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CityAndStatePA .com
Deja the disruptor
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N A LITTLE OVER a year’s time, Philly’s Deja Alvarez could disrupt the status quo in Harrisburg in a big way. Not only would she bring a rare public health background to Harrisburg at a time when the state is still trying to crawl its way out of a pandemic, but she would also be the first transgender Latina Pennsylvanian ever elected to the General Assembly. If her campaign for the State House’s 182nd District proves successful, Alvarez plans to bring a fresh voice and new perspectives to a legislative body that, she says, is in desperate need of a new outlook on how to craft policy. Alvarez is open about her past. She came to Philadelphia in the early 1990s and had to scrap her way through personal struggles. “I’m someone that has experienced a lot of what people talk about in the city. I’ve experienced homelessness. I’ve experienced drug use and all the other things that come with being someone who didn’t have access to resources,” Alvarez told City & State. “Back then, nobody was really hiring transgender people, so my life wasn’t always easy. I think that gives me a different perspective than most politicians that we usually see, because I tell people I’m not really a politician. I’m just someone that ended up getting into politics.” Alvarez currently works as the director of community engagement at World Healthcare Infrastructures, a Philadelphia nonprofit focused on providing food, social services and health care to those with HIV/ AIDS. She is also an LGBTQ care coordinator for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, co-president of the Women’s March on Philadelphia and a trainer and educator for the city’s Transgender Training Institute. And while Alvarez has served on several Philadelphia-based panels, including the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s LGBTQ Advisory Board and Mayor Jim Kenney’s Commission of LGBT Affairs, she has her sights set higher – on Harrisburg. She’s looking to replace outgoing state Rep. Brian Sims (known for his own historic election as the first openly gay man elected to the state House of Representatives) and bring her own dedication to
October 2021
Philly’s Deja Alvarez plans to shake things up in Harrisburg.
By Justin Sweitzer
