Carmen Tapia

Carmen Tapia is a retired teacher who was born to Puerto Rican parents in New York City. She attended public schools straight through high school, and went on to graduate with an education degree from The College of New Rochelle. 

Ms. Tapia is a longtime activist who successfully implemented the “No, In My Neighborhood You Don’t” campaign, which was successful in removing drug dealers who were using the C.S. 102 school yard as a drug den. Ms. Tapia, along with a handful of parent volunteers, led a four-year push to have the City build a mini-school annex to C.S. 102 in order to relieve overcrowding. She is Vice-President of the Waterfront Community Garden Association, Inc.,  and works with Clason Point Community residents to combat crime and raise quality of life through their notable “Community Pride Day” activities.

As a 2001 board member, Ms. Tapia spearheaded a successful drive to have the Cornel, Husson, Gildersleeve and Botts Avenues sanitary sewer system operational; she mediated discussions between Con Edison and the New York City Environmental Control Board over monies owed to Con Ed. By bringing both entities together, they were able to get their sanitary sewers up and running, eliminating the dangerous human waste disposal health hazards.

Ms. Carmen co-founded Discovery for Justice in 2013, an organization whose mission is criminal discovery reform through the repeal of Criminal Procedure Law 240. A prime moving force behind D4J, Ms. Tapia and D4J members garner support and work with the New York State Legislature to ensure that anyone accused of a crime has a fair and just opportunity to defend him or herself.

Ms. Tapia has been married to husband, Fernando, for more than 43 years. Together, they have two children – Caridad is a derivatives attorney for USB, the investment bank, and Fernando Jr., is an intelligence analyst with the United States Army 75th Ranger Regiment