Velmanette Montgomery (born December 22, 1942) is an American

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician who represented the 25th district of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 1984 until 2020. The district comprised

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the west, ...

Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either Sm ...

, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park,

Gowanus Gowanus ( ) is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 6. Gowanus is bounded by Wyckoff Street on ...

, and

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Aven ...

, among other neighborhoods located within the borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Early life and career

Montgomery was born in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, but relocated to New York City to attain a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. She later became a Revson Fellow at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Prior to elected office, Montgomery worked as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

, and

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

director as well as the cofounder of the Day Care Forum of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She has also served as president of Community School Board 13. In 1991, Montgomery was awarded an Honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

from St. Joseph's College.

New York Senate

Montgomery was first elected in 1984, succeeding Anna V. Jefferson, who did not run for re-election that year. She has been re-elected seventeen times, never facing serious opposition. Montgomery has never lost an election. In the Senate, Montgomery is the Chair of the Senate Committee on Children and Families. She is a

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: Reproductive rights rest on t ...

advocate, sponsoring legislation on the topic, and a longtime nurse practitioner advocate. She was an original sponsor of legislation to legalize

needle exchange program A needle and syringe programme (NSP), also known as needle exchange program (NEP), is a social service that allows injecting drug users (IDUs) to obtain clean and unused hypodermic needles and associated paraphernalia at little or no cost. It ...

s to stop the spread of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, wrote the law banning

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

, and sponsored a current law that prohibits the

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

in the granting of funeral or bereavement leave to workers in committed

same-sex relationship A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries w ...

s. In 2013 Montgomery was secretly recorded at the home of then-Senator

Shirley Huntley Shirley L. Huntley (born June 29, 1938) is an American politician who is formerly a New York State Senator, serving from 2007 to 2012. Huntley represented Senate District 10 in Queens County, which included Jamaica, South Jamaica, Springfield ...

, as revealed in a federal corruption probe of Huntley. The probe centered around former Senator Huntley who pled guilty to embezzling over $87,000 in taxpayer money. Montgomery was never accused of wrongdoing in the probe. In 2019, Montgomery was elected Majority Conference Secretary. On January 11, 2020, Montgomery announced that she would be retiring from the State Senate and not seeking reelection in 2020. She endorsed Assemblywoman

Tremaine Wright Tremaine Wright (born November 2, 1972) is the Chairwoman of the New York State Cannabis Control Board and a former member of the New York State Assembly from the 56th district, which includes parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. On Septemb ...

in her retirement announcement.

References

External links

New York State Senate: Velmanette MontgomeryGotham Gazette's Eye On Albany: New York State Senate: District 18
* ttp://www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2006/07/enter_the_ratne.html Enter the Ratner candidatebr>Profile on Our Campaigns
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Velmanette Women state legislators in New York (state) African-American state legislators in New York (state) African-American women in politics Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Living people 1942 births Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians People from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women