NYC PA Williams, Minneapolis + CM Phillipe Cunningham: Elections Have Consequences, Representation Matters

NEW YORK, NY (07/27/2020) (readMedia)-- On Wednesday, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Minneapolis Council Member Phillipe Cunningham will host a conversation about elections, representation and ranked choice voting. Lurie Daniel Favors, Interim Executive Director and General Counsel at the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, will moderate. As young, dynamic, Black leaders heading up the policy conversation in their respective cities for police reform, Williams and Cunningham will talk about how ranked choice voting can bring more diverse leadership to power, and how representing a broad base has helped Phillipe lead in these times of sweeping change.

Register for the event here.

Background

Lurie Daniel Favors

Lurie Daniel Favors, Esq. serves as Interim Executive Director and General Counsel at the Center for Law and Social Justice, an activist and attorney with a long-standing commitment to racial and social justice. Ms. Daniel Favors earned her J.D. from New York University, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern public interest scholar. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BA in African and African American Studies, with a Minor in Spanish Language.

Before completing law school, Ms. Daniel Favors co-founded Sankofa Community Empowerment, Inc., a non-profit organization designed to educate and empower communities of African descent. She later co-founded Breaking the Cycle Consulting Services LLC, which specializes in creating comprehensive professional development for educators, youth education programs and family engagement workshops designed to address the crisis in urban education through the use of culturally responsive teaching. Ms. Daniel Favors is a weekly contributor for the Karen Hunter Show on Sirius XM Urban View and she co-hosts the Sunday Civics show which appears on the same network.

Ms. Daniel Favors has served as General Counsel at the Center for Law and Social Justice since 2015. She began her legal career as an attorney in the New York offices of Proskauer Rose LLP and Manatt Phelps and Phillips, LLP. She also served as a federal court law clerk in the chambers of the Honorable Sterling Johnson, Jr., in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She later founded Daniel Favors Law PLLC, a law firm that focused on economic and racial justice.

Council Member Phillipe M. Cunningham

Phillipe M. Cunningham (pronounced fil-LEAP) is the Minneapolis City Councilmember representing the 4th Ward in North Minneapolis. He is the first and currently only out trans man of color elected to office in the United States. Prior to being elected and unseating a 50-year family political dynasty in 2017, Councilman Cunningham served former Mayor Betsy Hodges as her Senior Policy Aide for education, racial equity, and LGBTQ+ rights. He also previously worked with youth as a special education teacher and youth worker for over 10 years. As a policy wonk and fierce community advocate, CM Cunningham's goals are to break intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence and build community wealth with Northsiders already living in the community. His writings have been published in The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys and Millennial Compact with America.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

Jumaane D. Williams is the Public Advocate of the City of New York. Previously, he served on the NYC Council representing the 45th District. Jumaane is a first-generation Brooklynite of Genadian heritage. He graduated from the public school system, overcoming the difficulties of Tourette's and ADHD to earn a Master's Degree from Brooklyn College. He began his career as a community organizer at the Greater Flatbush Beacon School and later served as the Executive Director of NYS Tenants & Neighbors. There, he fought for truly affordable, income-targeted housing across New York City and State. In the NYC Council, Jumaane championed landmark legislation that fundamentally transformed policing in NYC. Jumaane sponsored the Community Safety Act, reforming the City's Police Department by ending the abuse of Stop, Question & Frisk in communities of color and creating the NYPD's Office of Inspector General to investigate unlawful & unethical behavior. Jumaane has led the fight for better policing and safer streets, affordable housing, and transparency and accountability in City government. As Public Advocate, Jumaane continues to be an activist-elected official who brings the voices of everyday New Yorkers to City government, fighting to make New York a truly progressive beacon for all.