Melanie D'Arrigo
Melanie D'Arrigo is a healthcare advocate, community organizer and mother of three who believes we need leaders in Washington for Long Island and Queens families—not become part of the same broken system.
Education
Melanie D'Arrigo earned her B.A. from Barnard College in 2003 and her M.S. from Long Island University in 2012.
Background
Melanie was born into an impoverished family on the South Shore of Long Island, and raised in a union household by her grandmother. With grit and determination, Melanie beat the odds and was the first in her family to attend college—working numerous jobs while attending Barnard, and graduating with thousands in student loans.
Melanie earned her Masters of Science degree from the School of Health Professions at Long Island University, and has worked as a healthcare advocate and strategist ever since.
Melanie D'Arrigo has organized marches, rallies, teach-ins and protests in her community—on everything from protecting Planned Parenthood and our environment to immigrant rights and ensuring her community got the funding it needed after being ravaged by the pandemic. A tireless grassroots volunteer, Melanie helped found Sunrise Movement Nassau County, Be The Rainbow (LGBTQ+ visibility group) and is a Nassau County Delegate for New York’s National Organization for Women and serves as a CD 3 district representative for National Nurses United in the fight for Medicare for All.
As a member of Moms Demand Action, Melanie strongly supports universal background checks and common sense gun laws. And as a lifelong resident of a coastal community, Melanie supports a Green New Deal because she knows climate change is threatening our shoreline and our drinking water. [1]
YDSA help
During Melanie D'Arrigo's 2020 Congressional run Leo Cronan of Young Democratic Socialists of America and Shyanne Gardner of Freeport YDSA were co-directors of Students for Melanie.
QUIP endorsement
Queens United Independent Progressives
Queens United Independent Progressives December 10 2020 ·
QUIP had the world’s most fun Zoom event tonight: a Holidarity (holiday + solidarity) party that brought together 106 members and friends.
The party began and ended with an awesome slideshow, conceived and executed by Co-Chair Rapi Castillo, of two and a half years of QUIP organizing.
Thomas Muccioli, Shawna Morlock and Vigie Ramos Rios took a page from A Christmas Carol, to explain QUIP past, present and future.
We offered salutes to and heard brief speeches from great organizers in Queens: Syonae Byeon of the MinKwon Center for Community Action talked about the Flushing Rezoning fight; Martha Ayon and Nick Haby talked about New Reformers electing 14 of 26 candidates for Democratic Party offices in its maiden election year. Marva Schomburg Kerwin and Kate Walls talked about Rockaway Revolution organizing a Black Lives Matter march in Belle Harbor. Rima Begum talked about organizing Bengali tenants in Jamaica.
Assembly member-elect Zohran Mamdani, Assembly member Ron Kim, State Senator Jessica Ramos, and Council members Brad Lander and Jimmy Van Bramer saluted us all, and talked about how profoundly Queens politics has changed—and how much work there was to do.
Then, Thomaa Muccioli won hands down in the vote for best silly picture.
Participants included Rofadden Lazare, Melanie D'Arrigo and Doug D'Arrigo, Tyler Herald, John Choe, Farudh Majid, David Ian Robin, Shaeleigh Severino. Nalisa Budhu, Carolyn Tran, Divya Sundaram, Czarrinna Andres, Nancy Silverman, Shekar Krishnan, Nancy de Silva, Felicia Singh, Kassandra Damblu, Julie Won, Andres Aguirre, Christopher Espinoza, Sophie Cohen, Albert Suh, Nick Berkowitz, Emily Sharpe.[2]