Star of Brooklyn: Jeanette Givant

JEANETTE GIVANT

Democratic District Leader, 47^th A.D.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: From the kindness of her heart, Jeanette Givant has helped her community for many years.

As the Democratic district leader for the 47^th Assembly District, which serves the Bensonhurst and Gravesend areas, she has helped people with quality-of-life issues. The issues involve problems “pertaining to people’s homes, trees, etcetera, etcetera,” noted Givant.

Givant said that she enjoys helping people. Ninety-nine percent of the time she is successful. Sometimes she encounters problems here and there but she wishes she could help as much as she would like to.

MOTIVATION: As a district leader, Givant believes that compassion is a key component. “I think in a job like this, you have to be compassionate even though you can’t take the problems to heart,” Givant said. Listening to people is something her job requires her to do. “People are lonely and they have no one to talk to and you make them feel good,” she said.

Before she was a district leader, she was a hands-on mom serving as a crossing guard for P.S. 177 at Avenue P and Dahill Road.

When her children were young, the last thing she wanted to do was work away from her children. “Being a crossing guard was the best thing,” she said. “I was always available. I wanted to be available for her children.”

Givant was also involved with the Girl Scouts, and was a part of her children’s Parent Teacher Association.

GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: When asked what has been her greatest accomplishment, Givant said without skipping a beat, “My two beautiful children.” Apart from her two grown children, another accomplishment has been helping people because she has earned, “a very good name in the community.”

OBSTACLES: “It’s hard to say,” said Givant about what has been an obstacle for her. When she was a crossing guard, the hardest part about that job was not really being able to apply her skills to her job. “I had skills at that time and I did not want to leave my kids,” Givant said.

PERSONAL LIFE: The widow and grandmother of three lives in the Bensonhurst/Gravesend area.