Gustavo Rivera was elected State Senator for New York Senate District 33 in November of 2010. The 33rd Senate District consists of the Northwest Bronx including Kingsbridge Heights, East Tremont, Crotona Park, Fordham, Bedford Park and parts of Riverdale. As a State Senator, Gustavo Rivera has been working to change the way business is done in the legislature and to ensure that the families of the 33rd Senate District have a voice in Albany. 

That is why the first bill Senator Rivera introduced in the New York State Senate dealt with greater government transparency and financial disclosure. The substance of this legislation that will make it mandatory for public officials to disclose all sources of income they receive apart from their government salary was included in Governor Cuomo’s ethics package that passed the legislature and was signed into law. 

Senator Rivera has also been actively involved in issues of public safety and criminal justice as the ranking member of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections committee. He most recently introduced and passed legislation that will allow charitable organizations throughout the state to post bail bonds for individuals who cannot afford to do so themselves. 

In addition to serving as a State Senator, Gustavo Rivera continues to serve as an adjunct professor at Pace University, where he teaches courses in political science. Prior to becoming a State Senator, Gustavo Rivera worked as a community organizer for several local and state candidates including Jose Serrano Jr.’s and Andrea Stewart Cousins’ campaign for state senate as well as Fernando Ferrer’s campaign for Mayor of New York City. In early 2008, SEIU hired Rivera to manage their activities on behalf of Barack Obama in several crucial primary states. Rivera ultimately traveled to Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas – even to his home of Puerto Rico – on behalf of Senator Obama. Senator Obama then tapped Rivera to serve as his Hispanic Vote Director in the crucial swing state of Florida. Rivera then returned home to New York State to serve as Director of Community Outreach for US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. 

For the last ten years, Rivera has also served as a faculty member and mentor for “Somos el Futuro," the annual Model State Senate program sponsored by CUNY, SUNY, the NY State Assembly, and the Puerto Rican Hispanic Task Force. Senator Rivera is excited to continue to work with “Somos el Futuro,” a program that has been a source of inspiration for Senator Rivera since 2000. 

Gustavo Rivera was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He graduated from the University of Puerto Rico. In 1998, Rivera came to New York to begin a doctoral program in political science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has lived in the Bronx for ten years in Kingsbridge Heights.