Al Taylor headshot

Assemblymember

Al Taylor

Assembly District 71

Welcome Letter

Greetings to one and all!

Welcome to my official Assembly Web site. I will be using this resource to call attention to the good work that our friends and neighbors in my home community of Harlem, throughout Northern Manhattan, and in Albany are doing to help the constituents of the 71st Assembly District and the people of our great state.

I would like to thank Speaker Heastie for granting my request to serve on the Assembly’s Housing Committee. One of the most pressing concerns in our community is finding and maintaining high-quality affordable housing and serving on the Committee will give me a chance to address these issues. I will also use this platform to communicate directly with you about housing legislation that will be put forward in Albany, and how these bills affect you. In addition to Housing, I have also been assigned to serve on the Aging, Banks, Cities and Election Law Committees which will allow me to continually improve our community as a whole.

I would like to offer my gratitude to the community for granting me the opportunity to represent you in Albany. I am very excited by this challenge and look forward to meeting and working with you towards finding solutions together. Stay tuned, this is only the beginning!

Biography

Assemblymember Al Taylor

Assemblyman Al Taylor has represented the 71st Assembly District of Upper Manhattan since 2017.

Before being elected to the Assembly in a special election in the fall of 2017, Al Taylor served as Chief of Staff to legendary former Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, Jr., and as District Leader.

Assemblyman Taylor has served his community as an advocate for over 20 years, working to increase economic opportunity, affect social change and reform the criminal justice system, and he continues that work in the Assembly.

In 2008, Assemblyman Taylor, a longtime advocate and leader in the fight against guns and violence, began the Man Up! In Harlem program to address the alarming increase in gun-related deaths in his neighborhood. The program arranged for dialogue between neighborhood leaders and residents through early morning prayer walks at the Polo Grounds’ Rucker Park every week. The program has been widely credited, including by the NYPD, for dramatically reducing violence in the neighborhood. The program has since been replicated in housing projects throughout Upper Manhattan.

As part of an effort to inspire communities to confront violence and work toward peace, Assemblyman Taylor walked 780 miles to Chicago in the “It’s A Love Thing Always” event. Assemblyman Taylor has also been a leader in the fight against bigotry and hatred and mobilized his community to work against hate crimes after the murder of Islan Nettles, a 21-year old transgender woman and Harlem resident.

In 2010, Assemblyman Taylor led a relief mission to Haiti after the catastrophic earthquake decimated that country.

Assemblyman Taylor graduated from Lehman College of the City University of New York with a B.A. in Public Communication and later earned the degree of Master of Divinity, with a concentration in Church Development, from Nyack College Alliance Theological Seminary.

Married for more than 20 years to wife Gwendolyn, they raise their daughters Tiffany, Tameka, Ashley and Stefani, and their son, Brandon, in Northern Manhattan, the neighborhood Al Taylor loves and has devoted his entire life to serving.

District Map