Carlina Rivera
When Community Experience Meets Legislative Impact
New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera approached us during her re-election campaign, needing content that captured her unique position as a lifelong Lower East Side resident who understands the challenges facing working families firsthand. Born and raised in Section 8 housing by a single mother from Puerto Rico, Rivera has translated her lived experience into legislative victories on affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and healthcare access.
We developed authentic video pieces that showcased Rivera’s impressive record of passing 59 bills while building coalitions across diverse constituencies. Our advocacy storytelling approach emphasized her ability to deliver tangible results for District 2’s neighborhoods, from the East Village to Murray Hill, helping voters connect her personal journey to her effectiveness as a legislator who brings over a billion dollars in resources to her communities.
Carlina Rivera
When Community Experience Meets Legislative Impact
New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera approached us during her re-election campaign, needing content that captured her unique position as a lifelong Lower East Side resident who understands the challenges facing working families firsthand. Born and raised in Section 8 housing by a single mother from Puerto Rico, Rivera has translated her lived experience into legislative victories on affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and healthcare access.
We developed authentic video pieces that showcased Rivera’s impressive record of passing 59 bills while building coalitions across diverse constituencies. Our advocacy storytelling approach emphasized her ability to deliver tangible results for District 2’s neighborhoods, from the East Village to Murray Hill, helping voters connect her personal journey to her effectiveness as a legislator who brings over a billion dollars in resources to her communities.
Showcasing Legislative Effectiveness
Our primary video centered on Rivera’s work as Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, filming at the Hamilton Fish Park Library where her $1.6 million allocation for renovations demonstrates her commitment to community infrastructure. We captured her natural ease discussing complex budget negotiations while reviewing project plans, with afternoon light filtering through library windows as children’s programs continued in the background. The setting reinforced her understanding that libraries serve as community centers – this wasn’t political theater, but genuine investment in neighborhood resources. We kept our approach accessible: conversational pacing, natural audio, letting Rivera explain how committee leadership translates to direct benefits for families navigating everything from asylum services to workforce development.
Connecting Personal Story To Policy Vision
The second video required balancing Rivera’s compelling personal narrative with her comprehensive policy achievements across housing, criminal justice, and economic development. We filmed in the Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) office where she previously worked as Director of Programs and Services, capturing the authentic environment where her advocacy began. The challenge was demonstrating how her experience growing up in public housing shapes her approach to legislation on solitary confinement, rental protections, and healthcare access without losing the genuine conviction that drives her progressive agenda. We focused on authentic moments: Rivera reviewing constituent cases that mirror her own family’s struggles, her natural ability to explain policy complexities in accessible terms, the personal commitment evident when she discusses affordable housing and immigrant services as basic human rights.
