Karen Scharff has been the Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York since 1984. Citizen Action is a statewide grassroots organization that empowers New Yorkers to fight for social, economic and racial justice, with a focus on policy change at the state level. Citizen Action plays a major role in local and statewide policymaking, with 7 offices, over 20,000 activists, and a track record of success on equitable education funding, progressive tax policy, funding for after school programs, expansion of health care coverage and voter participation. Ms. Scharff was one of the founders of the Alliance for Quality Education. She co-chairs AQE’s statewide board, and played a leading role in developing and implementing AQE’s successful campaign to establish a new more equitable funding formula and billions of additional dollars for underfunded schools. Ms. Scharff also serves on the Executive Committee of the Working Families Party. Ms. Scharff graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Harvard University in 1979.