Politics Innovator: Carlos Menchaca

In the weeks following Hurricane Sandy in fall 2012, neighborhoods along the waterfront of Brooklyn, New York, were unrecognizable. Homes and local businesses were destroyed, power was out, and community members grew frustrated at the government’s slow response. Carlos Menchaca, who was working as an aide for then-City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, shared their frustration. “I saw a government that wasn’t ready for this crisis, and that’s what I wanted to change,” he says.