February Advocacy Event: Meet Councilmember Brooke Pinto February 24, 2021 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM

MSDC is pleased to announce a special webinar on Wednesday, February 24 with Councilmember Brooke Pinto. This WHOW webinar will allow MSDC members to hear from the Councilmember, listen to her priorities, and ask her questions.

The webinar will take place February 24 at 5:30 PM. Pre-registration is required.

After the talk by the Councilmember, MSDC will hold its monthly advocacy open forum. MSDC members have the opportunity to speak with Society leadership on the advocacy issues important to them and hear from leaders what MSDC has done in the past month. Participation is included in webinar registration.

Meet your speaker: 

Brooke Pinto was sworn in as the Councilmember for Ward 2 on June 27, 2020, after winning a Special Election. Pledging to uphold the values of integrity, transparency, and accountability, Brooke became the first woman to represent Ward 2 and is the youngest member elected to the Council of the District of Columbia in history.

At the beginning of Brooke's tenure, she joined the Council’s efforts to meet the formidable challenge of addressing a global health pandemic and an economic crisis. Brooke quickly demonstrated her adaptable leadership style, sharp intellect, and coalition building abilities.

‍Despite facing revenue shortfalls, she worked with her colleagues to balance and pass the Fiscal Year 2021 budget. The budget provided increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness programs, violence interruption, expanded social services in public schools, enhanced support to the local arts community, and brand-new medical facilities in the District. Brooke also worked to offer economic relief to the District's undocumented workers and identify alternatives to proposed tax increases that would have devastated local industry.

The Council was also met with a national call for racial justice. Inspired by the political climate and eager to address historical racial injustices, Brooke voted in favor of initiatives to establish a Police Reform Commission in the District, address the use of force and accountability regarding law enforcement, and restore voting rights to residents incarcerated with felony convictions.  

Brooke is also committed to upholding and protecting the dignity of all District residents. This includes legislating and advocating to improve legal protections for members of the LBGTQIA+ community and expanding opportunities for our senior citizens to age in place while preventing elder abuse.

Prior to serving on the Council, Brooke worked in the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General. There, she served as a tax attorney representing the Office of Tax and Revenue. Brooke later served as the Assistant Attorney General for Policy and Legislative Affairs. As Assistant Attorney General, she worked on and presented legislation to the Council on issues such as hate crimes, small business protection, and workers' rights.

Brooke also advocated for D.C. Statehood before the National Attorneys General Association and on Capitol Hill. Before working in the D.C. Government, Brooke worked in Senator Richard Blumenthal's (D-CT) office as a Health and Aging Fellow.

Brooke earned her B.S. from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and brings a unique "customer service" approach to her role serving Ward 2 constituents each day. Brooke is also a graduate of Georgetown Law School and became involved in the Ward 2 and broader D.C. community as a law student through her work with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

Brooke is focused on ensuring that the law — both as written and as enforced — is fair for everyone and taking up the call for greater justice and fairness among our city's residents.