Brad Lander is a member of the New York City Council, representing the 39th District in Brooklyn. Brad serves as the Council’s Deputy Leader for Policy. He co-founded the Council’s Progressive Caucus, helped bring participatory budgeting to NYC, and has led the way toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable city.
Brad’s track record shows that we can strengthen our democracy, make government work better, and build a city that reflects our values.
Brad has fought successfully to protect freelancers from wage theft, give fast-food workers a fair work week, and make sure Uber/Lyft drivers earn a living wage. To win safer streets and new transit infrastructure. To reform discriminatory practices in the NYPD, and to combat segregation in our schools and neighborhoods. His hard-hitting policy reports have led to better bus service, air-conditioning for all NYC school classrooms, and more effective affordable housing policy.
Brad’s background in community planning informs his commitment to make government work better. By helping to bring participatory budgeting to NYC, Brad has involved tens of thousands of New Yorkers in shaping the city’s investments in our neighborhoods. His legislation has resulted in better tracking of expenditures across NYC’s parks, more effective ways to measure and combat poverty, and improvements to the city’s capital projects management (where, ok, we still have a lot of work to do). By launching #GetOrganizedBK, he brought thousands of Brooklyn residents together to stand up to bigotry, corruption, and injustice of the Trump regime.
Brad co-founded and until recently served as chair of Local Progress, a national network of over 1000 progressive local elected officials in 45 states. Prior to serving in the City Council, Brad directed the Pratt Center for Community Development and the Fifth Avenue Committee. Brad is a graduate of the University of Chicago, with a Masters degrees in social anthropology from University College London, and in city planning from Pratt Institute. He lives in Park Slope with his wife, Meg Barnette, President and CEO of NonProfit New York, and their children, Marek and Rosa.