Sheila Oliver

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Sheila Oliver bigraphy, stories - Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly

Sheila Oliver : biography

July 14, 1952 –

On June 10, 2013, she formally announced that she would run in the special election for the senate seat held by Frank Lautenberg."New Jersey Assembly Speaker Enters Senate Race" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/nyregion/sheila-y-oliver-files-to-run-for-lautenbergs-senate-seat.html?_r=0

Oliver serves in the Assembly on the Human Services Committee (as Chair), the Higher Education Committee and the Labor Committee., New Jersey Legislature. Accessed April 11, 2008.

She served on the East Orange Board of Education from 1994-2000, as its President from 1999-2000 and as Vice President from 1998-1999. She served on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1996-1999. In 1997, she became the first woman to launch a competitive campaign for Mayor in the City of East Orange, losing the election by a mere 51 votes.

Oliver was one of the founders of the Newark Coalition for Low Income Housing, an organization that successfully sued the Newark Housing Authority and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in federal court to block the demolition of all publicly subsidized low income housing in Newark, as there was no plan in place for the construction of replacement housing for low-income Newark residents. As a result, the Newark Housing Authority was directed by a federal consent order to build one-for-one replacement housing for low-income residents.

Oliver graduated with a B.A. from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in Sociology and was awarded an M.S. from Columbia University in Planning and Administration.

District 34

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 34th District for the 2010-2011 Legislative Session are:

  • Senator Nia Gill, and
  • Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin