Next year, residents of New York City’s 14th District will vote on a new representative. Incumbent Councilman Fernando Cabrera has reached the end of his last term. He has represented the district, which extends from just south of the Cross Bronx Expressway to Kingsbridge Heights in the north, since 2010.

 

In June 2020, Pierina Sanchez, 32, announced her candidacy to replace Cabrera with a focus on improving permanent housing and education, among other issues. “With 70 percent of our residents unable to afford their rents, I want to work to improve that number,” Sanchez said. “I want more homeowners [in our community].”

 

As a child who lived on East 183rd Street and University Avenue, Sanchez and her family experienced housing uncertainty when a fire in their building forced the family onto the street in the middle of the night. “I have a vivid memory of being displaced,” she said. “My mom was yelling ‘¡Ponganse la ropa!’ (‘Put on your clothes!’).” The fire happened in the midst of a tense relationship with the landlord. Sanchez attributes the poor relationship to tenant harassment.

 

This formative memory informed and inspired Sanchez to seek a life of public service which ranges from previous work in the 14th District where she helped tenants get heat and hot water, to urban planning work at the Regional Plan Association (RPA), and later as a member of Community Board 5, where she advocated for affordable housing during the rezoning process along Jerome Avenue.

 

In 2015, Sanchez was elected to serve on the board of the Bronx Young Democrats, and work to raise awareness in young people interested in politics and public service. She credits her family’s insistence on getting an education as integral to her success in her life and career, which includes an internship at the White House during the Obama administration.

 

Locally, Sanchez attended public schools until her admittance to the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in Bedford Park. She went on to study at Harvard University for an undergraduate degree in psychology, and later a master’s degree from Princeton University in public affairs.

 

As of July 24, the New York City Campaign Finance Board lists three other candidates running in District 14, including Fernando A. Aquino, former press secretary to the NYS Attorney General, Haile M. Rivera, who oversees community and government affairs at the Dominican Consulate, and Yudelka Tapia, district leader of the 86th Assembly District.

 

Although the State’s Democratic Party primary is more than 10 months away, and other candidates may opt to join the race to replace Cabrera who, it has been reported, plans to run for Bronx Borough President, Sanchez is confident she can gather enough support from voters to secure Cabrera’s seat.

 

On July 15, her campaign announced that it had raised $66,000 from over 950 donors in the span of four weeks with contribution amounts averaging at $68. “I have been honored by the outpouring of support from our community, especially during these difficult times,” Sanchez wrote via a press release.

 

“These strong results show the Bronx is eager for new, progressive leadership that will fight for justice. I’m excited to build on our momentum and grow our support across the 14th District, the community that raised me and the neighborhoods I call home.”