Senator Velmanette Montgomery

Senator Velmanette Montgomery was elected to the New York State Senate in 1984. She represents the 18th Senatorial District, population 311,260, that covers Bedford-Stuyvesant, Boerum Hill, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Gowanus/Wyckoff, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Park Slope, Red Hook and Sunset Park.

Prior to becoming a legislator, Ms. Montgomery was a teacher, adjunct professor and Day Care Director, and co-founder of the Day Care Forum of New York City. As Director of Organizing, she traveled to neighborhoods throughout the city and state, organizing parents, professionals, labor activists and concerned citizens around the issue of child care. It was her work as a child care advocate that resulted in state funded college campus child care centers at SUNY and CUNY, as well as a state funded child care resource and referral network throughout the state. Senator Montgomery served as president of Community School Board 13, where she was instrumental in reviving the District wide President's Council and improving parent participation in local schools.

As the Ranking Minority member on the Senate's Social Services, Children and Families Committee, Senator Montgomery is recognized for co-sponsoring the law creating the Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, as well as the law giving mothers the right to breast feed their babies in any public or private location. She also authored the law eliminating the fee for testing gifted children, and is the sponsor of a bill creating school-outreach domestic violence prevention programs.

Given the charge to help improve New York State's criminal justice system, Senator Montgomery was appointed Co-Chair of the NYS Senate Democratic Task Force on Criminal Justice Reform and held public hearings in this capacity. The Senator and other Task Force members heard testimony from criminal justice advocates from across the state, which has served as a basis for legislative proposals to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, implement transitional services for prisoners returning to their home communities, end the use of special housing units to discipline prisoners for minor infractions, and other criminal justice reform measures.

In the area of health care, the Senator co-sponsored the law prohibiting the ritual practice of female genital mutilation, helped frame the 2002 Women's Health and Wellness Law, which expands women's access to reproductive and other preventive health services, and led efforts in to pass a proposal to legalize needle exchange programs as a means to deter the spread of AIDS by intravenous drug users to their partners and children. In addition, Senator Montgomery has introduced a comprehensive proposal establishing improved nutrition standards in public schools. Another measure creates a personal income tax check-off box for donations to a School-Based Health Center Fund.

Senator Montgomery is chiefly responsible for bringing the issue of home equity fraud to the forefront by exposing the tactics of unethical money lenders who prey on unsuspecting homeowners. Her efforts led to the creation of stringent laws protecting consumers against fraudulent lending practices. The Senator also sponsored a law requiring electric utility providers to give residential consumers the option of signing up for Time-of-Day service. This cost-saving measure re-directs the use of electricity to off-peak, low-demand hours.

Senator Montgomery has been honored and recognized by numerable organizations for her public service record, as well as for her professional and legislative achievements, including: The 1994 National Teen Leadership Award by Advocates for Youth, a national youth advocacy organization; The Visiting Nurse Association of Brooklyn Legislative Leadership award for her support of quality home health care for residents of New York State; Legislator of the Year Award by the New York Therapeutic Communities, Inc. for her commitment to providing community based substance abuse treatment; and was named one of "America's Top 100 Black Business and Professional Women."

The March 1992 issue of the nationally syndicated Parade Magazine featured Senator Montgomery in the cover story titled "Why Don't You Run for Office" as a legislator who retains a community focus in all legislative activities. She appeared on the Village Voice Honor Roll of Straights for Gay Rights in 1986. In 1998, Senator Montgomery was the only New York State Senator to receive a 100 percent approval rating by the New York State Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) for her exemplary record with regard to women's issues.

Senator Montgomery received her Masters Degree in Education from New York University, traveled widely in Africa and studied at the University of Accra in Ghana. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Joseph's College in 1991. She was also a Revson Fellow at Columbia University and received the Institute for Educational Leadership Fellowship.

Senator Montgomery is married to William Walker and they have a son, William Montgomery Walker.