A mission to create opportunities for low income, middle and working class, and immigrant families.
A vision for a society that is accessible, affordable, and accountable so that every New Yorker can dream.
Education
A product of the public school system, Andy understands firsthand that education is the foundation of opportunity for New Yorkers. Families should not have to sacrifice a child’s opportunity who has the grades, the drive, and the dream but lacks the financial support to achieve. He envisions an education system where curriculum is inclusive of the diverse communities that make up New York and a class environment that promotes the potential of a student and not dismiss any one child because of a bureaucratic lack of resources. Andy is committed to expand the infrastructure of the education system for public and private institutions so that people of all ages have the right and break past their untapped potential to succeed, and access an affordable and high quality education. A high quality education that is rooted in:
Free K-12 Public Education
Affordable Higher Education
Expanding Financial Aid and TAP
Investments in CUNY and SUNY
Culturally Responsive Curriculum
Smaller Class Sizes and Increased After School Programs
Housing
Every New Yorker has the right to live in stable and dignified housing. The effects of the both the housing and affordability crisis has impacted homeowners and tenants alike, and cannot be as apparent as it is today. New Yorkers are suffering from unstable housing and homelessness, rising costs of living in the face of eviction, deteriorating living conditions, and inadequate supplies of affordable housing and homes of all types working class people can afford. To tackle the homeless crisis, we must solve the housing crisis by building more and all types of homes, protecting against unjust evictions and rights to counsel for both homeowners and tenants, ensure that our older adults can age in place, and fight for the long deserved living conditions for those who live in NYCHA and public housing. Andy knows that when housing security is met, self determination and actualization follows, and when New Yorkers are housed, New Yorkers will thrive. We must be proactive and address the housing crisis by:
Fully Investing Resources to Repair and Sustain NYCHA
Creating and Preserving Affordable Housing Units
Constructing New Senior and Supportive Housing
Fighting for Statewide Right To Counsel
Extending Relief for both Homeowners and Tenants
Increasing the Supply of Cost Effective Housing
Healthcare
Healthcare is a human right. Andy is driven to fight for universal, accessible, and affordable healthcare for all New Yorkers rooted in a care society. Andy understands that New Yorkers are living in a broken public health system where to be healthy means to be bankrupt and quality healthcare means poverty, where life saving medication is reserved for the few who can afford and not the many who are in need, and where race, gender, legal status, language spoken, and zip code determines life, sickness, or death. Andy is committed to fight for a New York where every individual and family has access to quality healthcare and can prioritize their health without fear, doubt, or worry. New York must alleviate the conditions of a mismanaged healthcare system in scarcity and become a sanctuary of public health. Together, we can sustain an effective public health system that centers:
Expanding Medicaid Coverage
Ending Medical Debt
Lowering and Capping Costs of Prescription Drugs
Investing in Public, DSH, ICP, and Safety Net Hospital Infrastructure
Universal Access To Healthcare
Diversifying Language Accessibility
Public Safety
Every New Yorker has the right to live in safety, security, and at ease of mind for the wellbeing of their loved ones. New York must do more to keep our communities safe and hold the criminal justice system accountable and transparent to deliver real results that promote community wellbeing, law and order, and consequences for those who break the law. Andy will be advocating with conviction for comprehensive police resources, a legislative agenda that centers evidence based accountability, and cultural competency training for public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement. With the rise of hate crimes against our communities in the form of Anti-Asian Hate, Anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia, New York must set examples of leadership that will ease the hearts and minds of our fellow New Yorkers. With the rise of repeat offenders, petty and violent crimes, and the need to expand reform and true justice for those who are wrongfully accused, New York must speak and act truth to power and create a more comprehensive criminal justice system that drives just consequences and center gardens of safety for communities to grow and thrive with peace of mind. Centering justice and accountability looks like:
Supporting State Allocation of Police Resources
Restructuring Bail Reform
Expanding Resources and Culturally Responsive Trainings for Legal Professionals
Enforcing Consequences for Racially Motivated Hate Crimes
Developing Comprehensive Re-Entry Programs
Implementing Expansive Wrongful Conviction Reform
Local Economy
A free society is a society that comprises a fair economy built up by honesty, decency, and integrity. New York’s economy must transform to ground principals of opportunity, mobility, stability, and accessibility so that every New Yorker can realize their American Dream. A dream that uplifts an economy with a reality where every New Yorker is guaranteed access to jobs with livable wages and comprehensive benefits, a tax credit system that benefits low income, middle class, and working class families, infrastructure that supports immigrants who dare to dream, a childcare system that allows parents to work and providers to be equitably sustained, and a quality of life that is sustainable where socioeconomic mobility especially to the middle class is truly attainable and not deeply exclusionary. Andy believes in an economy that does not predetermine a life of dignity or poverty for any individual or family, but a state that is self-determined to give every New Yorker the resources and access to live up to their dreams and potential. We can work towards a thriving and accessible economy by:
Raising The Minimum Wage
Expanding Tax Breaks and Credits
Strengthening NY Paid Family Leave
Affirming Gender Pay Equity
Engineering Universal Workforce Development Pipelines
Centering Universal Child Care
Small Business
Improving State Grant and Lending Initiatives
Small Businesses are the backbone, lifeblood, and engines of New York’s local economy. Not only do small businesses drive innovation and revitalize communities, increase employment and create new jobs, and are landmarks of cultural diversity and intergenerational wealth - but more importantly, small businesses are the products of the fabric and narrative of the soul of the American Dream. Mom and pop shops are struggling through a post-pandemic economy, an economic system where the cost off living and affordability has strained consumers, and lines of red tape that have hurt both new and intergenerational businesses from succeeding. Immigrant business owners comprise large shares of the entrepreneurial community that bring diversity, language accessibility, and cultural competency to New York’s diverse communities, and we must work towards ensuring they have the resources to launch opportunities to lay roots and manifest their dreams. New York must once again become a beacon of hope for small businesses that drive the culture, vitalization , and the economies of our local communities. We can build a pipeline where every small business can succeed by:
Promoting and Expanding Access to MWBE Certification
Supporting Small Business Rent Relief Tax Credits
Committing Cultural Competency for Entrepreneurs
Building New Infrastructure to Create and Enhance Commercial Districts
Removing Barriers for Immigrant Business Owners
Older Adults and Special Needs
Our older adults and communities with special needs are some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers. We must end the perpetuation of ageism and ableism within our government policies and public infrastructure. New York must become a center of security and wellness for older adults and communities with special needs to live, thrive, and age in place with the access to supportive and caring infrastructure. The pandemic and post pandemic recovery eras were the rude awakenings New York needed to realize that the state must do better and advance policies that would allow New York to truly be accountable to every community. Andy knows that aging New Yorkers and those with special needs prioritize financial stability, reliable healthcare, and quality of life as critical principals to their livelihood. He also knows that so many New Yorkers have been barred access from these critical principals, whether it be due to language barriers and zip code, to race, ethnicity, and gender, or even income class and socioeconomic status. Andy is committed to shifting New York to become a sanctuary where aging and special needs New Yorkers are guaranteed the inalienable rights of stability, benefits, independence, and dignified livelihoods without any red tape, discriminative policy, or government bureaucracy. A New York that promotes dignity for our most vulnerable can be achieved by:
Improving Benefits for Medicare Enrollees
Launching a Study to Research the Specific Needs of Asian Americans
Increasing Access to Exemptions
Continuing Investments to Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities
Enhancing Access and Enrollment for SCRIE, DRIE, SCHE, and DHE
Expanding Medicaid Coverage for People with Special Needs
Nonprofit and Human Services
Nonprofits and Human Service Workers provide essential, culturally competent, and life-affirming services to our most vulnerable New Yorkers - typically, low-income, middle and working class, and immigrant communities. It is a common sense decision to fully allocate resources, capital, and infrastructure to nonprofits, providers, and human service workers and alleviate the struggles of New Yorkers, rather than disenfranchise and starve New Yorkers from opportunity and progress. Critical investments must be made to ensure that communities that have been historically underserved and isolated can finally be provided with the tools and resources to transform their own lives. Andy is ready to be a staunch advocate of the historic funding allocated to AAPI communities and make sure that the funding is secured and enhanced every year to support Asian American and Pacific Islander serving nonprofits. Andy envisions a New York that is defined by the quality of life, fulfillment, and social capital that every New Yorker can realize within their own lives. Transforming the nonprofit and human service sector can be achieved by: