REP. YVETTE D. CLARKE (D-NY)
Yvette Diane Clarke (born November 21, 1964) is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she first entered Congress in 2007, representing New York’s 11th congressional district until redistricting. Clarke previously was a member of the New York City Council, representing the 40th district in Brooklyn from 2002 to 2006.
Clarke was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on November 21, 1964, to Lesley Clarke and former city councilwoman Una Clarke, both immigrants from Jamaica. She graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School and earned a scholarship to enroll at Oberlin College in Ohio, which she attended from 1982 to 1986.(see § Degree controversy) While studying at Oberlin, she spent a summer interning in the Washington, D.C. office of New York congressman Major Owens, where she told Roll Call that she worked on legislative issues involving Caribbean-American trade.
