Meet Effie
Effie believes that when everyone has a fair shot at the American dream, our nation is stronger. But under Donald Trump and Mike Lawler, the building blocks of that promise are being destroyed. In Congress, Effie will fight to restore them.
People-centered values
From an early age, Effie learned the value of hard work and service. Her dad was a veteran and civil servant. Her mom; an educator who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador. Families like hers could afford to buy a home and live a suburban, middle-class life. Healthcare costs wouldn’t bankrupt a family, and college was still affordable. Educated in public schools and community college, Effie graduated with honors from UC Berkeley. She’s always felt a duty to pay it forward. Whether it was escorting women to care through violent anti-choice protestors, strengthening local public schools, or serving in local government making our streets safer – Effie has fought for our values and community.
Standing Up for Each Other
But America is struggling. Families can’t afford to buy homes, and too many people face skyrocketing rent. Voting rights are under attack. Programs that serve veterans and the elderly are being gutted. Immigrants who follow the rules and the law are being pulled off the streets without due process. Unions that fight for worker safety, rights and fair wages are under attack.
Effie understands what is at stake and is ready to take on Trump and Lawler to restore the promise of an America that works for working people.
That means cracking down on runaway housing and energy prices. That means making billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes to protect Social Security and Medicare. That means restoring a woman’s right to choose, and expanding access to affordable healthcare. We must protect the beauty and the economy of the Hudson Valley from the ravages of climate change. It means standing up to the bullies who think we won’t fight back.
Experienced Leadership
Effie Guadalupe Phillips-Staley is an experienced non-profit executive with a decades-long work history in education, culture, and social justice. Effie is currently serving her second term as Trustee in the Village of Tarrytown, where she prioritizes creating safe and walkable streets, housing affordability, boosting climate change resilience, and supporting local businesses.
Professionally, Effie has devoted her life to mission-driven work. She previously directed fundraising at the Hispanic Federation in New York City to support disaster relief in Puerto Rico and social justice efforts across the United States.
She went on to serve as the executive director of the Foundation for the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns, where she worked to advance educational opportunities in a socio-economically diverse and majority Hispanic school district through fundraising, community programming and grantmaking. Until recently Effie also served as Director of Capital and Institutional Advancement at The Kitchen, a seminal cultural institution that has championed artistic experimentation, innovation and freedom in New York City and beyond for over half a century.
Effie believes in the power of culture and the arts to enrich lives and bolster local economies. Her extensive work in this field includes partnering with community organizations, artists and teachers to develop inclusive public programming at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, and La Raza/Galería Posada (now the Latino Center of Art and Culture) in Sacramento.
Today, Effie lives in Tarrytown with her husband and two children, both of whom attend local public schools.
Effie is running to represent the values of the Hudson Valley – values which have been absent for the past four years in Congress and are desperately needed. Join Effie’s fight to lower prices on groceries, housing and energy bills, for safer communities, to protect our environment, and to preserve Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.