Usanewsonline.com Desk:  Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. today announced his 2022 class of community board appointees, a markedly diverse group of civic-minded individuals who will serve on their respective Queens community board.

Of Borough President Richards’ 345 appointees across Queens’ 14 community boards, 94 are first-time members who are not currently serving on a board. The 345 appointees — chosen out of this year’s deep pool of 884 applicants, the second-most applications received in the office’s history — began their two-year terms on April 1, 2022.

“I could not be prouder to appoint such a dynamic, diverse class of public servants to our network of Queens community boards, as we continue steadfast in our effort to build a government that is truly reflective of the borough it serves,” said Borough President RICHARDS. “Queens is leading the way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and toward a stronger, fairer future for all our families, and I’m both deeply grateful and excited for the work these 345 qualified community leaders will do on behalf of The World’s Borough and all who call it home.”

Building on his initiative launched last year — the first community board appointment process of his tenure at Queens Borough Hall — to ensure each of the 14 boards is more representative of the districts they represent, Borough President Richards’ 2022 class of appointments represents another major investment in correcting the underrepresentation of numerous demographics, beginning with young people.

Of the 94 first-time appointees, 47.9 percent are under the age of 40, including three appointees in their teens, reflecting the significant, growing interest in community board membership among young people over the last two years, as well as Borough President Richards’ conscious, multipronged efforts to cultivate interest in civic engagement among Queens’ younger residents. Prior to Borough President Richards taking office in December 2020, less than 12 percent of sitting community board members were under the age of 35, while nearly three-quarters of all members were over the age of 45.

More broadly, this year’s class of new appointees represents another step forward in ensuring our 14 boards truly look, sound and feel like The World’s Borough, where nearly half of our 2.4 million residents were born abroad, in a number of ways.

Of the 94 first-time members, 19.2 percent are immigrants — up from 17.4 percent of Borough President’s Richards’ 2021 class of first-time appointees and just 6.1 percent of sitting community board members as of 2020. Compared to community board membership prior to Borough President Richards taking office, this year’s group of first-time members also includes a greater percentage of individuals who identify as African Americans (22.3 percent to 18.5 percent); Hispanic/Latinx (17 percent to 8.6 percent); and LGBTQIA+ (6.4 percent to 3.4 percent).

Parents of school-age children are now more represented on Queens community boards as well, as 21.3 percent of this year’s new appointees fall into that category — an increase of nearly 15 percentage points compared to board membership as of 2020.

This year’s class of new appointees has more renters than those who own a house. Nearly 24 percent live in market-rate apartment rentals, 6.4 percent live in rented houses, 3.2 percent live in rent-regulated apartments and 3.2 percent live in NYCHA housing, while about 29 percent of new members own a house, a significant and important shift considering the tribulations of tenants struggling to afford rent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its destructive economic fallout.

This year’s class of new appointees was also diverse in their reported main forms of transportation: 52.1 percent of new appointees regularly ride the subway, 42.6 percent regularly ride buses, 17 percent ride bikes or other micro-mobility devices, and 44.7 percent walked.

While this year’s first-time appointee class includes slightly more male appointees (50 percent) than female appointees (46.8 percent), Borough President Richards remains committed to reaching a better balance of gender representation on Queens’ community boards. Over the past two years, 54.9 percent of new appointees identified as women, while 41.7 percent have identified as men; prior to his administration, only 43 percent of board members were women and 56.3 percent were men.

Data analytics used by the Office of the Queens Borough President throughout the community board appointment process were provided by BetaNYC, a public interest technology non-profit.

“Congratulations to the next generation of community leaders,” said BetaNYC Executive Director NOEL HIDALGO. “As we look to rebuild our economy and weather the ongoing effects of global warming, we are excited to see an enthusiastic desire to participate in our most neighborly form of dialogue. For our City to be truly democratic, our Community Boards must reflect the neighborhoods it represents. We are excited to see Borough President Richards embrace a new generation of tools and tactics with community leaders to reflect the borough’s diversity of lived experiences, community knowledge and involvement — this is the only way to ensure our City’s democracy is as vibrant as its residents.”

This year’s class of appointees were chosen from an 884-person pool of applicants, including 610 people who were not currently sitting community board members. Combined with last year’s record-shattering 941 applications received, the Queens Borough President’s Office has received a whopping 1,825 applications to serve on community boards in just two years. That seismic shift in interest stems from a revamped application process, including the simplification and digitization of the application itself, which was able to be completed online and no longer required notarization.

The heightened interest also stems from Borough President Richards’ 2021 announcement of a series of good government reforms aimed at establishing a centralized code of conduct for all 14 community boards, as well as a call for a holistic review of each board’s bylaws, making boards more welcoming places for new members.

There are 59 community boards citywide, and each hold monthly full membership meetings. The boards also hold hearings and issue recommendations about the City budget, municipal service delivery and numerous other matters that impact their communities.

All Queens community board members are appointed by the Queens Borough President, pursuant to the City Charter, with at least half of the appointments recommended by the City Council Members representing their respective community districts. Each board has up to 50 unsalaried members, with each member serving a two-year term. All community board members who wish to continue serving on a board are required to reapply at the conclusion of their two-year term and are subject to review and reconsideration.

Borough President Richards’ appointments for the 2022-2024 term to the Queens Community Boards are as follows:

Community Board 1 (Astoria, Old Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge, Ditmars, Ravenswood, Steinway, Garden Bay, Woodside): Daniel Aliberti; Louise Bordley; Gerald Caliendo; Irak Dahir Cehonski; Tenzin Dechin; Mackenzi Farquer; Adam Fisher-Cox; Tyrone Gardner; Shahenaz Hamde; Evie Hantzopoulos; Amy Hau; Vanessa Jones-Hall;

Richard Khuzami; Huge Ma; Sam Massol; Amin Mehedi; Antonio Meloni; Andreas Migias; Eric Mouchette; Juliet Payabyab; Rose Marie Poveromo; Thomas Ryan; Marie Torniali; Rod Townsend; Judy Trilivas; Kathleen Warnock; Corinne Wood-Haynes.

Community Board 2 (Maspeth, Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City): Amparo Abel-Bey; John Laurence Bahia; T. Karesia Batan; Nicholas Berkowitz; Sandra Bigitschke; Tannia Chavez; Osman Chowdhury; Stephen Cooper; Kelly Craig; Lisa Deller; Morry Galonoy; Kenneth Greenberg; Chhemang Lama; Sheila Lewandowski; Benjamin Lucas; Patrick Martinez; Robert Miraglia; Thomas Mituzas; Reilly Owens; Clara Oza; Steven Raga; Norberto Saldana; Ryan Smith; Caroline Spitzer; Lauren Springer; Phuntsok Tashi; Akello Thomas; Frank Wu.

Community Board 3 (Jackson Heights, North Corona, East Elmhurst): Pat Beckles; Ann Brown; Mark Buhrmester; Sonya Davis-Roberts; Vivian Dock; Margaret Dozier; Rhoda Dunn; Oscar Escobar; Kevin Hughes-Noboa; Stephen Kulhanek; Marta Elena LeBreton; Andre Maloy; Violeta Morales; Richard Mullings; Theresa Parson-Jones; Dorothy Phelan; Potrirankamanis Queano Nur; Jairo Rodriguez; Leoncio Romero; Edmund Rosenbaum; David Rosero; Jimmy Smith; Shanel Thomas Henry.

Community Board 4 (Elmhurst, Corona, Corona Heights): Rownoka Ashakhan; Michelle Calderon; Valery Calderon; Chaio-Chung Chen; Jaime Cho; Ramakrishna Kadukuntla; Carol Machulski; Sunil Mahat; Abu Zafar Mahmood; Patricia Martin; Matthew McElroy; Mac Ryan Merchan; Alexandra Owens; Alexa Ponce; Alton Smith; Dewan Tarek; Marcello Testa; Charlie Tetiyevsky; Louis Walker.

Community Board 5 (Ridgewood, Maspeth, Glendale, Middle Village, South Elmhurst): Bhubaneshor Adhikari; Antonetta Binanti; Adam Bloom; Eric Butkiewicz; Robert Cermeli; Patricia Crowley; Nickolas Cuttonaro; Dmytro Fedkowskyj; Cecilia Guerra; Fred Haller; Fred Hoefferle; Richard Huber; Eileen Moloney; Margaret O'Kane; Michael O'Kane; Mike Porcelli; Melissa Rebecca; Luis Rodriguez; Dennis Stephan; Jasmin Valle.

Community Board 6 (Forest Hills, Rego Park): Anisa Ayon; Laura Ciacco; Kandra Clark; John Dereszawski; Brendan Griffith; Karen Imas; Sarina Jain; Mark Laster; Beatrice Leong; Jonathan Li; Kevin Ly; Julie Milner; Tania Padgett; Howard Pollack; Diana Rachnaev; Shari Rolnick; Petrina Schneiderman; Herbert Schonhaut; Jean Silva; Brently Winstead; Titilayo Yasukawa

Community Board 7 (Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace, Malba, Beechhurst, Bayside, Queensboro Hill, Willets Point): Charles Apelian; Michael Cheng; Nicholas Corrado; Derick Fang; Fred Fu; Doreen Gatanas; Pablo Hernandez; Jeff Huang; Lawrence Hughes; Eugene Kelty; Esther Lee; Betsy Mak; Barbara McHugh; Xinwei Michelle Miao; Millicent O'Meally; John Park; Yacov Pshtissky; Paul Rifino; Warren Schreiber; Kevin Shields; Matthew Silverstein; Saleem Syed; John Tsavalos; Clarissa Wong; Dian Song Yu; Jie Zhu.

Community Board 8 (Kew Gardens Hills, Utopia, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Briarwood, Jamaica Hills Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, Flushing South): Dilafroz Ahmed; Heather Bennett-Idels; Robert Hoyt Block; Susan Cleary; Kenneth Cohen; Solomon Davydov; Maria DeInnocentiis; Mohammed Islam Delwar; Allen Eisenstein; Kevin Forrestal; Howard Fried; Bhitihara Martha Fulton; James Gallagher; Marc Haken; Michael Hannibal; Neeta Jain; Steven Konigsberg; Elke Maerz; Jennifer Martin; Yaniv Meirov; David Mordukhaev; Dilip Nath; Shlomo Nisanov; Alan Ong; Tamara Osherov; Hersh Parekh; Frances Peterson; Charlton Rhee; Jesse Rosenbaum; Seymour Schwartz; Harbachan Singh; Mohammed Tohin; Amy Tse; Emanuel Yllescas.

Community Board 9 (Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Kew Gardens, Ozone Park): Inderpaul Ahluwalia; Sherry Algredo; Dilraj Batchu; Julio Batista; Dulal Bhattacharjee; Kamal Bhuiyan; Latchman Budhai; Daniel Chu; Daniel Coffaro Hill; Marylin Custodio; Sandra Datnarain; Steve Esposito; Orazio Joe Iaboni; Carmela Isabela; Kemanad Kishore; Bernard Robert; Regina Santoro; Jarnail Singh; Mohinder Singh; Sursattie Singh; Alexandria Sumpter-Delves.

Community Board 10 (Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, South Richmond Hill): Mohamed Amin; Luis Amorim; James Caruso; Anthony Cosentino; Frank Dardani; Anoop Dhanpat; Irene Dimoh; Betty Escobar; John Fazio; Edna Fraylon; Peter Granickas; Raimondo Graziano; Anthony Hill; Romeo Hitlall; Pierre Kishun; Dorothy Mitchell; Fazlurrahman Mohamed; Rohan Narine; Jose Quijano; Amar Rajnauth; Nellie Santiago; Jody Stahl; Sharif Uddin; Marilyn Vecchio; Linda Walker.

Community Board 11 (Bayside, Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck, Douglaston, East Flushing, Hollis Hills): Dawn Anatra; Adriana Aviles; Lana Bind; Sharon Chin; Victor Dadras; Lourdes December; C. Omarr Evans; Michelle Fields; Christopher Fuentes-Padilla; Albert Galatan; Joan Garippa; Roy Giusetti; Rosemarie Guidice; George Hadjiconstantinou; Laura James; Mohan Jethwani; Karen Mazza; Douglas Montgomery; Allan Palzer; Wendy Pelle-Beer; Stephen Pivawer; Gunjan Rastogi; Jyothi Sriram; Seena Sweet; Sam Wong.

Community Board 12 (Jamaica, South Jamaica, Hollis, St. Albans, South Ozone Park, Addesleigh Park, Springfield Gardens): Jacqueline Boyce; Maxine Brannon; Kenny Carter; Manuel Caughman; Tanbir Chowdhury; Hon. Clifton Diaz; Marcia Francis; Glenn Greenidge; Nurul Haque; Yullanda Hinds; Crystal Isaac; Khondokar Islam; Audrey Lee Jacobs; Aiysha Jaggassar; Chantel Johnson; Michele Keller; Rev. Edward McKay; Angela Miskis; Charline Ogbeni; Akther Rahman; Jean Randolph-Castro; Fitzroy Searles; Amanda Sewanan; Owen Shakespeare; Florence Simmons; Yvette Sledge; Toni Totten; Linette Townsley; Khari White; Jeanette Wilson; Patricia Wooden.

Community Board 13 (Queens Village, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park, Bellerose, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale, Floral Park, Springfield Gardens, Bellaire): Robert Alleyne; Rachelle Antoine; Angela Augugliaro; Corey Bearak; Loleta Beckett-Nicholson; Alain Berrouet; Sheila Beverly-Skinner; Vernal Crooms-Holder; Nickolette Emptage; Charles Farruggia; Lorraine Gittens-Bridges; Robert Glover; Jaslin Kaur; Michael Mallia; Sophia Mighty; Kangela Moore; Michael O'Keeffe; Cinnamon Paltoo; David Pecoraro; Nagassar Ramgarib; Anup Ramnauth; Peter Richards; Ashok Satkalmi; Koshy Thomas.

Community Board 14 (The Rockaways, Rockaway Point, Breezy Point, Roxbury, Neponsit, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, Seaside, Broad Channel, Hammels, Sommerville, Edgemere, Arverne, Bayswater, Wavecrest, Far Rockaway, Rockaway Beach): Audrey Amsterdam Handy; Louis Caucig; Jack Epter; Menashe Friedman; Avionne Gumbs-Cummings; Brian Heffernan; Felicia Johnson; Caren Lee; Betty Leon; LuQuan Lloyd; Annette Lord Cohen; Rosalyn Mason; Evelyn Miller-Suber; Sonia Moise; Helen Montero; Dolores Orr; Harold Paez; Vernell Robinson; David Shelborne; Christopher Tedesco; Jose Velez. Press Release