Here’s a little more about the good neighbors featured in Brad’s first ad:

Brian Colon was arrested as a teenager, and then he turned his life around, with help from affordable housing and employment assistance provided by the Fifth Avenue Committee, where Brad was Executive Director from 1993 to 2003. Brian and Brad worked to create a program that helps former prisoners get housing and jobs when they return to their community.

David Neustadt retired after a three decade career in communications, working for city and state elected officials. He’s praising Brad for his work in the fight against Eric Adams’ plan to force City retirees off of Medicare onto a privatized HMO plan known misleadingly as “Medicare Advantage.” As Comptroller, Brad refused to register the contract. In Congress, Brad will fight for Medicare for All.

Anh-Thu Nguyen learned about Greenbrook Partners, the private equity-backed real estate company that bought the building where she lives on Prospect Park West in 2021, when she sought a lease renewal – and they instead told her and her neighbors they had 90 days to leave. She soon learned they were buying hundreds of other buildings in Brooklyn in the wake of the pandemic, with the intention of kicking tenants out and jacking up rents across the board. But Anh-Thu and her neighbors fought back. Working closely with Brad, they organized tenants in Greenbrook buildings, and they remain in their homes today. Affordable housing has been at the center of Brad’s career, from his days at the Fifth Avenue Committee, to the work for the Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning, one of the most ambitious and inclusive affordable housing efforts in recent decades. In Congress, he’ll fight for the country’s first “social bonds” and “street-to-home vouchers,” to make sure everyone has a place to call home.

Maria Nunziata was the beloved principal of P.S. 130 in Windsor Terrace for two decades, leading with conviction and grace, and shaping the school into a beacon of nurturing education. She and Brad led the effort that resulted in P.S. 130 becoming a two-school campus, with lower grades in the treasured old building, and upper grades in a new building nearby, along with M.S. 439. Then, they worked together to redevelop the playground through “participatory budgeting,” which Brad helped bring to New York City. And they took it one step further, working with the Trust for Public Land on a program that enabled P.S 130 first-graders to design the new playground, one of the most joyful spots in the neighborhood. The belief in diverse school communities led Brad to work with parents and educators to desegregate the middle schools of District 15 – one of the fights that Brad is proudest of across his career.

Marek Barnette and Rosa Lander grew up in Park Slope and went to New York City public schools. Marek is an advocacy manager at DREAM Academy, and Rosa is an investigator at Brooklyn Defender Services – and to Brad and Meg’s great joy, they both continue to live in Brooklyn. They are rooting hard for both Knicks and Liberty championships this year.

Jill Bernstein is an editorial director and Brooklyn mom. She was worried about a dangerous intersection near her home in the Columbia Waterfront neighborhood, so she reached out to Brad when he was her City Councilmember. They were rejected twice by DOT, but they kept fighting until they got a stoplight on her corner. Brad’s office was known for its relentless constituent service work. From spotlights to speedbumps, from passports to SNAP benefits, Brad knows that government must deliver for people – and he’ll make sure it does.

Nancy Romer is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College, a climate justice advocate and labor organizer. She co-leads the Environmental Justice Working Group of the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY (PSC), which has endorsed Brad for Congress. She is an active member of Public Power NY, coordinating efforts to advance decarbonizing CUNY's 300+ buildings, and she helped create the Brooklyn Food Coalition. Romer served on Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s Transition Team Subcommittee on Transportation, Climate and Infrastructure in 2025.

Ruth Messinger was Manhattan Borough President, the President of the American Jewish World Service, and she’s a New York City legend. She taught Brad how to build coalitions, and how to show up in tough fights. These days, she’s fighting on behalf of asylum seekers and immigrants in New York City. She’s currently pushing Brad, Mayor Mamdani, and everyone else to create a job-training program that helps new New Yorkers get jobs providing health care assistance for older New Yorkers. 

Please join these and many other good neighbors in helping to spread the word about Brad Lander for Congress!