32 Gay City News Impact Awards 2020
HONOREE
JEFFREY COLE
LEFRANCOIS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MEATPACKING DISTRICT
MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
Jeffrey Cole LeFrancois, who has served as executive director of the
Meatpacking District Management Association, also known as the
Meatpacking BID, since early 2019, has a long history of civic and
political engagement — in New York City as well as more distant locales.
Raised in rural Connecticut, Jeffrey earned his bachelor’s degree in
political science from Pace University and immediately immersed himself
in local LGBTQ politics, joining the Gay and Lesbian Independent
Democrats and the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, where
he serves on the Executive Board.
His experience in working on political campaigns is extensive. Though he supported Hillary Clinton during the 2008
Democratic primary, during the fall campaign he was a get-out-the-vote volunteer for Barack Obama in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania, an important swing area outside Philadelphia in what we now all recognize as a critical swing state. Four
years later, he was a regional fi eld director for Obama’s reelection campaign in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, another
populous swing district that includes Pittsburgh and many suburbs, where the Obama team pushed turnout from typical levels
of about 50 percent to 70 percent. In 2013, Jeffrey served as outreach coordinator for Gale Brewer’s successful primary
campaign to become Manhattan borough president.
For fi ve years beginning in 2008, Jeffrey worked for Manhattan State Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, serving as
deputy chief of staff for the fi nal three years. In 2014, he joined incoming City Councilmember Corey Johnson as his chief
of staff during his fi rst year in offi ce.
Jeffrey joined the Meatpacking BID in early 2015, fi rst serving as director of operations and community affairs. In that
capacity, he oversaw capital construction projects along 14th Street and also lobbied the city to re-cobblestone streets,
saving the BID $7 million. As executive director of the BID for the past 18 months, Jeffrey has managed budgets totaling
almost $3 million per year and overseen all operations, including community programming and a future public art program
on the organization’s plazas.
Beyond his professional responsibilities, Jeffrey has undertaken a wide range of volunteer community activities. A member
since 2016 of Manhattan Community 4, which represents neighborhoods from the Meatpacking District north to Hell’s
Kitchen where he lives, Jeffrey has served as fi rst vice chair since last year. He is also co-chair of the Waterfront and Parks
Committee and has served as chair of the Budget Taskforce and on the Transportation Committee.
Jeffrey has also served on the board of Housing Conservation Coordinators — a non-profi t that advances social and
economic justice for low-income and working class families in Hell’s Kitchen — since 2017. For six years, he was a
volunteer state-certifi ed rape crisis counselor at the New York City Anti-Violence Project’s hotline. In 2009, Jeffrey was a fi eld
organizer for Maine’s fi rst marriage equality ballot fi ght.
Jeffrey has contributed op-eds to Gay City News and the newspaper’s sister publications The Villager and Chelsea Now,
as well an essay for Pace University’s literary magazine.