James Felton Keith has already led on problems with housing affordability and activism all through his skilled profession, and in range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) during the last 10 years. Now he has a brand new mission.
Keith, 44, whose nickname is JFK, has led efforts on the affordability of housing, akin to One45 most just lately, and was profitable in working with the Eliza Undertaking improvement in Inwood offering 100% reasonably priced housing for residents making beneath $65,000.
His DEI work started in 2011, when he served on the Taskforce in Geneva, Switzerland, to determine the usual index for DEI globally, which was printed in 2021. It’s used as a tenet that corporations in 163 nations should comply with, tying it to insurance coverage premiums. In 2021, he established Inclusion Rating, which manages DEI options for corporations.
Lately, Keith co-founded the Harlem Identical Gender Loving, Lesbian, Homosexual, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Heart, often known as HarlemCenter.org. The middle has a brand new workplace house being constructed on 124th Avenue between seventh and eighth Avenues and can embody 20,000 sq. ft.
Now he’s utilizing his years {of professional} expertise in engineering, labor economics, entrepreneurship, and activism to undertake his newest problem: He’s working within the 2026 midterm election towards Rep. Adriano Espaillat for the Home thirteenth Congressional District seat. He says his distinctive experience in lots of areas distinguishes him from different candidates.
Keith stated Espaillat represents the outdated guard and recent concepts are wanted to take care of the extreme new challenges of housing affordability, new types of revenue, and displacement in Harlem and uptown. “Everyone seems to be hurting proper now, whether or not you’re beneath the poverty line or simply above the poverty line … and nobody has been capable of articulate to widespread folks the place their cash is,” he stated. “We expect it is going to take an activist and an economist to have a nationwide dialog about our incomes and our worth and our fairness.”
Keith’s marketing campaign slogan is “We Owe Us,” which signifies that he believes the rising digital economic system, connecting his expertise in engineering and labor economics to affordability and fairness, is the one method ahead for normal New Yorkers, particularly Black and Brown residents uptown.
“As a result of the economic system has modified so drastically with tech, with AI, and it’s displaced so many individuals, we are able to’t afford to attend for you (Espaillat) to determine it out, educate up,” Keith stated.
Keith beforehand ran in 2020, the place he was unsuccessful however completed with virtually 20,000 votes and 25% to Espaillat’s 59%, however received Black voters in Harlem. In response to Keith, the loss might be chalked as much as not having sufficient time to let voters learn about him and his platform.
On the core of Keith’s want to marketing campaign is his love for New York and his Harlem group, and what he views as his obligation to serve.
“There aren’t any shiny objects which can be gonna get me away from the type of excessive marginalization and poverty that individuals I do know and love are going by way of proper now,” Keith stated. “I don’t get to get out, I don’t get to run away … It’s my obligation to ring the alarm and level to the issues that we now have, and work with different folks to design options for these issues.”
