Susan D. Alter was the first Orthodox Jewish woman elected to the City Council, representing Brooklyn's District 32. Before being elected, Alter organized a local homeowner's association, an apartment housing referral project, and the Flatbush Development Corporation, all in order to reduce her neighborhood's crime rate. Unfortunately, after she was elected Councilwoman in 1978, her husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she was unable to work for nine months. Once Alter returned to work, her first goal was to create integrated anti-crime street patrols, similar to the all women day patrols she had began not long before. Her goal was to dissolve racial stereotypes within her community by having people from all different backgrounds work together to keep the area safe, and it worked. As an Orthodox Jewish woman, Alter had to fight harder than most to gain respect from not only her Italian Catholic and Latino voters, but from her own community as well, where many believed that her political career went against their religious values. However, her persistence helped unite the Brooklyn community into what it is today.