Billy Ocasio is a politician who formerly served as a

Chicago alderman The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is called into session regularly, usually monthly ...

. He left the Chicago City Council in 2009 to serve as an advisor to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Pat Quinn, appointed to work on

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

issues. He began this position on June 1, 2009 after it had been announced on May 12, 2009.

Early life

Ocasio is a lifelong resident of Humboldt Park where he attended Von Humboldt Elementary School and

Roberto Clemente Community Academy Roberto Clemente Community Academy (commonly known as Clemente, Roberto Clemente High School) is a public four-year high school located in the West Town community area of Chicago, Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools, the school i ...

Aldermanic career

Ocasio was appointed alderman in 1993 by Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

to fill the unexpired term of

Luis Gutierrez Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

, who was elected congressman. Ocasio officially took office on January 12, 1993. Throughout his career as alderman, Ocasio fought for the allocation of resources for the community to thrive in the 26th Ward. This included construction of the two monuments to the Puerto Rican flags that launched the creation of a Puerto Rican restaurant and entertainment district, the first of its kind in the country. It also included the first new school in the ward, with the building of the new Ames School; the development of the McCormick Tribune YMCA; and worked for the allocation of the first library branch in Humboldt Park, and was able to construct the Humboldt Park Public Library. Ocasio also led a $16 million rehab for Humboldt Park which included renovating and modernizing the boat house, the lagoon, and inland beach. Amongst these accomplishments he also championed the creation of more affordable housing and first time home ownership that in any other ward in the city. Leading the creation of what would eventually become the city wide Chicago Community Land Trust. He worked with the City to create city wide policy like the 10% set aside for all new construction ensuring that housing options were diverse and available to all income households. Ocasio was Chairman of the Human Relations Committee. Additionally, he served on five other committees: Budget and Government Operations; Education; Energy, Environmental Protection, and Public Utilities; Finance; and Housing and Real Estate. Ocasio resigned from the Chicago City Council effective May 13, 2009. Daley appointed Cook County Commissioner and 26th Ward Committeeman

Roberto Maldonado Roberto Maldonado is an American politician who served as the alderman of the 26th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois from 2009 to 2023. Early life, education, and early career, Children Maldonado earned both his undergraduate and his mast ...

to succeed him.

Personal life

Alderman Ocasio and his family (Veronica Ocasio, Ismael Sanchez, Gabriel Ocasio, Antonio Ocasio, and Milo Sanchez (dog).) The family attended church at New Life Covenant Ministries in Chicago. He attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

and while there he served as President of the "Arrogant" Alpha Lambda chapter of

Iota Phi Theta Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth largest Black Greek Lettered ...

fraternity. He returned to Chicago a few months before graduation due to the death of a friend and eventually graduated from Northeastern IL University.

External links

Alderman Ocasio's Website
(archived)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocasio, Billy Chicago City Council members American political consultants Hispanic and Latino American politicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)