Jennifer Gutiérrez
34th Council District - Brooklyn
Jennifer Gutiérrez is an organizer, activist, and ally. For nearly a decade, Jennifer has been deeply entrenched in the issues and struggles of the Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood families she seeks to represent. Born and raised in Queens to parents who emigrated from Colombia in the 1980s, Jennifer grew up in a one bedroom apartment with her family in an immigrant rich community and attended local public schools all her life.
Jennifer graduated from the University at Albany with a B.A. in Political Science, and right after worked with families of the disappeared in Santiago, Chile before serving as a Field Director to state races in Phoenix, AZ alongside Dreamers in 2012.
She was an advocate from a young age. Her mom was a domestic worker for over twenty years and as a young girl accompanied her mom to cleaning jobs to help interpret and negotiate her wages. When she was ten years old, her father became disabled and it was Jennifer who would spend hours on the phone and write letters to insurance companies to ensure her family had the means to make rent. Jennifer began working as a community organizer in Williamsburg, working directly with residents on tenant and anti-eviction issues. It was here that she gained a deep respect for the existing organizing efforts to preserve crucial services to communities, and the dire need for affordable housing, environmental justice, and equity in education.
Most recently, as the Chief of Staff to City Council Member Antonio Reynoso, Jennifer has implemented greater transparency and access for constituents by leading 8 cycles of Participatory Budgeting which led to over $5 Million of investments to public spaces like schools, streets, parks, and NYCHA. Jennifer has also been instrumental in leading the office’s legislative and constituent services operations. She has served as the office’s liaison in negotiating the extension of the Nuestros Niños daycare and the public actions related to this daycare and Small World Daycare; and orchestrated multiple annual community events.
Jennifer has a longstanding and deep personal investment in our communities and will always fight for the well-being of all Council District 34 residents.