Melissa del Valle-Ortiz

Melissa del Valle-Ortiz served in the United States Army as a Unit Supply Specialist.Ms. del Valle-Ortiz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After her honorable discharge, she returned home to where she now resides in Sunset Park. She is a proud mother of two, Jeffrey and Victoria. Ms. del Valle-Ortiz served on the PTA throughout their education until they graduated from high school.

Ms. del Valle-Ortiz has been employed in Sunset Park's nonprofit and government sectors since 1994. She has held various positions with Hispanic Young People's Alternatives Inc.; Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Inc.; Sunset Park Redevelopment Committee, Inc.; and most recently as the Housing and Community Liaison to the Office of Congressmember Nydia Velazquez.

Ms. del Valle-Ortiz is committed to her community and is a staunch advocate. She has served on numerous boards, including the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women and the National Alliance of HUD Tenants. Locally, she has served on DYCD’s Neighborhood Advisory Board and sat on the Executive Committee of its Community Action Board. She served as a member of Community Board 7, where she successfully advocated for a Disability Awareness Committee.

Most notably, Ms. del Valle-Ortiz was the first woman of color to preside as President over the League of Women Voters of New York City in its then-95-year history.

Culturally grounded as a proud Black Puerto Rican, she continues to serve as the Co-chair to the Dr. Antonia Pantoja Youth Leadership Award for community service under the auspice of the Boricua Festival Committee. Further invested in her community, she is on the board of Imani House, Inc. and is an advisory member to the Caribbean American Center of New York. A staunch housing advocate,
she started and continues to lead the first tenants association in her project-based Section 8 housing development, the largest of the three remaining in Sunset Park.

Currently, Ms. del Valle-Ortiz is spearheading the committee for NYC Parks Brooklyn 9/11 Living Memorial Grove in Sunset Park. As a two-year breast cancer survivor, she has also been organizing Survivor Celebrations and routinely partners with the American Italian Cancer Foundation to host mobile mammogram screenings in and around Brooklyn.