Stephanie Chang

Before her election, Chang worked for about a decade as a community organizer in Detroit.[1] During that time, she worked for NextGen Climate Michigan as the state director, Center for Progressive Leadership in Michigan as the alumni engagement and evaluation coordinator, the James and Grace Lee Boggs School as the community engagement coordinator, the Campaign for Justice as deputy director, Michigan United as an organizer, and as an assistant to Grace Lee Boggs.[3] She is also a co-founder and past president of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote-Michigan and previously a mentor with the Detroit Asian Youth Project.[1][5][11] She also co-founded and is a board member for Rising Voices of Asian American Families. She is a board member of the Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center.

Chang became the State Representative for Michigan's House District 6 in January 2015. In her first term, she served on the Committees on Criminal Justice, Education, and Judiciary. In her second term, she served on the Committees on Education Reform, Law and Justice (where she serves as Minority Vice Chair), and Natural Resources.

Much of her legislative work is focused on air quality, affordable and safe drinking water, education and criminal justice reforms.

She was the chair of the Progressive Women's Caucus, a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Legislative Caucus, and a member of the Detroit Caucus, Michigan Democratic Latino Legislative Caucus and Michigan Legislative Black Caucus. She also served on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Local Government Advisory Committee, which provides advice and recommendations to the EPA administrator to help develop strong partnerships with local governments to deliver environmental services and programs. Chang also focuses much of her work with residents in the district with the Mary Turner Center for Advocacy, the Neighborhood Service Center, ranging from saving homes from tax foreclosure to hosting a community baby shower for low-income pregnant women.[12] In 2016 she launched the Girls Making Change fellowship, a leadership program for high school girls of color in District 6.

Chang faced Bettie Cook Scott in a Democratic Party primary for Michigan Senate District 1 on August 7, 2018, winning 49% to Cook Scott's 11%.[13] During the election, Cook Scott made racially charged comments about Chang, referring to her as "ching-chang" and "the ching-chong", but later issued an apology through a representative.[14][15][16]

Chang currently serves as State Senator for District 1 and as the Minority Floor Leader in the State Senate. She is the Minority Vice Chair for the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety and for the Committee on Finance.

She has passed legislation related to female genital mutilation, criminal justice reform, nitrous oxide "Whippits," business improvement zones, domestic violence, and reentry services for exonerees.

She secured 12 million dollars in the FY20 budget for the grade separation in Woodhaven to address trains blocking traffic. In the FY21 budget, she secured $250,000 for school air filtration systems for Detroit Public Schools Community District and $2 million for Detroit Public Television' virtual learning efforts.

She is a member of the Delray Community Advisory Group and has worked with community leaders to secure over 50 million dollars in community benefits to protect and improve the health and quality of life for residents near the Gordie Howe International Bridge.