Meet Sammy Norrito, First Youth Member Of Community Board 2
Dozens of new members were inducted into Brooklyn’s 18 community boards by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams at Borough Hall last month — including one civic-minded young woman from Fort Greene.
Sammy Norrito, 16, has become Brooklyn Community Board 2‘s first-ever youth member. The rising junior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Manhattan is one of eleven 16- and 17-year-olds to join CBs 2, 3, 6, 9, and 16 in Brooklyn — the first batch to join the volunteer civic groups that discuss and give recommendations on public policy and quality of life issues since New York State passed legislation earlier this year to allow youth members.
“CB 2 voted in favor of the state legislation [to allow youth members] long before it passed,” said CB 2 District Manager Robert Perris. “One of the purposes of a community board is to represent different voices, races, jobs, and more. This law allows for youth to be represented.”
In getting the word out about the chance to join CB 2, Chairperson Shirley McRae wrote to area school principals to let them know that students could apply. Norrito was the only local candidate to make it through the process.
“I went to a summer program — the Junior Statesmen of America — that was really big in building youth participation in government, and everyone always talks about how kids don’t watch the news and don’t know what’s going on,” said Norrito. “There’s a presidential election coming up. So I decided to be involved in this.”
In addition to attending CB 2’s general meetings as a voting member, she also chose to participate in the Youth and Education Committee.
“Politics and education are pretty important to me,” Norrito explained. “I can’t vote in the next election and am so sad about that. But education is one of the most controversial and pertinent issues. And it directly affects me because i’m still in high school.
“I think that it’s important that if something’s happening, even if i don’t go to that school, it’s important to know what’s going on and it’s important to impact that decision. we were talking about middle schools in today’s [committee meeting] — I left middle school two years ago, so i get it and understand what students think about that. I want to give that perspective if I can.”
An aspiring journalist and international correspondent, Norrito counts Hillary Clinton, Marina Keegan, and her peers from the Junior Statesmen of America program as being among her inspirations.
“I think [Keegan, who authored a collection of essays entitled “The Opposite Of Loneliness” before her untimely death] is pretty inspiring in how empowered she was, how smart she was, and how she clearly chose her path,” she said. “And at the summer program, I met kids who are 17-18 years old and are so driven and know what they want to do. If they can figure it out, I can, too.”
Her goals for the next year include “cutting through some of that bureaucratic tape” and “seeing something I vote on happen. To look back and think I had a role in that would be great.”
The teenage appointees are part of Borough President Adams’ efforts to advance youth involvement in the borough’s civic matters. Explaining the importance of civic participation, Adams noted that “community boards are important institutions that promote healthy civic engagement.
“This year’s class of new appointees reflects the diverse set of backgrounds from across our borough, and for the first time includes the critical presence of our young people, something I have been dedicated to advancing in our public sphere,” he said. “I thank all those who applied for community board membership this year, and I look forward to partnering with members old and new alike in the upcoming term.”
New York City’s 18 community boards, which have existed for 40 years, are the most local representative bodies of government in the city. They deal with land use issues, assessing neighborhood needs, and addressing community concerns.
Additional reporting by Rachel Silberstein.