Maria Quiñones-Sanchez

Maria Quiñones-Sánchez (born November 21, 1968) is an American politician and political activist who served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council representing the 7th district. The district includes the neighborhoods of Castor Gardens, Fairhill, Feltonville, Frankford, Harrowgate, Hunting Park, Juniata, Kensington, Oxford Circle and Wissinoming. A registered Democrat, she served in this position from 2008 to 2022.

Quiñones-Sánchez was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Philadelphia when she was six months old. Prior to her election as a member of City Council, she worked in local politics as an advisor to Councilmember Marian B. Tasco and as Philadelphia's Deputy Elections Commissioner.

In 2022, she resigned from city council to run for Mayor of Philadelphia in the 2023 election. She withdrew before the Democratic primary was held, endorsing eventual winner Cherelle Parker.

Early life and education Maria Quiñones-Sánchez was born in Puerto Rico on November 21, 1968. In 1969, at six months old, she moved to Philadelphia, along with her mother and two older brothers, to be closer to her father, who worked as a seasonal farmworker. However, Quiñones-Sánchez's parents separated at a young age following her father's struggle with alcoholism. Therefore, she was raised by her single mother, a factory worker, along with her two siblings, older brothers Jaime and David. Her mother was also the matriarch to her own 17 siblings. Quiñones-Sánchez was raised in public housing in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia. In the early 1970s, her family was able to buy a home in Hunting Park.

Quiñones-Sánchez attended Jules E. Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School for high school where she studied business. She served as President of the school's chapter of the ASPIRA Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing leaders in the Latino community. Starting in high school, Quiñones-Sánchez spent time as a member of ASPIRA's leadership programs and served as President of the club's Federation, which allowed her to serve on the local and national Board of Directors. Quiñones-Sánchez helped restructure the organization, which was financially struggling, via a negotiated settlement with the IRS. Additionally, in the role of Regional Director she led successful efforts to create bilingual ballots in several cities throughout Pennsylvania. Savage received support from the Philadelphia Democratic Party and the powerful union leader, Johnny Dougherty. However, Quiñones-Sánchez's once again defeated Savage and won by greater margins than in 2007. However, Quiñones-Sánchez defeated Morales with 53% of the vote.

Affordable housing In 2019, Quiñones-Sánchez championed a public-private partnership to develop 240 new affordable housing units on abandoned lots in Kensington. That same year, in a move to prevent the gentrification of historic neighborhoods, she helped pass legislation that required 20% of new housing development in parts of North Philadelphia to be affordable housing.

Opioid epidemic Quiñones-Sánchez represents Kensington, which is one of the hardest hit areas by the opioid epidemic.

Police reform Having previously served on the Police Oversight Committee, Quiñones-Sánchez joined 13 other members of the Philadelphia City Council, following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, in opposing Mayor Jim Kenney's budget proposal that would increase the police department's budget by $14 million. She has called for the Philadelphia Police Department to eliminate the use of chokeholds on suspects and the policy of stop and frisk. She also called on Councilman Bobby Henon to resign in the aftermath of his bribery conviction. She voted against the tax in 2016 and introduced legislation to conduct research on the impact of the tax on poor Philadelphians and small businesses. Quiñones-Sánchez's legislation required that the land bank create a yearly plan to ensure that the development of vacant lots are done equitably. The legislation required that employers enter into a contract laying out employment terms and rates of pay for domestic workers. In October 2021, Quiñones-Sánchez announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2021, but had successfully undergone a mastectomy and was cancer free.