For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 1, 2019
ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 1, 2019—Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro has been named by Washingtonian Magazine in their list of “Women in Washington—The 150 Most Powerful.” The list includes “150 of the area’s most influential women in government, business, law, education, media, nonprofits and the arts.”
Selected annually by the magazine’s editors, the 2019 list includes Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff, among others. Council President Navarro was recognized in the local politics and government category along with Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jessie Liu and Congresswomen Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) and Jennifer Wexler (Va.).
“I am deeply humbled to be on a list with such distinguished women,” said Council President Navarro, who also received this honor in 2013. “I appreciate Washingtonian Magazine’s editors for recognizing me for this distinct honor.”
The list of the “Most Powerful Women” is featured in the October 2019 issue of Washingtonian Magazine. A reception recognizing the honorees will be held at The Line Hotel in Washington D.C.
Councilmember Navarro is the first Latina ever elected president of the Montgomery County Council. She was elected to the Council in a special election in 2009 and re-elected to a four-year term in 2010. Since 2010, she has chaired the Government and Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee and serves on the Education and Culture Committee. In 2019 she was elected Council President for the second time in her Council tenure.
Prior to joining the Council, she was a member of the Montgomery County Board of Education, where she was twice elected president. During her tenure there, she focused her efforts on kindergarten readiness, advancing the achievement of the County’s neediest students, strengthening parental engagement, expanding bilingual staff and increasing the Board’s accountability to its stakeholders.
This year, Council President Navarro spearheaded a yearlong effort to develop an official Racial Equity and Social Justice Policy for Montgomery County. She led several formal community conversations with more than 1000 residents on the topic of racial equity and social justice, asked the Office of Legislative Oversight to conduct multiple quantitative and qualitative analyses of inequities facing communities of color in Montgomery County, and brought the Council together to unanimously support the Racial Equity and Social Justice Act, which was introduced on Sept. 17.
She has also been an ardent advocate for dedicated funding for early childhood education and pre-K. This year she presented the Montgomery County Early Care and Education Initiative for a comprehensive system of high quality accessible and affordable early childhood education. This plan aims to ensure that all children in the County between zero and five years of age have access to quality and affordable early care and education services, with initial priority being given to underserved populations in the roll-out of expansion services.
Council President Navarro has been a champion for the revitalization of the Wheaton community, a long-term vision which recently hit a major milestone with the opening of the Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center.
Another key initiative led by Council President Navarro’s office is the groundbreaking Latino Civic Project. The purpose of the project is empowering the Latino community to engage in civic participation and to advocate for issues affecting their neighborhoods. Numerous community members have joined Council President Navarro at conferences, organizational meetings and public hearings. These community leaders volunteer their time and effort to becoming involved in the civic process and have an active commitment to creating positive change in their communities.
In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Council President Navarro as a member of the President’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, where she served on the Early Childhood Education Committee.
Release ID: 19-316