Shirley Adelbol serves as the Council Member for New York City’s District 13 in the East Bronx, representing the neighborhoods of Pelham Parkway, Morris Park, Van Nest, Pelham Gardens, Pelham Bay, Throggs Neck, Country Club/Edgewater, and City Island. Prior to her election to City Council, Shirley spent over 35 years as an organizer and leader in the Labor movement. She draws on her wealth of experience fighting for working people, along with her strong connections to her East Bronx community, to advocate for District 13 at City Hall.
Shirley was born and raised in the Bronx, by her parents who migrated from Puerto Rico. She grew up working behind the counter of her family’s bodega in Soundview, before her parents bought a home in Throggs Neck forty-five years ago. Like many working families, they sacrificed and struggled so that their children could have a better life. Shirley bought a home in the same community twelve years ago and raised her now-adult son Emilio as a single mother in the Throggs Neck community.
As a child welfare caseworker at the beginning of her career, Shirley got involved with her union. Since then, she has organized and won fights for workers across the country — from attaining collective bargaining rights for public employees in Puerto Rico to winning the prevailing wage for NYC Schools’ cleaners and handypersons.
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