Wendoly Marte
Wendoly is currently the President of CommonWise Education/ Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) hoping to develop the infrastructure pieces for economic democracy in the Bronx. Her daytime job is as field organizer with the Center for Community Change, a national organization that works to strengthen, connect and mobilize grassroots groups to enhance their leadership, voice and power. In her role as a field organizer, she’s working to advance economic, racial and gender equality in low-income communities across the country by providing training on leadership development, coordinating and assisting with strategy for local campaigns, and organizational development.
She traces her roots to the Bronx, where she has been fighting for economic justice, education reform and progressive political engagement for over 14 years. Before working at the Center, she coordinated local, state and federal campaigns with the goal of building political power for young people, immigrants and low income communities of color in the Bronx and beyond.
She was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and moved to the Kingsbridge neighborhood in the Bronx to live with her mother when she was 10. She started organizing when she was 13 with Sistas and Brothas United and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. The Bronx is where she calls home. She believes that in order to eradicate intergenerational poverty in the Bronx we need to invest in building grassroots leadership, shared wealth and ownership, and truly participatory democratic models. She is committed to building a progressive political movement in New York City that is founded on the principles of economic democracy and that places the value of people over capital.
How does your current work relate to economic democracy?:
Wendoly is currently engaging in conversations with folks in the Bronx about shared wealth and democratic decision-making. She also have extensive organizing experience in the Bronx and across the country working on various economic justice issues.