Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Billy Easton

Billy Easton

  • Nixon Candidacy Spotlights Education Advocacy Group

    Cynthia Nixon AQE

    Cynthia Nixon, right, with Assemblymember Felix Ortiz in 2014 (photo: Ortiz's office)


    When actor and activist Cynthia Nixon held her first news conference as a gubernatorial candidate, at a Pentecostal church in Brownsville, Brooklyn, she was introduced by Zakiyah Ansari, an education activist and longtime ally.

    In New York’s advocacy ecosystem, Ansari and her organization, the Alliance for Quality Education, have long held prominence in outspoken fashion. The group, a nonprofit advocacy organization formed in 2001 and historically funded by

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