About Justin
“I'm running for City Council because I love this city and believe that together we can make it a more vibrant, sustainable, joyful and welcoming home for all of us. I'm raising my family here. My wife is a midwife who owns a small business here. My three kids go to public schools here. I've built a non-profit theater here. And, I've spent the last twenty years loving this city and bringing people together to get things done. And all along the way, I've seen that everything that makes New York special requires us all working together.”
Justin brings his joyful approach to building community and deep experience in organizing to strengthen our neighborhood and our city.
Justin has run the national campaigns team at MoveOn for the past 5 years, and has 20 years of experience as a community organizer in local and national progressive politics, as well as a non-profit leader, entrepreneur, and author. He and his wife Casey, a midwife, small business owner, and birth educator, are local public school parents, raising three kids in Park Slope.
In his role as National Director of Campaigns at MoveOn -- the country's largest, progressive grassroots membership organization -- Justin led the team that harnessed the collective energy of MoveOn's millions of members to impeach Trump, fight for meaningful health and economic relief during the pandemic, support frontline workers, amplify the calls of the Black Lives Matter movement, and win the 2020 presidential election.
Through his work at MoveOn, Justin has organized millions of people around the country to save health care, pass meaningful gun control reforms, confront assaults on immigrants and reproductive rights, stand in solidarity with communities of color against police violence, fight for economic justice and climate justice, and fuel a Blue Wave in 2018.
Justin's work—across national political organizing, local advocacy, and cultural enterprises—has always been characterized by harnessing the collective power of people working together to create progressive change in inclusive and joyful ways.
Community Leader
Since the pandemic hit Brooklyn, Justin has worked with neighbors and community institutions to support our most at-risk community members and advocate for a sensible, equitable, effective and enriching approach to schools.
Justin has been a parent-leader in calling for the city to prioritize our schools, students, and teachers as essential—demanding more attention from city leaders and a real plan to address high-quality education in both in-person and remote settings. Through his leadership role with the district-wide presidents council, he has called out the city's erratic decision-making, pushed for more support of outdoor learning, and is working to create shared funding mechanisms for schools in greater need.
Justin has also led a "back-to-school" series of events, bringing the insights of educators, principals, and literary specialists to parents across the district and around the city, providing the kind of direct support and community-building parents need.
Starting in May, Justin worked with community leaders to establish the Camp Friendship Food Pantry -- recruiting and managing volunteers, driving fundraising efforts, and being part of a core leadership team that serves hundreds of families each week, providing food security, and shaping a program of community support and mutual aid.
And as the impact of Trump's recklessness was felt in our community, Justin organized a local protest as part of a national action to protect our Post Offices, hosted multiple debate watch parties to bring neighbors together in safe, distanced, enjoyable ways around shared values, and organized postcarding efforts to swing state voters.
Non-profit theater founder
Justin is a founder of The Tank—a theater for new work by emerging artists across disciplines — which premieres more original work than any other venue in New York City. Over the past 17 years, The Tank has served tens of thousands of artists and brought the magic of live theater to more than 250,000 audience members. Justin continues to serve as board president, where he can invest in his and The Tank's commitment to removing financial barriers for artists to create and New Yorkers to enjoy new, live works of art in our city.
Even during the pandemic, The Tank has kept its staff employed, expanded its full time team, and continued to present new work by emerging artists through innovative channels that meet the difficult moment—including art that has been born in response to the pandemic, the Black Lives Matters protests, and the 2020 election.
Progressive leader
Justin is a founder of the Living Liberally network of progressive social communities around the country—including hundreds of Drinking Liberally happy hours, and nationally touring Laughing Liberally comedy shows—which have built social capital among progressives from Brooklyn to the most conservative corners of America.
What started as a small group of friends gathering in a bar in 2003 has grown into more than 200 "Drinking Liberally" communities that gather at restaurants and bars all across the country, often providing a much-needed political lifeline to lefties living in conservative areas.
Justin worked for years as an advocate for parks, playgrounds and open spaces in New York City, and has worked on efforts to promote voter engagement and get big money out of politics in New York.
Justin is the author of "538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal" and "Blue in a Red State," -- two books that explore how people carry progressive political values in their everyday lives. Justin saw firsthand the importance of local, social community when he took the books on tour to 35 states. He was also a regular contributor to WNYC's political opinion blog, "It's a Free Country."
More about Justin
Justin and his wife Casey—a certified nurse midwife and owner of Parent Craft, a local business that specializes in support for new and expectant families —are raising their three daughters in Park Slope. Their 3rd grader and twin 1st graders all attend PS 39. Justin serves on the Executive Board of the P.S. 39 Parents Association, the District 15 Presidents Council, and former board president of the Cobble Hill Playschool. He is a graduate of Harvard, former improv comedian and member of the Park Slope Food Coop.
Justin isn’t accepting donations from developers, corporate PACs, police unions, and the fossil fuel industry.