Joseph A. Puma

Joseph Puma's career in public and community service has been exemplified by the various positions he has held in civil rights law, community-based organizations, and local government. As a paralegal with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Puma handled cases involving criminal justice, voting rights, employment discrimination, and school desegregation. Prior to joining NAACP LDF, he worked for over six years at the NYC Office of Management and Budget, where he served in roles in intergovernmental affairs, policy, and budget.

From 2003 to 2004, Puma served as a community liaison for former NYC Council Member Margarita López. Since 2007, he has been involved with Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), a community organization helping residents with issues of housing, land use, employment, post-Sandy recovery and long-term planning, and environmental and public health. A lifelong City public housing resident, Puma currently serves as GOLES's Board President and has participated in national public housing preservation efforts.

Puma is the Manhattan City Council designee to the Board first appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and reappointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

M.A., Union Theological Seminary; Certificate, Legal Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York; B.A., Yale University