MEET MICHEL FAULKNER
For more than 30 years, Rev. Michel Faulkner has dedicated his life to serving his community. Growing up in Washington, D.C., he was an all-star football player that became a freshman All-American and four-year starter at Virginia Tech. In 1980, Faulkner graduated with a B.A. in communications.
After college, Michel played one season (1981-82) with the New York Jets in the NFL. In 1983, Faulkner returned to Virginia Tech and graduated with a Master’s degree in education and career counseling in 1985. Upon completion of his Master’s degree, he accepted a position at Liberty University to become the Assistant Dean of Students in 1985, and was promoted to Vice President for Urban Ministry in 1987.
In 1988, Michel and his family moved to New York City where he served as 
Assistant Pastor and Director of the Lamb’s Center for the Lamb’s Church in Times Square, where he helped needy individuals on a daily basis. One year later, he joined the staff of Calvary Baptist Church in Midtown Manhattan as Pastor for Youth and Community Outreach. Faulkner was ordained at Calvary in December of 1991. While at Calvary he also served as co-chairman for the New York City Board of Education’s HIV/AIDS Task Force.
In 1993, Rev. Faulkner became the Senior Pastor of Central Baptist Church in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
He was able to grow the congregation from an average of 50 weekly attendees to over 400. During his 13-years, numerous leadership development programs were conceived and implemented.
Michel’s community involvement has included:
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Participating as a 1992-1993 Coro Leadership New York Fellow
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Serving on Mayor Giuliani’s Task Force on Police Community Relations
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Commissioner for the City Charter Revision Commission.
In addition, he also served as the Vice President for Community Government Relations at King’s College from 1998 to 2002. Also from June of 2002 to February of 2004, Faulkner served as World Vision’s Director of U.S. Programs in New York City.
In 2005, Michel founded the Institute for Leadership (IFL), a non-profit organization focusing on the development of leaders and leadership programs. The IFL brings scalable solutions to difficult community problems. In June 2006, Faulkner left Central Baptist Church and founded the New Horizon Church of New York in Harlem. New Horizon Church is built on the principle of building bridges for the economically and socially disadvantaged.
In 2010 Faulkner ran a spirited campaign for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Also in 2010, Faulkner completed his first book “Restoring the American Dream.” This book highlights his vision and goals to save the American Dream for future generations. The book was released in October of 2010. The second printing was released in November 2014 and is now available on Amazon.com.
In 2014, Faulkner accepted a Board Member assignment for two organizations: The Medicare Rights Center and The Chicago Hope Academy. In 2014 Rev. Faulkner also founded Over the humpresources, LLC, which provides working capital and management assistance to small and medium business worldwide, where he serves as CEO. In November of 2014, Rev. Faulkner formed a committee with the NYC Campaign Finance Board to run for Mayor of New York City in 2017.
In his spare time, Faulkner is a Marathon runner. He has completed 4 marathons, including the 2010 NYC Marathon, which was a lifelong goal for him. In October 27, 2013, he completed the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington D.C. Rev. Faulkner is also a frequent commenter for numerous national and local media outlets.
Rev. Faulkner lost his wife, Virginia, of more than 30 years in 2014. Together they raised children in New York City – which include two college graduates and one college sophomore. Rev. Faulkner recently married, Dr. Sarai Padilla. She is a practicing psychologist of more than 28 years and has one daughter and three grandchildren.
WHAT MICHEL FAULKNER WANTS FOR NEW YORK CITY
In every area where NYC is in need of change, bringing forces together is the key to finding a solution. This is why the basis of my campaign is in the phrase: “Unity is our destiny.” We need leadership that stops placing blame on one side or another solely to help craft a campaign ad or sway voters. We need leadership that looks for solutions and creates the type of partnerships that solve problems in a constructive manner.
To make NYC’s education system work better for students, parents and taxpayers, three main reforms need to be enacted. First, Charter Schools have proven to be a very effective tool for at-risk children in our city and parental demand for them has expanded significantly because of that. Second, public education needs to account for the fact that not every child in the system has the goal and ability to go on to a four-year college education. For that reason, the expansion of vocational education opportunities needs to be expanded. Third, New Yorkers are the most creative people in the world and we need to use the talent and energy of New Yorkers to solve some of our problems in education. Partnerships need to be built between community and corporate entities to provide effective after school and homework assistance programs.
Since 2001, the budget for the city of New York has nearly doubled to $80 billion a year. It’s critical to the future of NYC to keep budget growth in line with the rate of inflation. The rapid growth of NYC’s budget, and the taxes that are required to support it, are the single most contributory factor to the high costs of living and doing business in NYC.
Ensuring that our local government does everything it can for those who have served & risked their lives for the safety and security of our nation is a critical job for the Mayor of the City of New York. This role is not only to ensure that NYC’s government does all that it can, but to be an emissary for all our City’s veterans in our nation’s and state’s capital. Veteran unemployment & homelessness is a serious problem in NYC and as Mayor I will be dedicated to solving those problems.
To get NYC back on the right track in terms of crime and quality of life issues, we need leadership that will unify the community, the NYPD and the political system.
As Mayor I will make sure that public housing is safe, that services such as heat and hot water are delivered effectively and that these developments for the poor are places that are not permanent locations for themselves and their children, but are starting points for a life of dignity and self-sufficiency
For more information about reverend Michel Faulkner and his campaign & positions on the issues that affect New Yorkers please visit HTTP://FAULKNERFORNEWYORK.COM