Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez 53rd Assembly District (Part of Kings County)
Vito J. Lopez, Democrat, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from James Madison High School and Long Island University, Brooklyn, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He received his masters degree in Social Work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva Univesity in 1970.
Assemblyman Lopez has played a leading role in the area of Aging. He founded the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center which is one of the largest and most comprehensive senior programs in New York State. He is also the founder fo City-Wide Advocates for Seniors, North Brooklyn Senior Citizens Coalitiona nd the Ridgewood Bushwick Seniro Citizens Council. He has served as an advisor to Vacations and Community Services for the Blind and Woodhull Geriatric Health Services Task Force.
The diverse community Assemblyman Lopez serves has many seriousneeds. It is a community comprised of mostly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Americans, elderly on fixed incomes, and working class families. Assemblyman Lopez has done an outstanding job in addressing the needs of this diverse population.
The following is a list of some of his community achievements:
He has established a community based education program in Bushwick, through Long Island University, so that district residents have the opportunity for an affordable college education.
He has secured funding and grants for the following agencies, programs, and initiatives: housing funds to renovate all city-owned large building in the 53rd Assembly District. $8 million was provided to central Williamsbury and $7 million to Los Sures. In addition, over 1000 units in Bushwick were renovated to provide affordable homes to be purcased by people in the community; funds for volunteers doing anti-crime work in Greenpoint, Lindsey Park, and WWilliamsburg; funding for assistance for immigrants seeking citizenship including English as a Second Language and civics classes which have helped hundreds of people obtain legal statusl secured the largest grant ever given by a state for legal services to Brooklyn Legal Services which provides legal services for tenants and community groups; secured $2.5 million for windows and upgrading for Bushwick Houses -- the largest grant ever give to a state-aided project; obtained fundig for numerous social services for public housing residents, including a senior program at Hylan and Sumner Houses and a job training for youths in the projects; created and secured funding for programs for summer recreation for youths, drug prevention, drop-out prevention, teen pregnancy, youth job training, adult training and job placement; provides free busses for Seniors to attend picnics which he sponsors each summer at Sunken Meadow State Park; provides free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner to Seniors in the community as well as delivering holiday meals to over 1000 homebound seniors; won an increase in the burial allowance from $250 to $900 so that people with no money can still have the dignity of a funeral; obtained weatherization funds for Saint Joseph's, Saint Mary's, and United Methodist Church, initiated expansions in daycare programs and fought for decent salaries for day care and home care workers; established the first Hispanic Outreach Program for the Elderly (HOPE) in New York State; organized community task forces on public housing, the Soutside, North Bushwick Residents Assoc., and brooklyn Unidos; consistently backed Hispanic candidates for school board, areas policy board, city council, etc. - with active assistancel initiated a program for gifted students at PS 250; sponsored public hearings on public housing, education, and the environment; sponsored lobbying rips to Albany for Seniors, Day Care workers, parents and public housing tenants.
Vito Lopez has served a a part-time Adjunct Professor of Human Services at LaGuardia College and has also been an Instructor at Molloy College, Empire State College and Yeshiva University.
Assemblyman Lopez is Chairman of the NYS Assembly Housing Committee and serves on the following Assembly standing commitees: Commerce, Industry and Economic Development; and Social Services. In 1993, he chaired the Children and Families Committee. Assemblyman Lopez was elected to the state legislature in the 1984 general election and will begin his fifth term as Assemblyma in January 1993.
