents to nominate local businesses for a "Shop Local Award."
He invites his constituents to serve their community and helps connect volunteers with service opportunities. http://bradlander.com/getting-started-in-service
Lander last year organized a "School Food Rocks" conference to bring together parents, educators, students, SchoolFood staff, and food activists to learn about how they can work together to achieve healthier and more sustainable school food.
"The conference’s aim was to help schools get started or take next steps in improving their food programs, and to strengthen the network of parents and school leaders working on food issues. As I sat in on many of the workshops, on topics including starting a school garden, educating children and families in nutrition, recycling in the cafeteria, expanding access to healthy food in schools, and working with DOE SchoolFood on healthier options for students, I saw many wonderful presentations and a lot of intelligent and informed conversations. I was really happy to have the opportunity to be a part of this conference, and hope that it will get people energized to work to make school food healthier and more sustainable. I'm looking forward to working with school administrators, teachers, parents and activists to take next steps towards getting better food in the schools," Lander explains in his regular blog post.
Brad Lander leads the New York City Council Jewish Caucus and has been an outspoken voice for the Orthodox Jewish community, particularly as city budget cuts were disproportionately affecting child care services to the community.
Lander writes passionately about wealth disparity in our nation, and in his city. In a Huffington Post article Lander tells us that "income inequality is greater in New York than in any other large American city. The top 1% of New York households, just 90,000 people, earn the same amount in one day as the 900,000 New Yorkers in deep poverty earn in a whole year."
Brad Lander is demonstrating a commitment to community engagement and innovation, and is a strong voice for national Democratic issues at the local level. For these reasons and more, Democratic Municipal Officials names Brad Lander our September 2011 DMO of the Month.
