WHEREAS, the 2021 New York City local elections feature a vacancy in the Office of Brooklyn Borough President and on Brooklyn’s Surrogate Court; and

WHEREAS, eight candidates seeking to be the next Brooklyn Borough President submitted a UFT candidate questionnaire and were screened by a committee comprised of UFT members who work and live in Brooklyn; and

WHEREAS, union members who live and work in Brooklyn were encouraged to register and participate in a virtual town hall that featured the top four candidates including Robert Cornegy, Khari Edwards, Antonio Reynoso and Jo Anne Simon for a final interview conducted by a committee of union members representative of the borough; and

WHEREAS, Jo Anne Simon is a community activist, disability civil rights lawyer and progressive Assembly member having served in the New York State Assembly since 2015; and

WHEREAS, Jo Anne Simon has worked tirelessly for students with disabilities and is a nationally recognized expert on curriculum and intervention, and as a lifelong educator and advocate for children, she is committed to fighting to improve public schools for all Brooklyn students; and

WHEREAS, Jo Anne Simon has been a staunch advocate for gun control and dedicated to the safety of all school communities; and

WHEREAS, Jo Anne Simon demonstrated to the UFT members who live and work in Brooklyn that she would be best to serve as our next borough president; and

WHEREAS, two candidates campaigning to serve as a judge on Brooklyn’s Surrogate Court were interviewed by a committee of UFT members who live and work in Brooklyn; and

WHEREAS, of the two candidates, Dweynie Esther Paul-Dorsainvil started her career as a civil litigator and has served as a Kings County Civil Court judge since her election in 2015, becoming the first person of Haitian-American descent to be elected; and during her tenure she has served in both Family Court and small claims court in both Kings and Queens counties; and

WHEREAS, Judge Paul has shown a commitment to help Brooklyn families preserve and pass on hard-won resources; fought home foreclosures and deed theft through a volunteer Brooklyn nonprofit; advocated for Family Court reforms while serving on the state Chief Administrative Judge’s Advisory Committee; and

WHEREAS, Judge Paul has kept strong ties to her community as the former director of community service for the Metropolitan Black Bar; as a former member of Community Board 3 Vanguard Independent Democratic Association; and as a founder of the Young Men’s Leadership Initiative as well as the nonprofit the Brownstoners; and

WHEREAS, Judge Paul's relevant experience proved to the interview committee that she is most qualified for the role as a judge on Brooklyn’s Surrogate Court; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT endorses Jo Anne Simon for the Office of Brooklyn Borough President and Dweynie Esther Paul-Dorsainvil to serve as a judge on Brooklyn’s Surrogate Court.