Hannah Arendt Center Presents

Sochie Nnaemeka

Protests to the Polls: Building the Movement to Win a New York that Works for Working People

Sochie Nnaemeka is the State Director of the New York Working Families Party. In this role, she leads the Party's legislative strategy, electoral and candidate operations, organizing and basebuilding, and political party business towards building a political home for progressive and working class New Yorkers. Since joining the NYWFP in January of 2020, Nnaemeka has steered the Party in endorsing and supporting dozens of candidates through the turmoil of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic and social fall-out. Under her leadership, WFP candidates won several major Congressional races (including Jamaal Bowman in NY-16 and Mondaire Jones in NY-17) and 33 legislative races in the June primary.

The daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnaemeka was born and raised in New York. She first began organizing in college, with a local union of cafeteria, custodial and clerical workers. Her time in the union halls of New Haven sparked an unwavering commitment to people-powered movements — leading to her first job as an organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Following graduation, Nnaemeka worked alongside casino workers in Miami to form a new union. She later attended Georgetown Law, where she studied how labor law might better protect, serve, and embolden working people.
Nnaemeka led electoral campaigns for Unite Here in New Haven and helped found New Haven Rising, a membership-based organization that served as a progressive political home for working people across the city. In New Haven, Sochie brokered the first-in-the-nation community benefits agreement between a charter school company and municipality, leading to hundreds of union jobs, mandated employment requirements for women and people of color, and a prohibition of exclusive admission practices. She also integrated community organizing techniques in successful electoral campaigns on the federal, state, and local level, from Senator Chris Murphy’s 2012 campaign to Toni Harp’s triumphant race to become the first Black female mayor of New Haven.

Most recently, Sochie served as Director of Emerging Organizing and Leadership at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). At CPD, Sochie launched and supported new grassroots people’s organizations, including Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) in Milwaukee and Detroit Action in Michigan. From Louisiana to Pennsylvania to Brooklyn, she mentored and coached new leaders—in particular young people, women, and people of color—as they cultivated memberships, built power, and transformed their communities.

Sochie lives with her partner and their toddler in Mt. Vernon, NY.

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The daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnaemeka was born and raised in New York. She first began organizing in college, with a local union of cafeteria, custodial and clerical workers. Her time in the union halls of New Haven sparked an unwavering commitment to people-powered movements — leading to her first job as an organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Following graduation, Nnaemeka worked alongside casino workers in Miami to form a new union. She later attended Georgetown Law, where she studied how labor law might better protect, serve, and embolden working people.
Nnaemeka led electoral campaigns for Unite Here in New Haven and helped found New Haven Rising, a membership-based organization that served as a progressive political home for working people across the city. In New Haven, Sochie brokered the first-in-the-nation community benefits agreement between a charter school company and municipality, leading to hundreds of union jobs, mandated employment requirements for women and people of color, and a prohibition of exclusive admission practices. She also integrated community organizing techniques in successful electoral campaigns on the federal, state, and local level, from Senator Chris Murphy’s 2012 campaign to Toni Harp’s triumphant race to become the first Black female mayor of New Haven.

Most recently, Sochie served as Director of Emerging Organizing and Leadership at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). At CPD, Sochie launched and supported new grassroots people’s organizations, including Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) in Milwaukee and Detroit Action in Michigan. From Louisiana to Pennsylvania to Brooklyn, she mentored and coached new leaders—in particular young people, women, and people of color—as they cultivated memberships, built power, and transformed their communities.

Sochie lives with her partner and their toddler in Mt. Vernon, NY.


Zoom info

Topic: Tough Talks: Sochie Nnaemeka
Time: October 19, 2020, 6:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (US and Canada)

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