An educator and social worker, Abigail Martin, candidate for City Council in the 11^th District points to equality in education as being key to breaking the cycle of generational poverty. As a student advisor and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s school of social work, she helps train the City’s next generation of social workers.

 

“I mentor them throughout their first year of social work school, and work with them in their placements,” she said. “All my students are usually placed in the Bronx so, I’ve been in a lot of public schools in the Bronx, meeting with my students there and really seeing a lot of agencies that serve the elderly in the Bronx, and seeing how the people of the Bronx are served by the agencies that are here.”

 

Martin said her own children attend public school in the borough at P.S. 81 and as such, she has a rounded view of the disparities that exist within the City’s public education system. She believes struggling schools should be provided with additional resources to ensure all children have the ability to thrive.

 

“I think what’s happened as a result of COVID has highlighted how dysfunctional the Department of Education is, and when we have 1.3 million public school children in New York City that need a good and fair access to education and are clearly not getting it, we need to figure out how to make that happen,” she said.

 

How does she plan to achieve this? Martin said the education budget needs to be looked at to see where it can be trimmed. “Within the Department of Education, I think there’s a lot of fat at the top, and we need to take a look at that and figure out how to redistribute the budget so that we are putting resources into underperforming schools, we’re helping teachers have smaller classrooms, and so, it’s just reallocating the money that we have,” she said.

 

A self-described public-school parent, albeit in Riverdale, Martin said her own family has felt the brunt of what she calls “this poorly laid out plan,” referring to the saga that is public-school reopening amid COVID-19. “I think teachers are rightfully fearful for their health,” she said. “I think parents are fearful for their children’s health.”

 

Asked if she trusted the Department of Education’s assurances regarding the safety measures taken in schools to prevent COVID, Martin said five, six or seven-year-olds don’t know how to socially distance. “It’s just – if you know about kids – they forget so easily, the masks are down below their noses, and children are elbowing each-other or children want to hug each other,” she said. “I am certain that the teachers and the principals are doing the absolute best they can, but I think that they’re being tasked with an impossible task.”

 

As an example of further dysfunction within the system, Martin recounted a story of her teacher friend who was asked to work in one school, then got asked to do part hybrid, and then suddenly got moved to another school.

 

“At this point, my children had already started with their teachers,” she said, referring to the period after the public schools reopened. “So, I said to her, ‘What about your new class? Who have they been meeting with?’ She said, ‘They haven’t been meeting with anybody.’ So, those kids in the South Bronx – it was a school in the South Bronx – hadn’t even met with their teacher, whereas my kids had already met with their teacher twice,” she said.

 

“That’s unacceptable – things like that, that increase the disparity between resourced schools in resourced areas, and those that have fewer resources is really unacceptable.”

 

Affordable housing is one of Martin’s other top three issues. She believes people’s homes are critical to their mental health and physical well-being and that all New Yorkers have a right to fair and affordable housing. She worked for seven years at Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an organization that advocates for children in foster care, managing CASA’s office at the Bronx Family Court.

 

Her work included securing housing for children aging out of foster care, making sure foster families had the financial support they were owed, and ensuring that families were eventually reunited. Martin said many working families who own their homes pay more than they should in property taxes, with little benefit in return, and at every turn, hardworking families are getting squeezed out of the City.

 

She said property taxes and regressive taxes disproportionately impact working families, those on fixed incomes and poor New Yorkers. Asked how she would address this, given the City’s current budget deficit, she says, “We can’t bring money from nowhere, so, we definitely have to get creative and just, look at what’s working, put the money towards programs that are working, and be willing to move money from things that are not.”

 

Another top issue for Martin is ensuring a decent living wage for ordinary New Yorkers and generally moving towards a more equitable society. She is supportive, for example, of prioritizing services for people with disabilities and the elderly, especially when it comes to transportation. “I think of a lot of ways in which the accessorized system can be looked at and streamlined to meet the needs of people who are accessing that service,” she said. “There’s certainly room for improvement there. It’s when we think about making New York more equitable for all New Yorkers, transportation for seniors, and for those with disabilities needs to be at the forefront.”

 

In terms of the ongoing debate on how best the City can adapt the budget to finance these initiatives, we asked Martin if she would have signed off on the City’s June budget revision. “No, I would not have signed off on it. There were still agencies that had more fat that could have been trimmed, so, I would not have signed off,” she said.

 

On the issue of defunding the police, and the simultaneous uptick in crime, Martin acknowledges that this is a real concern for voters. She said what is needed, however, is to look at programs that work and put money into those that have evidence-based models, that are proven to have a positive impact on the community.

 

“We need to be mindful of funding programs that reduce crime,” she said. “A perfect example would be the summer youth employment program. That program took a hit this year, and that program has proven to have such a positive impact on the young people of our city.”

 

Martin said that another way to address affordability for working families is to reduce the burden of childcare costs. She said those who cannot afford private childcare must rely on family members, or choose unsafe, unvetted childcare options. Having seen first-hand, as a social worker, the devastating impact on families of having to choose unsafe childcare services, Martin is adamant that every working parent and guardian in the city should have access to affordable and safe childcare.

 

When it comes to gathering tax revenues in order to fund such programs, Martin said she is convinced New York will bounce back economically, and that the rumors of people leaving the city en masse are overblown. “While there are definitely people that have left, there are people that have only left temporarily,” she said. “They’re still paying their rent. They’re still paying their property taxes for homes, and in co-ops and apartments that they own, and New York has a history of rebuilding every time there is a crisis. New York always comes back, and people love New York City.”

 

She said people are dedicated to New York City, and people that are in the wealthier brackets who have businesses here want New York City to succeed because their businesses are here. “They need the city to succeed,” she said.” I think that if we use this current climate as an opportunity to rebuild this city in a way that is more equitable, more accessible, and just works better for all, I am positive that New York will rebuild better than ever before.”

 

Martin worked previously at Montefiore Hospital’s Child Advocacy Center, where she coordinated the joint efforts of the Administration of Children’s Services, the NYPD’s special victims’ division, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, and forensic doctors to minimize any additional trauma to child survivors of abuse.

 

She said social workers understand how to navigate complex systems to get results. Martin will host an online conversation on the need for more social workers to be elected to office on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 p.m., along with two other City Council candidates, who are also social workers, Tricia Shimamura, candidate for NYC Council, District 5 and Ingrid Gomez, candidate for NYC Council, District 21

 

“In the tough times ahead, we need leaders who will build up their communities, forge new partnerships, and stand up to injustice, abuse, and inequality,” said Shimamura. “I’m proud to stand with my fellow social workers as we work towards a better future for our city.”

 

“Social workers play a vital role in the community and are often the first responders to a crisis.” said Gomez. “Social workers get the job done and work well under pressure, have the ability to effectively communicate, and are staunch advocates for their communities, always centering the experiences of the oppressed and the marginalized.”

 

Martin said her background and experience makes her well-placed for the role of City Councilmember in the district, and she is not concerned that she has not served at community board level, for example, as a precursor to City Council like some of her running mates have.

 

“I have as much experience as the current city council member had coming into it,” she said. She touts her extensive experience advocating for those in need, and her work with government agencies to get results for her clients. She said constituents need someone who will go the extra mile to make sure community members have the support they need, especially to increase access to critical programs and services.

 

 She also sees herself as being a candidate who can appeal to a wide spectrum of voters. “In the last couple of weeks, I spent a lot of time speaking with people all throughout the district,” she said. “And I’ve had conversations with people that fall on both sides of the national presidential campaigns, and I think that that really speaks to my ability to bring people together. I think that also sets me apart as a candidate.

 

Martin also said people need to be less polarized and figure out how to have conversations. “We need to come together to create a better New York. Elected officials work for the people. I will come in with a clean slate with my agenda of creating a city that works better for all New Yorkers, and I think that it could be seen as a strength that I don’t owe anyone any favors.”