Leonel Baez Announces his Candidacy for the 15TH Congressional District in New York

  BRONX, NY - 06/14/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Leonel Baez, community activist and entrepreneur, announced his candidacy for the 15^th Congressional District in New York, saying he would be a strong voice in Washington, especially in a community lacking active federal elected leadership representation.  Leonel Baez, a community board member and an experienced small business owner, announced that he is ready to fight for the community where he was raised, and bring forward progressive sustainable ideas to elevate the district from its current underperforming status.

“This candidacy is about bringing change to a community that has been abandoned and neglected by our elected officials in Washington,” said Leonel Baez, Congressional Candidate for the 15^th Congressional District in the Bronx.  The 15^th Congressional District in the Bronx encompasses the neighborhoods of Mott Haven, Hunts Point, Melrose, Highbridge, Morrisania, East Tremont, Tremont, Morris Heights, University Heights, Belmont, Fordham, West Farms, Longwood Avenue Historic District, and parts of Soundview.  “Our congressional district is the poorest district in the United States with nearly half its residents living below the federal poverty line.  Our communities have not only been neglected of basic services, such as adequate healthcare, quality education, and jobs, but of the most basic human rights imaginable, such as fresh air, fresh water, and adequate affordable housing.  I am ready to face these challenges, and I will fight to create a self- sustainable community in the neighborhoods I have called my home my entire life.”

Leonel was raised in the West Concourse neighborhood in the district, and is proudly a product of the New York City public school system.  He is currently finishing law school in New York, and has two master’s degrees one in Economics and Finance, and the second in Urban Studies and Public Administration.  He has attended some of the best universities in the country, such as City University of New York, New York University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Leonel is the founder and manager of a not for profit organization primarily focusing on small business micro-financing, business sustainability, government compliance, community development, and affordable housing.  Before transitioning into the not for profit world, he was a Senior Vice President of Asset Management and Client Services for a Wall Street firm subsidiary in New York City.  In 2012, as one of the principal partners of a renewable energy firm, he negotiated a multibillion dollar tax, equity and debt transaction for the construction of commercial solar arrays throughout the United States.

Leonel now stands prepared to take on Washington to fight for basic universal income, for $15 federal minimum wage, for free public colleges and universities, for criminal justice and immigration reform, and for the conversion of all NYCHA housing projects into limited equity cooperatives without any additional cost to the current tenants. 

“It is absurd that in 2016, our congressional district continues to be the poorest and sickest district in the country,” said Leonel Baez.  “I am ready to take the fight to Washington and to force the changes required to end this vicious cycle of human misery and poverty.  I recognize the hardship that so many families face when our schools are underfunded, when our kids are going to bed hungry, and when two jobs are not enough to cover our exorbitant living expenses.”