Deputy BP to be featured in JCAL speaker series
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.20 COM | MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2021
post-pandemic Queens.”
Raised in southeast
Queens, Binda successfully
lobbied the City Council
for New York Public
Interest Group (NYPIRG)
to shut down Fresh Kills,
the largest toxic site in the
country. As an attorney,
she represented and released
wrongly detained
clients before the U.S.
Immigration Court of Appeals
after 9/11 pro bono
and broke up internet
and cable monopolies. In
government, she served
in both the Obama-Biden
and Clinton-Gore administrations
as a U.S.
diplomat and in the West
Wing.
Inspired by the love
of her hometown, Binda
returned to Queens as
the executive director
of the Jamaica BID, the
borough’s largest business
district where she
took action against stark
inequality of resources
and investments made in
the borough. Under her
leadership, Jamaica rose
through the ranks to be
named the No. 1 neighborhood
in the city, captured
top awards from
the city’s Department
of Small Business Services
and ranked first in
the state for downtown
revitalization, raising
Jamaica’s profile as a
unique, vibrant multicultural
center for retail
and tourism.
She continued to serve
her community as chairwoman
of South Asian
American Voice, vice
president of the Guyanese
Girls Rock Foundation
High School Women’s
Leadership Academy
and on the boards for the
Boys and Girls Club of
Metro Queens, the New
York Hall of Science and
Positive Women United.
“For those of us living
and working in southeast
Queens, Rhonda Binda’s
name is linked to a vision
of service and positive
action,” JCAL Interim
Artistic Director Courtney
Ffrench said. “She’s
not only from our community,
she has always
been our advocate and
our friend. I can’t wait
to hear what she’s working
on during the JCAL
Talks event.”
Binda attended
Queens public schools in
District 29 and, because
of her academic potential,
she was recruited to the
prestigious Prep for Prep
program, which provided
her a path to The Lawrenceville
School, Duke
University, Georgetown
University and Oxford
University. She is an internationally
recognized
People’s Choice leader
in building smart cities
and connected communities.
She is currently
an Adjunct Professor at
Medgar Evers College
and served on both 21stcentury
government and
foreign policy teams for
the Biden-Harris 2020
campaign.
Binda has traveled
to six continents, more
than 40 countries and
hundreds of cities working
with state and local
leaders, and she lives in
Jamaica Estates.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at
bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4538.
BY BILL PARRY
The spotlight will be
on Deputy Queens Borough
President Rhonda
Binda when the Jamaica
Center for Arts & Learning
presents the second
installment of JCAL
Talks, a speaker series
featuring borough-based
thought leaders in arts
and culture, education
and politics, and civic
and community life.
The former executive
director of the Jamaica
Center BID will be the
guest on March 31 beginning
at 7 p.m. on an
hourlong livestream on
JCAL’s YouTube and Facebook
platforms.
JCAL Talks aims
to engage and amplify
voices and perspectives
of the diverse spectrum
of Queens leaders. The
inaugural program,
launched during Black
History Month, featured
former Deputy Queens
Borough President Melva
Miller, currently the
CEO of the Association
for a Better New York.
“We’re honored to
welcome Deputy Queens
Borough President Rhonda
Binda to JCAL Talks
as part of our ‘Community
First, Digital First’
season,” Jamaica Center
Arts & Learning Interim
Executive Director Leonard
Jacobs said. “Rhonda’s
accomplishments
in New York City and
Washington, D.C., speak
for themselves. What is
so exciting is that, given
a chance to serve in her
hometown, she chose to
do so, and now, under
the leadership of Queens
Borough President Donovan
Richards, she is
already distinguishing
herself as a powerful
voice in planning for the
Deputy Queens Borough President Rhonda Bina will be
the featured guest on JCAL Talks. Courtesy of JCAL
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