Carlina stands unequivocally for abortion access and overall improved reproductive healthcare. In 2019, she championed the creation of the first municipal program in the country to directly fund abortion care for those who are unable to fully cover costs, whether they are living in or traveling to New York, and other cities have followed suit. Carlina also wrote and passed the bill to expand access to long acting reversible contraception in our public health institutions. She has led the charge in the Council to enact more reproductive justice measures like increasing access to doulas and midwives in an effort to improve maternal health outcomes, particularly for Black women and women of color. In response to eh attack on court-established rights, Carlina passed legislation to make abortion bills available at city-run health clinics and to create an education campaign on the dangers of the misleading information and fake services associated with “crisis pregnancy centers” here in New York.

Carlina has been working on animal rights legislation since before her election, when she worked within the Council to pass a bill that restricted the use of exotic animals for entertainment purposes and traveling circuses in New York City. Since then, she has passed landmark legislation to safeguard wild and farmed birds and continues her work to safeguard animal welfare nationwide.

Carlina has been at the forefront of the fight for climate justice here in New York City. She cosponsored Local Law 97, the Green New Deal for New York, to reduce building emissions citywide to meet New York’s net-zero goals. She has been a champion for mass transit and cyclists to reduce car congestion and pollution. To make New York a leader in the energy transition, Carlina cosponsored a bold plan to transform Rikers Island into a renewable energy hub and supported the divestment of the city’s pension away from fossil fuel companies. Having seen firsthand the devastation Superstorm Sandy brought to her waterfront community, Carlina helped secure nearly $1.5 billion in flood protection and riverfront park reconstruction to protect Manhattan’s Lower East Side from storm surges and rising seas caused by climate change.

Carlina recognizes the immediate urgency of climate action and has sponsored legislation this term related to public health, rat mitigation, composting, unnecessary idling, and decreasing the manufacturing of harmful plastics. As our Councilwoman she will continue to work for the resources for the adaptation to, mitigation from, and reversal of climate change.

Every New Yorker deserves the ability to fully participate in society. Carlina believes we must constantly work to improve accessibility to education, opportunity, recreation, and all aspects of life for New Yorkers with disabilities, and she knows that in conjunction with tangible reforms, the fight for disability justice is also in removing stigma. Carlina proudly partnered with disability advocates to write and pass legislation in the City Council removing stigmatizing language from the New York City Charter and Administrative Code, and she works with advocates to educate small businesses on Americans with Disabilities Act requirements to increase access for customers and as a result, their client base. She has also fought to ensure that all upgrades to parks, schools and housing developments in her district included vital equipment and changes in compliance with the ADA. Carlina will continue to advocate for disability justice and accessibility for all.

Every day, New Yorkers are hurt by rising prices and are struggling to get by in an increasingly unaffordable city. Carlina will keep fighting for a fair and just economy that works for every single New Yorker, regardless of their zip code. She will build on her record of delivering to her Council district because she knows that New Yorkers deserve a better economic future. In the Council she will continue to focus on the economic development New York City needs to emerge from the pandemic stronger and more equitable than before. Carlina will continue to support small businesses, invest in opportunities for traditionally ignored lower-income New Yorkers with equitable job training facilities and programming, and she will advocate to finally reform our broken tax system so the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share and property owners can finally experience a system that is equitable.

Healthcare should be a basic human right, no matter what. As former Chair of the Council’s Committee on Hospitals, Carlina oversaw the rollout of NYC Care, a program in all five boroughs that allowed thousands of previously uninsured New Yorkers to access quality healthcare regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. She will continue to fight for a universal coverage model like the NY Health Act and Medicare for All, while ensuring locally our health systems are serving our most vulnerable and historically disenfranchised.

The housing crisis most requires that we create more housing supply. Carlina knows that we need to build more affordable and accessible housing in all areas, not just a select few, to address soaring rents and housing instability, which can often lead to homelessness. As a Council Member, she’s fought for community land trusts, rezonings that prioritize more affordable housing development, and the full funding of public housing from every level of government. Carlina believes that housing is a basic human right, and that we have it in our power to make sure every person has access to permanent, dignified, affordable housing.

Since her days as community organizer, and throughout the dark days of the Trump Administration’s overt attacks on immigrants, Carlina has stood in opposition to both hateful rhetoric and an expansion of wrongful enforcement tactics by the federal government. Carlina fought to expand access to healthcare and city services for undocumented families, increase language programming and training, strengthen workplace protections, and ensure access to the ballot box in City elections. She believes that we must expand rights to our immigrant community and sponsored legislation to bring voting right to noncitizens for municipal elections, as well as a leader in the Council on issues related to our migrant and refugee crises, and in opposition to the cruel practices of ICE, the Border Patrol and nativist Republican governors.

Carlina understands that the only way to have a fair economy is to put workers first. Since entering public service, Carlina has been a champion for labor and workers’ rights, most recently spearheading the effort to pass the first-of-its-kind legislation ensuring workplace protections and basic dignity for app delivery workers, including making sure they have the right to use the restroom in the restaurants they serve. Carlina is the proud daughter of a Local 1549 member and knows the importance of having the support of a union, as it was in part what enabled her mother to raise her and her sister.

The rights of the LGBTQ+ community are under attack across the country. Trans and gender non-conforming people are living in fear as various states pass laws attacking their dignity and safety, and even children are being subjected to probing of and impingement on their identity and self-worth. Carlina has stood with the LGBTQ+ community to expand city and state rights for LGBTQ+ people through direct legislation and advocacy. She fought to end the infamous “walking-while-trans” law, and she has collaborated with our public health system to ensure baselined funding for specialized and culturally-sensitive services for the LGBTQ+ community. She will continue to stand as an ally to ensure that no person is subjected to scarring and discriminatory state and local legislation.

If we learned nothing else from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that a lack of preparedness and transparency only leaves communities that are already vulnerable even more so in the face of a public health crisis.

We remember how grim those early days were in the spring and summer of 2020 as ambulances carrying people who could hardly breathe made up the bulk of our street noise. Many remained isolated indoors while our frontline workers, many of them working class people of color, had to continue working for a lack of feasible alternatives. This meant some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers were risking their lives every day to continue putting food on the table for their families. In fact, Black, Latino, lower income and undocumented populations notably saw the highest number of cases and deaths — and it’s largely due to the fact that these communities are more likely to hold these essential but often underpaid jobs. They also are more likely to lack affordable access to preventative healthcare, putting them at greater risk of suffering and dying from more severe cases of COVID.

While we continue to combat this pandemic, there’s no doubt we must be ready for the next and ensure adequate, consistent, and sustained funding for public health infrastructure, as well as robust information campaigns led by our trusted community-based organizations that serve with cultural sensitivities and language access top of mind. Carlina did this work as former Chair of the Hospitals Committee in the City Council and will continue to advocate for more equity in our health systems.

Every New Yorker has a right to be safe, and to feel safe. Carlina knows that a comprehensive, commonsense, and integrated approach is needed to end the recent rise in crime, and ensure true public safety in the future. Carlina has consistently increased investment in complementary strategies to law enforcement including community-level programs, violence interrupters, and late night youth programming to address the root causes of our current crime spike.

Public transportation is what keeps New York City moving, and Carlina believes that access to transit means access to opportunity. She championed the 14th Street Busway to drastically improve travel times, and was one of the first Council Members to sign on to increase mass transit accessibility throughout the five boroughs. Carlina is also an avid bike rider and has passed legislation requiring that contractors create and maintain temporary bike infrastructure when a protected lane is overtaken by construction work.

Especially after two years of a pandemic shattering what we understood to be the norm, Carlina remains committed to meeting a new generation of issues with actionable solutions. From her legislation to make the Open Streets Program permanent and City-supported to her persistence in creating and protecting housing affordability, Carlina’s record demonstrates that as our Councilwoman, she will continue to forge a path making New York more livable for everyone.