MEET JESSICA

Jessica González-Rojas was elected in 2020 to the New York State Assembly to represent the Queens neighborhoods of Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmhurst, Astoria, and Woodside. She is a life-long activist and change-maker. Jessica is a nationally-recognized expert on health care reform, gender and racial justice. With a deep understanding of building coalitions on both the grassroots level and within institutions of power, Jessica has achieved significant progress in her time in office on critical issues of improving street safety, combating child poverty, and criminal justice reform.

As the daughter of an immigrant father from Paraguay and a Puerto Rican mother, Jessica is a fierce advocate for people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ communities. A resident in our community since 1999, Jessica understands that the strength of our Queens community is in its diversity, and holds an unwavering commitment to progressive values. Which is why she has also worked in the fields of disability rights, higher education, and veteran’s health.

During her tenure in the Assembly, Jessica has focused on healthcare reform and access, addressing food insecurity, and expanding access to public transit. As the prime sponsor of the Universal School Meals Act, she has secured $145 million to expand the free breakfast and lunch program to 86% of students in the state.

In the 2024 budget season, Assembly Member González-Rojas secured $25 million to codify her legislation to establish the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Fund, which provides critical funding to abortion providers and the New York Abortion Access Fund to expand access to reproductive health care for all New Yorkers. As a leader and proponent of securing access to health care for all, she has also passed legislation and secured $8 million for continual health care coverage for children from birth to age 6 enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). She secured $500,000 for the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy for their Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub, which will support the scholarship, advocacy, and training of the reproductive justice leaders of the future. Locally, she fought for stronger tenant protections, obtaining $140M for NYCHA capital funding and has allocated over $2 million dollars for local schools and community-based organizations.

Safety is a top priority for Assembly Member González-Rojas. In the past year, she was a major champion for the passage of Sammy’s Law, which helps prevent fatal traffic violence and protects all New Yorkers. She also is a strong advocate for crime prevention and victim protections.

Since she assumed office in 2021, Assembly Member González-Rojas has introduced and passed several pieces of legislation on maternal health, transgender rights, transportation access, gun violence prevention, worker protections, healthcare transparency, and more. She has also successfully advocated for funding in the state budget to increase outreach for enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in hard-to-reach communities, assistance for homeowners impacted by Hurricane Ida, and to require private insurers to cover all abortions at no cost to patients.

Assembly Member González-Rojas is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Trafficking and the Board Secretary of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) as the Northeast Region Chair and on the Board of Directors of If/When/How, a national nonprofit network of law students and lawyers committed to reproductive justice.

Before running for office, Jessica served in leadership for over 13 years at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (formerly the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health), including as Executive Director. The nonprofit is the only national reproductive justice organization dedicated to building power among Latinas to advance the health, dignity, and justice of over 30 million Latinas across the country.

Jessica is currently Adjunct Clinical Professor at the New York University (NYU) School of Law and was an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the City University of New York’s (CUNY) City College. She has taught courses on state government, Latinidad, reproductive rights, gender and sexuality, and political advocacy. She has authored essays in multiple publications on those topics as well.

Assembly Member González-Rojas holds a master’s degree from the NYU Wagner School, with a concentration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Public Policy, a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Executive Leadership Program at the Columbia University Business School, and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Boston University, where she graduated cum laude. Jessica lives with her partner and their son in Jackson Heights.

JGR IN ACTION