While political observers await news of former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will actually run for New York City mayor, which would have made her the first woman to launch a mayoral run in 2021, a Bronx-based nonprofit director has already made up her mind, with eyes of being the first woman mayor serving the five boroughs.

Dianne Morales, CEO and executive director of Phipps Neighborhoods in the South Bronx, announced a run for Gracie Mansion on the Democratic ticket early this month, telling the Norwood News the city’s approach to helping the marginalized is broken. Solidifying that perspective was her firsthand experience helping the hurricane-ravaged island of Puerto Rico.

“The systems that are in place to actually help us are not always the most effective, to put it mildly,” said Morales. “I’m just kind of over it and I feel like it’s time to try to actually change the systems to work in the way they’re intended.”

On top of her agenda is ensuring women have greater support systems in place, and quality education is easily accessible.

On a micro-level, Morales has functioned like a mayor, operating and implementing policies at the social services nonprofit since 2011.  Phipps Neighborhood helps low-income neighborhoods rise from poverty through its litany of career-readiness programs. The 47-year nonprofit operates in the Bronx, one of the more impoverished parts of the city.

Morales, a graduate of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and Columbia University, has lent her experience in nonprofit work and education to the city, sitting on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Nonprofit Resiliency Committee and launching the city Department of Education’s Office of Youth Development and School-Community Services.

The mission promulgating upward mobility is personal for Morales, the youngest of three children from a Puerto Rican family and a single mom living in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, where she grew up. She is the second person of Hispanic descent to launch a run for 2021, with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. already throwing his hat into the ring. In the post-Trump era, where unknowns have risen above established figures, Morales stands a chance at outperforming her opponents.

Should Morales make it to the ballot for the June 2021 Democratic mayoral primary, she could very well siphon some votes away from Diaz Jr., and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, given her Brooklyn ties. But the Bronx Borough President has amassed a comparatively large war chest for his campaign. Name recognition and likely party backing can overshadow Morales’ run.

But there are 22 more months before the primary, and Morales is beginning to fill her campaign coffers.

“The fundraising started a couple of weeks [ago]. I’ve actually been really, really moved, I guess, and humbled by the responses. I think it’s been overwhelmingly positive, and people seem to be very open, receptive, and excited about a fresh perspective and someone who’s potentially coming in from the outside,” said Morales.

She’s also not looking beyond the mayor’s race. Should she win, the fight is not a matter of using it as a springboard to higher office, but focusing solely on the job.

“I’m not looking to become mayor because I’m ultimately interested in pursuing being the president. I’m not looking to run for mayor because it’s a race that I think I can win right now or that it’s the next logical step,” said Morales. “This is the place where I think I can have the greatest impact for the largest number people communities that I have served all my life. And so it’s right for me now, and I think there’s something to be said for having someone who’s not sort of part of some larger machine and certainly not just another notch on the belt or another stepping stone along the way.”

t or another stepping stone along the way.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.