Immigrant Voices in the Education Fight
By Donghui Zang
PhD, Advocate, City Leader
Did you know that 40% of New York City is foreign-born (including both of us on team FFNYC); coming from more than 150 countries? And if you look at household members the numbers are even higher; with 65% households including at least one foreign-born member.
#CommunityLeader
Donghui Zang has been one of the most passionate and visible advocates for educational excellence in New York City. Last year he ran a strong race for City Council in Queens and despite losing the race has not slowed down in fighting for a better city.
As Donghui will tell you: education played a significant role in his life and the opportunities he enjoys in the US today.
In Donghui’s Words
I grew up in a small village in China. Life in the village was not easy: the villagers planted wheat and corn as their source of food; children had to wear shoes handmade by their mothers with torn clothes; students climbed up to their roofs to read in the last twilight since there was no electricity. My family was no different, they survived with a $20 annual income from my father as a middle school teacher. As a young child, I realized that education was my ticket out of poverty.
I studied hard and scored the highest score amongst tens of thousands of students and then attended one of the top universities in China. After coming to the United States and earning a PhD at Rice University, I worked in the financial industry and was living my American Dream.
#SaveSHSAT
But when City Hall announced a proposal to eliminate SHSAT in the summer of 2018, I was outraged because I believed that the academic excellence of NYC specialized high schools should be emulated, not eliminated.
I started attending rallies and rose up quickly to become a citywide parent leader leading the effort to fight against the proposal.
And so I cofounded New York City Residents Alliance, a grassroots organization consisting of thousands of parents from the five boroughs. I mobilized my followers to protest against various issues including eliminating merit based SHSAT, opening of medical marijuana dispensaries, building jails and homeless shelters in residential neighborhoods, and DOE’s top-down approach for the District 28’s Diversity Plan.
The joint efforts kept SHSAT, blocked NYS legalization of marijuana in 2019, organized an anti-community-jail rally which effectively thwarted the jail plan’s progress and exposed DOE’s failure to truly engage all stakeholders during the diversity planning process.
And, finally, at the height of the COVID pandemic, I delivered over $200,000 of PPEs and food to our essential workers, organized food distributions to thousands of families in the neighborhoods, and brought coalition between the local police and residents and helped patrolled on the streets during the Summer of 2020. All of this before my run for City Council in District 29.
What’s Next
While not currently running for office, I am continuing to build New York City Residents Alliance and continuing the fight. It’s important for all of us to feel empowered to speak up. We have the power and we should never forget how lucky we are.
You can read more about my work here.
And to discuss how you can get involved, you can reach out to me via here.