Born in the Parkchester neighborhood of The Bronx, Alexandria’s parents moved the family 30 minutes north to Yorktown in search of a stronger public school for her and her brother. Alexandria’s mother was born and raised in Puerto Rico and worked throughout her childhood as a domestic worker. Alexandria’s father was a second-generation Bronxite, who ran a small business in The Bronx. Throughout her childhood, Representative Ocasio-Cortez traveled regularly to The Bronx to spend time with her extended family. From an early age, the stark contrast in educational opportunities available to her and her cousins, based on their respective zip codes, made an impression on her.
The first wave of COVID-19 struck our district harder than nearly anywhere else in the United States. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has fought relentlessly to get working people the relief and protections they need. She was the sole Democrat to vote against the first relief bill because it gave to many corporate giveaways while doing far too little for small businesses and undocumented families. She then fought for and won improvements to the PPP program to make it easier for small business owners of color to access funds. At the end of 2019, after hearing from community members who were struggling to bear the financial cost of burials, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez successfully pushed for the inclusion of a Funeral Assistance program into the second relief package signed into law. The program has disbursed over a billion dollars to families who lost loved loves to the pandemic as of now.