[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 43 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E236-E237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING SUREY I. MIRANDA-ALACON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. RITCHIE TORRES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 11, 2024

  Mr. TORRES of New York. Mr. Speaker, to celebrate Women's History 
Month, I want to highlight the life and work of Surey I. Miranda-
Alarcon. Born in Puerto Rico in 1989. Surey Miranda-Alarcon would grow 
into a passionate community organizer and equal-opportunity policy 
advocate across her home island and within the Bronx. She was educated 
in public schools in Hatillo, Camuy and Lares, then later earned a 
bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Puerto 
Rico and a master's in economics from The New School in New York City. 
Surey began a career in public policy while still in university, 
working in both the United States House of Representatives and the 
Puerto Rico House of Representatives.
  Surey's upbringing would continue to inform and influence her work: 
while living in New York, she played an integral role in forming a 
coalition dedicated to supporting beneficial initiatives for Puerto 
Rico and Puerto Ricans living in the United States. She is the founder

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and President of Diaspora for Puerto Rico, which aided at-risk Puerto 
Ricans arriving in New York after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. 
She later worked in the New York Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, 
the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and the Mayor's Community 
Affairs Office under former Mayor Bill De Blasio. During the COVID-19 
pandemic. Surey worked to ensure that resources and information made 
their way through all of New York's communities, dedicating the 
strenuous years of the pandemic to aiding her fellow New Yorkers 
through distributing more than three million vaccines and PPE within 
the Bronx. Our community had one of the highest rates of 
hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19, making her work essential.
  Her dedication and ambition continue to inspire students to greater 
heights: she currently serves as a professor of economics at the State 
University of New York and works as the Director of Campus and 
Community Engagement at Fordham University. Her work at Fordham has 
centered around fostering initiatives and partnerships with neighboring 
communities, and under her leadership. Fordham University received a 
$50 million dollar grant that will go towards aiding communities in New 
York and Puerto Rico affected by climate change. Surey's work will 
positively impact communities in both New York and Puerto Rico for 
generations to come, and her dedication to community outreach and 
influential, impactful policy makes her an inspiration to many.

                          ____________________