Kevin Christopher Riley is the New York City Council Member representing the 12th Council District, covering the neighborhoods of Wakefield, Baychester, Eastchester, Olinville, Edenwald, Williamsbridge and Co-op City.
Council Member Kevin Riley is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Co-Chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, which is the largest caucus in the New York City Council. As Chair, he serves to prioritize creating equal opportunity and access for communities of color within New York City through the legislative, oversight, and budgetary powers of the Council. He has worked to ensure that our infrastructure empowers marginalized communities and addresses the housing crisis with initiatives for affordable housing and homeownership. For nearly the past year, the Council has approved 40 land use applications that will result in over 12,000 projected new housing units, of which over 63 percent are affordable.
Under Council Member Kevin C. Riley’s leadership as Co-Chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, the caucus has passed the historic FDNY Diversity bill package. Signed into law, the bills aim to address true equity in recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups within the department, as well as requiring the implementation of diversity, inclusion, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training. Council Member Riley, prime sponsor of Intro. 552-A and Intro. 553-A, further supports this goal through annual demographics reporting and ongoing training for all fire department employees— opening clear measures for transparency and accountability.
Kevin C. Riley was born and raised in the Northeast Bronx, where he continues to reside. He is a proud member of Butler United Methodist Church where he met many of the people he is proud to call mentors today. Following his graduation from Mount Saint Michael Academy, he attended the SUNY College at Old Westbury to pursue his B.A in Politics, Economics and Law and obtained his M.P.A in Public Affairs and Administration from Metropolitan College of New York.
While pursuing his undergraduate degree, Kevin became involved with several student activities such as the Student Council, Residential Life Association and the Divine Nine Greek Council. He was the president of the Mu Omicron chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., and was even awarded with the Fraternity Man of the Year Award. Although his undertakings were vast, Kevin believed that giving back, spreading joy, and illustrating the meaning of community was the most important goal.
After working alongside the Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl E. Heastie for over a decade, Riley’s passion for public service and his love for his community fueled his dedication to run and win his election for the New York City Council representing the home that raised him. Since assuming office on January 6, 2021, Council Member Kevin C. Riley has never lost sight of uplifting his community and its people: investing $97 million in capital improvements for his district, enriching the quality of life through youth and senior services, groundbreaking NYC Public School improvements and advocating for $79.4 million to expand the Summer Youth employment Program to 100,000 slots for youth across the city.
As a firm believer in representation and being the change you want to see, Kevin personally understands the impact of mentorship and positive reinforcements in the well-being and success of our youth and community. He dedicates his time to generate positive relationships with the youth in the community and has developed a Young Men’s Mentorship program with the Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship— exposing them to college readiness, how to dress for success, internship opportunities and more. In conjunction with his Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity brothers, he is a founding member of a nationwide organization called The Dad Gang. The Dad Gang is an organization that works toward eliminating the stereotypes surrounding black fatherhood, and dispelling the narrative that black dads are not a part of their children’s lives.
As a direct product of his community, Council Member Kevin C. Riley is a leader who is committed to partnering with his neighbors, listening to their needs and making his district better for future generations. Above all, his greatest accomplishment still remains being a husband and father to his three beautiful children.