Senator Sharif Street

Appointment by the Senate Minority Leader

Philadelphia (part) County (D)

Sharif Street Headshot

Biography:

Senator Sharif Street, elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 2016, represents the Third Senatorial District of Philadelphia, which encompasses a population of over 240,000 people in North Philadelphia, Nicetown, Roxborough, Lower Germantown, Logan, Olney, Fern Rock, Crescentville, East Oak Lane, East Wyoming, East Hunting Park and Melrose Park Garden.

As senator, Sharif is committed to growing Pennsylvania through improving access to healthcare, reforming our criminal justice system, creating quality jobs, funding our public schools, investing in science and technology and fighting for the rights of all Pennsylvanians.

An attorney by profession, he is currently a member of the American, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and National Bar Associations, as well as a member of the Philadelphia Barristers Association, for which he served as a board member in 2002.

Before being elected Senator, Sharif worked as a staffer for the Pennsylvania Senate, serving as the Chief Legislative Advisor to the Democratic Chair of the Housing and Urban Development Committee and had the primary responsibility for overseeing legislative, housing, environmental and economic development initiatives. During this time, he facilitated the creation of Philadelphia Green Communities, the first environmental educational program of its kind implemented in a major U.S. city. Sharif helped to found and served on the Board of Directors of Urban Solutions, a non-profit corporation created to address the health needs of traditionally under-served communities. He is a leader in criminal justice reform and has offered policy on the Automatic Expungement of any record the subject of a Governor’s full Pardon, and records which have received a full acquittal. He is working on parole reform, and cash bail. Senator Street serves as Democratic Chair of the Banking and Insurance Committee, sits on the Advisory Board to the Board of Pardons and holds many committee seats, including Appropriations responsible for allocating billions of dollars in state funding.

Senator Street believes that part of Pennsylvania’s strength lies in the diversity of its people, of its resources, and of its contributions to the world. But no matter how diverse our state may be, we are strongest when our divergent interests are focused to find common ground. He is married to April Street, resides in North Philadelphia and is father of 5 children.