Grassroots Organizer, Fair-wage and Healthcare Activist
Gemma is a Hudson Valley organizer for the New York Caring Majority who has been fighting for increased wages for home care workers. Receiving her B.A. in Legal Communications from Howard University, she went on to receive a Masters of Science Management from Kaplan University, specializing in healthcare. She began volunteering with the New York Caring Majority in late 2019, participating in HV and state-wide monthly meetings, funder events and assisting the organization with Covid related outreach. In October 2020 she took a temporary position as a field organizer, helping organize phone banks to make calls for the four legislators endorsed by NYCM. By December 2020, Gemma became a full-time organizer, campaigning for Fair Pay for Home Care and organizing the Home Care Worker Round Table. She co-MC’d a rally at the Governor’s Mansion for Fair Pay for Home Care and a rally for the New York Health Act in Albany.
More recently she was a panelist at the Virtual Legislative Briefing on Child Care, Home Care, & Economic Development; co-MC at the Caregiver Award Ceremony; co-MC at the press release at the Capitol in Albany for all of the co-sponsors of a bill to increase the pay of home care workers, including Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie.