Tag Archives: jasmin sanchez

District 2 Council candidates square off at forum

Residents watch the forum at Boys & Girls Republic

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Candidates running to replace term-limited City Councilmember Rosie Mendez met to discuss the central issues of their campaigns at the Boys & Girls’ Republic on the Lower East Side this past Monday night. District 2 covers the area west of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to Fifth Avenue, covering Flatiron, the East Village, Alphabet City and parts of the Lower East Side, and stretching up to Kips Bay.

Democrats Ronnie Cho, Juan Pagan, Carlina Rivera, Jasmin Sanchez, Mary Silver and Jorge Vasquez and Republican Jimmy McMillan appeared at the forum to talk about affordable housing, small businesses, issues important to seniors and education. Democrat Erin Hussein is also running for the seat but was unable to attend the debate.

The Henry Street Settlement, along with the Women’s Political Caucus of New York, sponsored the event and Henry Street executive director David Garza moderated the discussion among the candidates. Garza started the conversation by asking the candidates to outline what they feel is the most important issue for the district and what they plan to do.

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Council candidate focused on housing, mental health services

Jasmin Sanchez (Photo courtesy of Jasmin Sanchez)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Lifelong Lower East Side resident Jasmin Sanchez had already been working in public service for most of her career when she decided to try to transfer those skills to the City Council.

Sanchez, who still lives in LaGuardia Houses in the Lower East Side where she grew up, has experience in the nonprofit sector, working with community leaders at Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) and in State Senator Daniel Squadron’s office, which is where she said she learned how to be a community advocate. She is running for the Council seat in District 2, with City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez being term-limited out next year.

A major focus of Sanchez’s campaign is mental health services, primarily because it’s an issue that ties into not only healthcare, but can affect housing and education as well, and has an impact on homelessness. She added that she feels having affordable housing can sometimes be the lynchpin for communities and families, and that it can be especially detrimental for students if they have a tenuous living situation.

“If you don’t have housing, you don’t focus as much on everything else and your performance suffers,” she said.

“It’s not a stable life for kids from shelters. It can be very stressful for them not to have a stable place to live. Schools have mental health services but they have to be holistic and make sure that families are receiving those services as well.”

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