Assemblyman
José R. Peralta

39th Assembly District
Queens

peraltj@assembly.state.ny.us

Assemblyman José Peralta is a first-generation Dominican-American, who was first elected to the New York State Assembly at the age of 30. Like so many before them, Peralta’s parents came to the United States in search of the American dream and a better life for their children. His parents worked hard to sustain their family on the wages of entry-level positions: his father a bank teller and his mother a seamstress at a sweatshop. They struggled to ensure that their children received a quality education that would provide them with opportunities and would teach them the importance of public service.

Peralta has lived in Queens for a total of 25 years, living in the Corona area for the past 23 years. Peralta is a product of the public school system in Queens – having attended elementary school PS 14, Intermediate School 61: Leonardo Da Vinci, Flushing High School, and finally Queens College.

Peralta’s interest in representing issues of concern to his community was demonstrated by his active participation in student government at Queens College, where he became the first Latino Student Body Vice President and subsequently the first Latino Student Body President. He also represented over 200,000 students within the CUNY system as a member of the University Student Senate in which he held the positions of Vice Chair of Legislative affairs and Vice Chair of Fiscal affairs.

In all of these positions, he focused on bringing student concerns to the forefront, often lobbying state officials on the importance of issues such as: state tuition hikes; student healthcare; the reduction of childcare funding and the lack of services available to students with disabilities. Peralta’s interest in fighting for these issues has not been limited to Queens College. He also became involved in local school boards and worked on various political campaigns.

For his work he received numerous citations and awards such as the President Multicultural Award, the CUNY Leadership Award, and the Goodman, Chaney, and Scherer award – given to a student leader committed to ending racial and gender discrimination.

After graduating from Queens College, Peralta began working with Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin as a community liaison. In this position he continued to develop the skills and knowledge necessary of an effective public servant, including an understanding of the legislative process. While at McLaughlin’s office, he not only worked in helping constituents in the Flushing area that the assemblyman represented, but he also worked for the Corona, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst communities – spearheading many immigrant causes and community improvements.

Peralta then served as the Director of the Commission on the Dignity for Immigrants at the New York City Labor Council, representing over 1.5 million union members. The Commission is a partnership between the labor movement and the Archdioceses of New York. Under Peralta’s direction, the Commission has championed the mission of creating political empowerment for all immigrants in a variety of ways, including registering over 20,000 new citizens.

Peralta has dedicated his tenure to fighting for the rights of working men and women in the state of New York in order to improve their quality of life. Peralta has been at the forefront of providing affordable health care coverage to thousands in his district through the child and family health plus programs, as well as, providing and fighting for the community’s fair share of health care dollars for the local hospital, Elmhurst Hospital, and its many surrounding clinics. Peralta has also passed legislation to allow the employer to post valuable health care coverage information on the child and family health plus programs at the worksite. Peralta has improved his constituent’s quality of life by spearheading the Operation Impact programs in the district and insuring that over 70 new police officers patrol the streets of his community every year a new police class graduates. He has brought in the Guardian Angels to assist the police with the growing gang epidemic. The Guardian angels were at first to be thought of as a bit controversial, but Peralta believed in their method and it has turned out to be a huge success, so much so, that other elected officials have inquired about the Guardian Angels patrolling their neighborhoods. Peralta has envisioned and turned into reality the Corona-Elmhurst Economic Development Center, which is a "Center" geared towards helping out small businesses in maintaining their business by teaching them the rules and regulations of the city and the state, as well as, the laws that bind them. The "Center", although is only a year old, has partnered with other great institutions like Health Plus in order to assist small businesses with affordable health care, with the Consortium for Workers Education (CWE) in order to help people with ESL and business computer classes, with Accion New York in order to provide micro loans throughout the area, with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) in order to provide people with the tools they need to buy a new home or second home, and all of this was done in order to help the "Center" become a one stop shop for the small business person.

Peralta has also been a leading advocate in protecting the rights of new Americans by insuring that those who have come here to live the American Dream and work hard get the respect they deserve. Peralta has worked tirelessly on discrimination cases, the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) driver’s license issue, the Licensed Money Transmitter issue, and many, many more important issues that affect New Americans. Peralta has worked very hard to fight against tuition hikes and elimination of opportunity programs like, HEOP and EOP for the higher education students at CUNY and SUNY. Peralta has also insured that he continues to fight to get the necessary dollars through the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) campaign for our NYC schools. Peralta has gone above and beyond his call of duty by securing hundreds of thousands of dollars for the local schools in his district and insuring that the children in these schools get a quality education. Peralta has also led the way in securing capital investments to improve the number 7 train railroad tracks. Peralta is also proud of the community investments he has made to local community non-for-profits groups and sports leagues. Peralta has not forgotten his labor roots and has been a champion for those working men and women who have been discriminated against and have lost their jobs by fighting for their cause and working for the return of their positions through the union that represented them or through their employer. Peralta played a crucial role in the fight to increase the minimum wage in the New York State. Peralta knows and understands that he represents the "United Nations" of all Assembly districts, thus he has worked to insure that all ethnic groups that he represents work together and are educated on their rights. Peralta appreciates the rich culture that each group brings to the district and continues to foster a balance of learning, understanding and respect for each other. Peralta has taken on the challenge of providing for those many times forgotten seniors that have worked so hard to make this state and country what it is today, by insuring that their home aide programs and senior centers are well funded and that their quality of life is not diminished. Peralta has tackled scam artists that prey on immigrants, seniors and all constituents alike and has successfully recruited attorney general Eliot Spitzer to win some cases against these scam artists. Peralta has also brought in the DOE FUND to clean up the streets in his district down Roosevelt and 37th Avenues to supplement the Sanitation department’s daily effort.

Peralta is and was a member of various community organizations such as the Dominican American Society, the Gran Alliance of Queens, The Dominican American Hispanic Congress, Community Board 3, and the Inter-American Political and Civic Parliament. He was also a member of Local 153 OPEIU. Peralta is married to his lovely wife Evelyn and has a son named Matthew.