BELIEVE IN THE BRONX

A born learner, listener, leader, and organizer, Jonathan Soto seeks to build the kind of life his family came here from Puerto Rico to find, but ultimately had to build themselves.

One where children like his daughter go to schools that enable her to be all that she dreams.

Where all his neighbors live comfortably in our homes without fear of getting priced out.

Where we can look at our waterfront and feel good about the planet we will pass on to those to come.

Growing up, Jonathan moved between New York and Puerto Rico, raised by working class parents who worked as many as four jobs at a time just to make ends meet. Like so many of us who are denied the resources we so richly deserve, it was their extended family and faith-based communities enabled them to stay afloat, inspiring Jonathan to put the rest of his life in the service of uplifting those left behind by systemic neglect.

Melding on-the-ground movement organizing and training in law, Jonathan’s liberation theology-fueled vision and considered eye for strategy have made him a distinctly Bronx leader: the kind able to bring people together across differences to raise expectations, and get results.

As Borough Director for the Bronx Long Term Recovery Group, Jonathan developed programs that helped the Bronx recover from Superstorm Sandy.

As the first Director of the NYC Center for Faith and Community Partnerships, Jonathan united communities and houses of worship in the fight for affordable housing, and against stop-and-frisk and homelessness—and led city efforts to both aid Puerto Rico in rebuilding after Hurricane Maria, and provide shelter to evacuees here in NYC.

And as an organizer with fellow democratic socialist and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jonathan developed programs that brought free one-on-one support to hundreds of students, and kept thousands of Bronx families fed.

Fueled by a righteous fire at the Bronx political establishment’s systemic neglect of any advancement but their own, Jonathan’s unwavering mission draws from on high and on the ground alike. Because we’re done with leaders who put the Bronx last. It’s time to unite across difference, strategize for results, and forge the Bronx movement that will build the New York we all deserve.

Because above all, Jonathan Soto is led by this unwavering belief: The Last Will Become The First. And that The Bronx Shall Lead The Way.