While most candidates, local electeds and political operatives are still sitting in smoke-filled backrooms plotting and planning on who will run to replace indicted former Assemblywoman Pamela Harris (D-Coney Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Brighton Beach), Coney Island resident Mathylde Frontus is taking the bull by the horns.
That after Frontus announced last week she is running for the seat.
“It is a pleasure for me to announce my candidacy for the 46th Assembly District. I have been living in the district for over 30 years, and have been involved in community service since my teenage years. In my mid-twenties, I founded Urban Neighborhood Services, a multi-service community-based organization which served the needs of my community through a range of signature programs and services such as financial literacy, homeownership assistance, legal assistance, veterans’ outreach, job & housing search assistance, re-entry assistance, anti-violence organizing and youth leadership,” said Frontus.
Frontus, a Coney Island child of Haitian immigrants, does sport solid credentials both in the community and in education.
In Coney Island she established the Coney Island Coalition Against Violence (est. 2009) and the Coney Island Anti-Violence Collaborative (est. 2013), where she organized neighbors and colleagues around the issue of public safety and brought residents, law enforcement, elected officials, students, educators, clergy and tenant leaders to the table to find smart and cooperative solutions to addressing the violence that has plagued Coney Island for decades.
On the education front, Frontus received her BSW and MSW from NYU, an M.A. in Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School. In 2015, she graduated with her Ph.D. from the Columbia University School of Social Work where she specialized in Social Policy &Administration. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and the NYU Silver School of Social Work, where she teaches Advocacy and Social Justice.
Frontus has also worked with K-12 students in schools throughout the district such as P.S. 188, P.S. 329 and Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island, as well as J.H.S. 259 William Mckinley, in Bay Ridge. Her work ranged from providing counseling services to the students to establishing a youth leadership council and implementing a leadership curriculum.
“I am proud of my record of service and leadership in the 46th Assembly District. I know what it’s like to fight with my neighbors in the trenches by finding solutions to the issues that our working families face on a daily basis. Together, we must tackle the issues that matter the most to us, this includes affordable housing, homeownership assistance, illegal home conversions, strong union jobs and training programs, health care, and responsible economic development,” said Frontus.
“We must invest in our community cornerstones, such as public schools, senior & youth programs, small businesses and MTA service. As I travel throughout the district, my neighbors tell me day after day that they want their next Assembly Member to be a hard-worker attuned to the community’s needs. I believe that my record of advocacy in the community stands for itself. This is why I am running to represent the hardworking people of the 46th Assembly District.”
