This is an updated version of our story first published in November 2021.

 

On Tuesday, Nov. 16, Jessica Altagracia Woolford, a Riverdale resident raised in Kingsbridge, announced her bid to replace Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz from New York State Assembly’s 81st district, via a bilingual digital campaign ad. Dinowitz has held the seat since 1994.

 

“I’m excited to make my case to the voters of the Northwest Bronx that it’s time for fresh leadership in the Assembly,” Altagracia Woolford said. “My abuela taught me that care should never be conditional. But the fact is, a lot of Bronxites are struggling to keep up with the basics because of what zip code they live in, where they came from, and, because leadership isn’t listening to what we need. It’s time to put people first and truly provide care for our beautiful, vibrant community.”

 

At the height of the pandemic, according to her campaign, Woolford started Kingsbridge Unidos, a volunteer-run, mutual aid effort to deliver over 30,000 pounds of fresh produce, in addition to thousands of masks, and valuable bilingual information about COVID-19 and more, to families in Kingsbridge. They said what started as a door-to-door, delivery program at her grandma’s building, has grown to include and prioritize families experiencing homelessness through creative, uplifting and joyful programming.

 

According to the candidate’s campaign, Altagracia Woolford is a proud alumna of neighborhood schools, including Head Start in the Marble Hill Houses, P.S. 207, P.S. 7, and Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141). She is also a graduate of the PREP 9 and “Summer on the Hill” programs.

 

According to prepforpreg.org, the PREP 9 program helps the brightest and most hardworking African American and Latinx students in New York City and the metropolitan areas of Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut prepare for success at leading, independent, boarding schools across the Northeast.

 

According to the Horace Mann School, Summer on the Hill (SOH) was founded in 1994 at the Horace Mann School to offer supplementary educational enrichment to promising, disadvantaged, public school students from the Bronx, Washington Heights, and Harlem.

 

Summer may feel far off amid this winter chill, but the deadline to change your party affiliation is coming up on Feb 14. You *must* be registered with a political party to vote in their primary election this June, so check your registration status here: https://t.co/vJJMPYwzLi pic.twitter.com/ojBEGn7Iuj

— NYC Votes (@NYCVotes) January 14, 2022

 

Altagracia Woolford currently lives in Riverdale with her husband and young daughter.

 

Campaign officials said she has worked in local and national Democratic politics and government for nearly a decade, including at the 2016 Democratic convention, the United Food and Commercial Workers International union, the de Blasio administration, New York Immigration Coalition, and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office.

 

The 81st Assembly District comprises Norwood, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Van Cortlandt Village, Marble Hill, Riverdale, Woodlawn and Wakefield.

 

On Tuesday, Feb. 1, New York Communities for Change announced it was endorsing Altagracia Woolford in the 81st assembly district. The candidate reacted to the announcement on Twitter, writing, “I’m honored to receive the endorsement of  @nychange! To have our campaign’s first endorsement come from a grassroots leader in the fight for housing, racial, and environmental justice means the world to me.”

 

NYCC is proud to endorse @JessWoolfordBX ! pic.twitter.com/I700EXmHBQ

— New York Communities for Change (@nychange) February 1, 2022

 

George Diaz is also running to fill the 81st Assembly District seat. He previously ran and ultimately lost against Dinowitz in the Democratic Primary in 2020, obtaining 36.2 percent of the vote on that occasion. Dinowitz went on to win the general election with 80.9 percent of the vote. His current term ends on Jan. 1, 2023.