City Councilmember Marte ready for ‘tough conversations’ as head of Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus

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New York City Councilmember Christopher Marte has been officially elected as co-chair of the City Council’s Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus (BLAC) last week and says he’s ready to represent.

“I think it’s extremely crucial, especially at this moment where we hear the rhetoric and the executive orders coming from the federal government that’s trying to deport immigrants, and minimize the history, influence, and actions of Black and Brown communities all throughout the country,” said Marte. “I think by having a BLAC caucus, it gives us space to have some really tough conversations.”

For more than a decade, BLAC has held a majority in the City Council, consisting of 35 of its 51 members. The caucus plays a critical role in shaping legislation, budget priorities, and oversight on behalf of the city’s communities of color. Among other things, they have collectively advocated for criminal justice reforms, such as the solitary confinement ban in jails and the How Many Stops Act, in the past.

Marte grew up on the Lower East Side and currently represents District 1 at Manhattan’s southernmost tip. His last four years in office have been as one of the vice chairs of BLAC. He is now moving up to co-chair of the caucus along with Councilmember Julie Won. He is replaced as vice chair by Councilmembers Elsie Encarnacion and Rita Joseph.

“I’m super-excited for this and I have a lot of ideas for how we want to tackle these issues, and I’m excited about my partners that are going to be on the executive team with me,” said Marte.

Marte promised to advance a bold agenda centered on immigrant protection, criminal justice reform, affordability, and combatting displacement for communities. “In my district on Canal Street, we saw how ICE agents are targeting everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, you’re on the menu right now,” said Marte. “I think we can use this caucus to do a lot to push back.”

His biggest hope is that the caucus will not have to fight tooth and nail over budgetary items this year under the new mayoralty with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“I’m so hopeful that we won’t be fighting for library funding this year or the bare minimum,” Marte said. “I have faith in this new administration to really talk about the budget items that we want to have a focus on. They’ve already made a huge announcement on childcare, but more importantly, how to pay for that, so we need to continue to ensure that the implementation matches the narrative.”

For the fiscal budget last year, BLAC pushed back against former Mayor Eric Adams’s cuts to libraries, social services, parks, and City University of New York (CUNY). They secured baseline funding of $112 million for pre-K and 3-K, $10 million to expand childcare access for kids under age 2, $6 million for restorative justice programming for students, $20 million for public defenders and legal services, $55 million for food pantries, and $3 million in cash grants for expecting mothers and foster youth facing housing insecurity, among other things.