Maria del Carmen Arroyo

Arroyo was born in Corozal, Puerto Rico, and moved to The Bronx with her family when she was seven years old. She is the daughter of Assemblywoman Carmen E. Arroyo.

She attended P.S. 154 in the South Bronx, Junior High School in Harlem, and attended two years at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan before dropping out to assist her family financially by working full-time.^[1] She did not earn her GED until she was twenty years old.

Following working as a receptionist, she enrolled at Hostos Community College, where she earned her associate degree before attending Lehman College for her bachelor's, then New York University for her Masters in Public Administration. She served as executive director at Segundo Ruiz Belvis D & TC before working as senior director of operations for the Narco Freedom, Inc, and then as volunteer executive director of the South Bronx Community Corporation.

Arroyo won the special election for her council seat in 2005 after her predecessor, Jose M. Serrano, jumped to the New York State Senate. She easily won election to a full term in 2005, and reelection in 2009 and 2013.