Nydia Velázquez
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| Nydia Velázquez | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 5, 1993– |
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| Preceded by | Major Owens |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Born | March 28, 1953 (age 54) Yabucoa, Puerto Rico |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Paul Bader |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Nydia Margarita Velázquez (born March 28, 1953 in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico) became the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Velázquez, whose father worked the sugar cane fields, was one of nine siblings. She was raised with the influence of political dinner table conversations. Her father was a local political activist and, from a young age, she would accompany her father to political rallies. Her father would focus on the rights of sugar cane workers and denounce the abuse perpetrated by wealthy farmers.
After skipping grades, she entered high school when she was 13. In high school she organized her classmates on a protest and the school was closed down. Their protest against the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of the school caused the necessary renovations to be made.
In 1969, when she was only 16, she enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico (Universidad de Puerto Rico). In 1974 she graduated magna cum laude and became the first one in her family to receive a college diploma. She then went to New York where she attended and studied political science, on a scholarship, at New York University. In 1976 she received her Master's degree.
Velázquez was a university professor for many years, first in the University of Puerto Rico's Humacao branch (1976-81) and then at New York's Hunter College (1981-83).
In 1983, she was appointed Special Assistant to Representative Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn). In 1984, she became the first Latina appointed to serve as a member of the New York City Council.
In 1986, she served as the Director of the Department of Puerto Rican Community Affairs of the U.S. During that time, she initiated a successful Latino empowerment program called "Muevete" (Move on).
In 1992, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York's 12th District (map),and became the first Puerto Rican woman member of Congress. The sprawling 12th district encompasses parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Lower Manhattan. It includes such neighborhoods as Ridgewood, Maspeth, and Woodside in Queens, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Red Hook, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn and part of Manhattan's Lower East Side. She also became the first Hispanic woman to serve as Ranking Democratic Member of the House Small Business Committee. She oversees federal programs and contracts totaling $200 billion dollars annually. She also serves on the House Financial Services Committee.
Velazques received a "B" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.
During her campaign for the House seat, her medical records, including documented clinical depression and an attempted suicide, were leaked to the press. She quickly held a press conference and said that she had been undergoing counseling for years and was emotionally and psychologically healthy. [1]
Her district is the only one in New York City which covers residential areas of three boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan). Charles Rangel's district, the Manhattan-based 14th CD, also includes parts of the Queens and The Bronx, but the district's only territory in The Bronx is the Riker's Island jail.
On April 3, 2003, Velázquez was named "Hispanic Business Woman of the Year" by Hispanic Business magazine, becoming the first women to be named as such, in recognition of her national influence in both the political and business sectors.
Among her "firsts" are: the first Hispanic woman to serve on New York City's Council; the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress; the first woman Ranking Democratic Member of the House Small Business Committee. Velázquez became first woman to chair the United States House Committee on Small Business in January 2007. ==References==
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| Preceded by Major R. Owens |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th congressional district 1993– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
