Denny was born in New Hampshire to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic who emigrated to the United States in the 1970’s.
When his parents arrived to the states, they settled in the South Bronx. His father, working as a dishwasher, traveling and staying in New Jersey five days a week before coming back to the BX during the weekends. His mother, working as a seamstress at a local tailor in the borough. Both of them, hoping to make enough money to be able to start a family and provide for them to get a piece of the American Dream.
The story of how his parents got started in this country doing back-breaking work in order to succeed is not new. This is the immigrant experience in America. The struggle, the uncertainty, the failures and successes, and the innate ability to persevere are qualities that get passed down to successive generations.
That experience and wisdom was passed down to Denny and his siblings. They were also taught that the only way to succeed in this country was to get an education and work hard for everything you want.
He went on to study at the University of New Hampshire where he earned a degree in Political Science. After graduating, Denny went to work as a stockbroker before leaving that role to join President Obama’s grassroots organization, Organizing for America.
That role allowed him to speak with American voters in the midst of some of the most heated debates around Financial Reform, Health Care, and Environmental Policy, where they were deeply concerned about their own future in the midst of the Great Recession. He learned that something needed to be done by speaking with his neighbors who lost everything due to the downturn in the economy, and some, because of unaffordable health care costs that led many into bankruptcy.
Those conversations and experiences of what others went through are what led him to seek roles in service of others. Today, Denny works at a school on behalf of students in the Bronx - a population of whom over 80% live below the poverty line - writing grants, seeking funding for after-school programs, and representing them through his public relations efforts. Now, he’s seeking to run for his first elected office, County Committee, to ensure that his neighbors have a voice in the decision-making process.