Joe Pressley, 62, is a proud Black gay man from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with more than three decades of experience in public service. And retirement? That’s nowhere on the horizon.
“I love my city. I love Brooklyn,” he said. “New York keeps me young and healthy.”
Pressley currently serves as vice president of public policy and government relations at Amida Care, the largest Medicaid Special Needs Plan in New York City. The nonprofit health plan serves more than 10,000 New Yorkers, 90% of whom are Black or Brown.
“Care is about prevention,” said Pressley, whose work now focuses on advancing the health of New Yorkers. “About 3,800 of Amida Care’s members identify as transgender or nonbinary.” The plan also serves those experiencing homelessness and the children of enrolled members, regardless of HIV status.
His career in advocacy and public policy began at the New York AIDS Coalition, where he worked as director of community organizing and later as executive director. From there, he went on to hold leadership roles at Harlem United, the New York City Council, the Department of Homeless Services, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute, where he served as CEO.
“What drives me is the need to serve,” he said. “Serving is part of my DNA.”
That commitment to public service was instilled early. Pressley’s parents fled Jim Crow-era South Carolina in the 1960s, settling in Brooklyn. His father often told him, “you will be president,” a phrase that shaped Pressley’s understanding of leadership, community care, and possibility.
He recalled sitting in the living room with tears streaming down his face in Fort Greene when Barack Obama was elected the first Black president in 2008. He wishes his dad had been alive to see that moment.
Pressley’s path to education was non-linear. He began college in 1980 and completed his bachelor’s degree in 2008 through the CUNY Baccalaureate Program at Hunter College. He later earned a master’s degree in urban policy from The New School.
“I am a Black gay man … I’ve been chased by the police, I continue to face racism and homophobia,” he said. “And I’m proud of how diverse my family is — from those still in South Carolina to those in the greater New York area. My family afforded me the opportunity to reach so many people.”
One formative memory came at age 15, when Pressley met former Mayor David Dinkins at a municipal building. “How are you, young fellow?” he recalled Dinkins asking. Years later, Pressley was a Revson Fellow at Columbia University, where Dinkins was one of his professors.
“If the law ever changes,” Dinkins told him, “I want to marry you and your partner.” Just weeks after New York legalized same-sex marriage, Dinkins fulfilled his promise.
Pressley’s work at Amida Care is focused on advocating for AIDS education. Pressley emphasizes the nonprofit’s commitment to push back against attacks on gender-affirming care and “fight cuts to Medicaid on every level,” especially under this second Trump administration. He said Amida is powered by a staff that is 80% people of color, dedicated to protecting those most vulnerable from these attacks, adding that enrolled members are part of its advisory council and have direct influence on policy and advocacy efforts.
“We are doing everything we can against these draconian measures,” he said, calling the efforts “mean-spirited, homophobic, transphobic, and racist.”
Amida Care has joined coalitions of advocates, media allies, and grassroots organizers to resist federal cuts and discriminatory policies. Pressley said the stakes are especially high for Black and Brown New Yorkers who depend on Medicaid to receive HIV treatment and health care coverage.
“We are living in unparalleled times,” he acknowledged. “But we have to stand strong, realize the victories we’ve had — and the ones we will continue to have.” Pressley draws from his ancestral line and the family members of his who survived slavery, sharecropping, and Jim Crow.