
3
NEW YORK CITY
RACIAL
EQUITY
PLAN
2026
4
of Equity & Racial Justice
This first-ever New York City Racial Equity Plan is dedicated to New York
City’s resilient communities whose voices have often gone unheard and
unanswered.
We honor the individuals and organizations, past and present, who have
tirelessly advocated for justice and equity—whose experiences and
insights have shaped our understanding of racism, illuminated our
City’s history of complicity, and pushed us to do better.
May this work serve as a catalyst for change, fostering a future where all
individuals can thrive in an inclusive and equitable society.
Together, we commit to listening, learning, and taking action.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
.............................................................................................................................
5
Statement from the NYC Mayor
....................................................................................................
8
Statement from NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice
.......................................................
9
Statement from NYC Chief Equity Officer & Commissioner
....................................................
10
Vision: A Path Towards Racial Equity (North Stars)
……………………………………...
11
Executive
Summary
......................................................................................................................
13
Introduction
...................................................................................................................................
21
Framework
.....................................................................................................................................
27
Citywide Goals
…………………………………………………………………………………..
30
Snapshot:
Areas
of
Focus
and
Common
Themes
.....................................................................
41
Children, Youth, Older Adults, and Families
………………………………………………
.
…
43
Administration for Children’s Services
...............................................................................................
49
Department for the Aging
......................................................................................................................
58
Department of Social Services – Human Resources Administration and Department of
Homeless Services
.................................................................................................................................
63
Department of Veterans’ Services
.......................................................................................................
71
Department of Youth and Community Development
........................................................................
73
NYC Public Schools
................................................................................................................................
77
Economy
........................................................................................................................................
88
Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
..................................................................................
94
Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
.............................................................................
98
Department of Cultural Affairs
.............................................................................................................
104
Department of Small Business Services
.............................................................................................
113
Economic Development Corporation
..................................................................................................
118
Mayor’s Office of Contract Services
.................................................................................................
..
128
Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
..................................................................................... ..
134
Housing
and
Preservation
........................................................................................................... ..
141
Department of Buildings
.................................................................................................................... ..
146
Department of City Planning
.............................................................................................................. ..
153
Department of Finance
....................................................................................................................... ..
161
6
Housing Preservation and Development
...........................................................................................
166
Landmarks Preservation Commission
..............................................................................................
173
NYC
Housing
Authority
.........................................................................................................................
179
Infrastructure and Environment
...............................................................................................
189
Business
Integrity
Commission
...........................................................................................................
197
Department of Design and Construction
..........................................................................................
202
Department of Environmental Protection
........................................................................................
208
Department of Parks and Recreation
................................................................................................
214
Department of Sanitation
...................................................................................................................
223
Department of Transportation
...........................................................................................................
234
Office
of
Technology
and
Innovation
..................................................................................................
245
Taxi
and
Limousine
Commission
.........................................................................................................
251
Health and Wellbeing
.................................................................................................................
256
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
.....................................................................................
260
NYC Health + Hospitals
.......................................................................................................................
268
Office of Chief Medical Examiner
......................................................................................................
274
Community Safety, Rights, and Accountability
......................................................................
281
Department of Correction
...................................................................................................................
285
Department of Probation
....................................................................................................................
292
Fire Department of the City of New York
..........................................................................................
302
Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice
....................................................................................................
308
NYC
Emergency
Management
..............................................................................................................
317
New York City Police Department
......................................................................................................
327
Good Governance and Inclusive Decision-Making
...............................................................
336
Civic
Engagement
Commission
...........................................................................................................
343
Commission on Human Rights
..........................................................................................................
349
Department of Citywide Administrative Services
...........................................................................
352
Department of Investigation
..............................................................................................................
359
Department of Records and Information Services
.........................................................................
363
Law
Department
...................................................................................................................................
370
Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget
.....................................................................................
374
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings
...................................................................................
380
7
Office of Labor Relations
.....................................................................................................................
387
Looking
Ahead
.............................................................................................................................
393
Acknowledgments
.....................................................................................................................
402
Appendix
.....................................................................................................................................
407
Appendix A: Glossary
............................................................................................................................
407
Appendix B: Preamble and Statement of Values
.............................................................................
410
Appendix C Historical Timeline
……………………………………………………………………
412
Appendix
D:
NYC
Neighborhood
Maps
..............................................................................................
419
Appendix E: Citywide Policies on Employment
...............................................................................
424
Appendix F: Community Equity Priorities
.........................................................................................
426
End
Notes
.................................................................................................................................... ..
428
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Statement from the New York City Mayor
New York is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. But too many working people still
cannot afford rent, child care, food, transportation or even the time to spend with their
families. Those pressures do not fall evenly. They reflect decades of disinvestment,
exclusion and policy choices that have left some neighborhoods — especially Black, Brown
and immigrant communities — with far less than others.
That’s why, in 2022, New Yorkers overwhelmingly voted to make racial equity planning a
core part of how city government works. They demanded that the City take a harder look at
where inequities persist, how government contributes to them and what it will take to change
course. Today, we are releasing the Final Citywide Racial Equity Plan — New York City’s
first — and delivering on that mandate.
This plan gives City government a framework to examine how decisions about housing,
health, economic opportunity, community safety, infrastructure and public services shape
outcomes across communities. It establishes eight citywide goals, strengthens commitments
across 45 agency-specific plans and creates a clearer way to measure whether government
action is actually closing the gaps it identifies.
We built this plan alongside New Yorkers. After releasing the preliminary plan in April, the
Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice (MOERJ) held 30 days of public feedback open to
residents across all five boroughs, including 10 engagement sessions, written submissions,
and conversations with community leaders. New Yorkers asked for measurable outcomes
and a plan grounded in the conditions people actually live with. This plan reflects that.
The Commission on Racial Equity’s (CORE) preliminary plan feedback and Community
Equity Priorities have also continued to inform the planning process, with updated priorities
incorporated in this final plan.
A plan is only as strong as its follow-through. City agencies are now expected to implement
it, report on progress every two years and use it to guide policy, operations and
accountability across government. Naming disparities was never the hard part. Eliminating
them is.
New Yorkers called for a government that is more transparent, more accountable and more
responsive to the communities it serves. We intend to deliver that — and build a city where
every New Yorker has the opportunity to live with dignity and security.
Zohran K. Mamdani
Mayor
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Statement from Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice
There is no economic justice without racial equity. Too many families in our city cannot
afford the basics. And when those burdens fall hardest on communities that have faced
generations of disinvestment and exclusion, government has to do more than make broad
commitments. It has to measure the problem clearly, identify the causes honestly,
diagnose where systems are falling short or contributing to inequities and make better
decisions.
The Final Citywide Racial Equity Plan is the product of that work. It recognizes that
government is not a bystander or a monolith. City agencies now have a plan for
addressing the ways public policy, public investment and agency practice affect New
Yorkers differently across race, neighborhood, income, language, disability and
immigration status — with eight citywide goals and 45 agency-specific commitments to
track progress.
As the first Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice in our city’s history, I know we must ask —
whether the issue is jobs, small business support, housing stability, consumer protection,
health, access to arts and culture or neighborhood investment — not just whether our city
is working, but who it’s working for, who is being left out and where we need to do better.
This plan is stronger because New Yorkers helped shape it. After the preliminary plan’s
release, New Yorkers weighed in through public feedback sessions across all five
boroughs, asking for measurable outcomes and a plan built around the people most
affected by these disparities. That input is reflected in the plan we are releasing today.
Now the work shifts to implementation — and to holding agencies accountable for results.
Racial equity is not achieved by a document on a shelf. It is achieved when government
changes how it makes decisions and delivers for New Yorkers.
Julie Su
Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice
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Statement from Chief Equity Officer & Commissioner
New Yorkers have always pushed progress forward by organizing, demanding more from
their government, and challenging institutions to live up to the promise of our city. The
creation of the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice and the Citywide Racial Equity Plan
is a result of that organizing and advocacy. Through the Charter amendments approved by
New York City voters in 2022, New Yorkers made clear that racial equity must be a
responsibility of government, and that government must examine how its own systems
shape opportunity and outcomes. The release of the Final Citywide Racial Equity Plan is an
important step in fulfilling that mandate.
This plan reflects what is possible when government takes that responsibility seriously.
Hundreds of employees across 45 city agencies contributed their expertise, examined how
government systems affect New Yorkers, and identified where we must do better. I am
deeply grateful to the equity practitioners and agency partners who brought their knowledge,
commitment, and persistence to this work. This plan was also shaped by New Yorkers
themselves. Following the release of the preliminary plan, New Yorkers across all five
boroughs participated in public meetings, shared their experiences, submitted feedback, and
offered their vision for a more equitable city. I want to thank everyone who engaged in that
process. Your voices made this plan stronger and more grounded in the realities of the
communities we serve.
The work is not done. In many ways, this is where the hard work begins. The inequities we
face are rooted in decades of policies and systems that have shaped different opportunities
and outcomes across our city. A plan alone cannot undo them, and progress will not always
be easy or fast. But we cannot shy away from what is hard. This plan gives us a stronger
foundation to act, learn, measure progress, and remain accountable to the communities we
serve.
I am excited to continue this work alongside New Yorkers and every community that has
pushed our city toward greater equity. We enter this next chapter with urgency, humility, and
resolve.
Forward,
Afua Atta-Mensah, Esq.
New York City Chief Equity Officer
Commissioner, NYC Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice
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Vision: Path Towards Racial Equity (North Stars)
Imagine New York City helping every New Yorker reach their full potential. Its services
uplifting and empowering each person, reinforcing their dignity.
The Final Citywide Racial Equity Plan include “North Stars” established in the
Preliminary Plan to provide us with an aspirational long-term vision that serves to guide
the City's racial equity work.
It is grounded in a long-term vision: every person who lives in New York City should
have the opportunity to thrive, regardless of race, identity, or zip code. The Racial
Equity North Stars provide an aspirational vision and a compass for each planning
cycle. They represent where the City needs to go, independent of where it stands
today, and may evolve as the City’s understanding of racial equity and community
priorities develops.
The North Stars include:
•
Children and youth receive a quality public education that prepares them for
college and/or their career, regardless of zip code.
•
The child welfare system is equitable, prevention-oriented, and supportive of all
families.
•
No child lives in poverty and all residents have economic security.
•
All residents live in safe, dignified, and affordable housing free of hazardous
conditions.
•
All residents have access to healthy air and a sustainable living environment in
their communities.
•
All residents can live a full and healthy life regardless of identity or zip code.
•
Every resident has access to quality, reliable, and affordable connectivity – from
transportation to broadband – to freely live, work, and play in their communities
and across the City.
•
Every resident feels safe and protected in their communities, regardless of their
identity or zip code.
•
Every resident impacted by the criminal justice system can reclaim their lives.
•
All local government employees are paid equitably for their service to their City.
•
Minority-owned business enterprises are not underutilized in City contracting.
•
Local government promotes and trains its employees and contractors on anti-
racism principles to ensure its decisions do not sustain and grow historical
inequities.
•
Local government breaks down (or disaggregates) data by race, ethnicity, and
other identities to understand and act on unaddressed needs and historical
inequities impacting communities today.
•
Local government seeks equity and accessibility across City agencies and
systems.
These North Stars provide the long-term direction for the City’s racial equity work, while
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each planning cycle translates that vision into concrete goals, strategies, and measures of
progress.
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Executive Summary
A First for New York City: Why this Plan Exists
New York City's first Citywide Racial Equity Plan is a historic milestone: the first time the City has
set out, agency by agency, how it will identify and address the racial disparities embedded in
government policies, practices, and institutions.
The Plan was mandated directly by voters. In 2022, New Yorkers passed racial justice ballot
measures creating the Office of Racial Equity and requiring a citywide racial equity plan. Today's
disparities in housing, education, economic security, health, safety, transportation, and civic
participation are long-standing and have deep historical roots. They are the product of 400 years
of city history, and generations of New Yorkers have pushed their City to close the gap between its
stated values and its actions. This first-ever Racial Equity Plan places us on a path to answer that
mandate together.
We intentionally call this the first Racial Equity Plan: it marks the City’s first sustained effort to
organize 45 agencies around a shared commitment, grounded in data and community input
available today. It is not a final answer or perfect solution to racial inequity in New York City. It is a
foundation for the work ahead. The Plan is designed as a living document: it will continue to evolve
in each cycle as we measure progress, learn from implementation, and continue to incorporate
ongoing community input. This living process is part of our City’s commitment to accountability and
continuous improvement.
This plan is grounded in three foundational values from the New York City Charter’s preamble: that
our government justly values all talents and contributions; that our government ensures the
conditions of thriving for every person; and that our government embraces vigilance, remedy, and
reconstruction. In practice that means that across City agencies and systems we must examine
who is reached by policies and services, direct or redirect resources and attention to disparities
that persist, and confront the historical harm that produced those disparities, not just the symptoms
visible today. The following sections outline how we will move in this direction together.
All of Government, Moving Together
This is the largest coordinated equity planning effort in City history:
•
Forty-five City agencies, more than 200 staff involved in development
•
Seven areas of City government: Children, Youth, Older Adults & Families; Economy;
Housing and Preservation; Infrastructure and Environment; Health and Wellbeing;
Community Safety, Rights, and Accountability; and Good Governance and Inclusive
Decision-Making
•
200+ agency goals and outcomes
•
800+ implementation strategies
•
600+ indicators that will be used to track progress
These commitments span across every core lever of government: service delivery, staffing,
contracting, budgeting, and land use.
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Shaped by New Yorkers: What Changed from Preliminary to Final
On April 6, 2026, the Mayor’s Office released the Preliminary Racial Equity Plan for public review,
the first citywide racial equity plan ever made public in draft form. Over the following 30 days,
MOERJ led its first public engagement process, gathering input through an online survey, town
halls, and virtual and in-person community conversations. In total, MOERJ received hundreds of
survey responses and engaged hundreds of residents across 10 community conversations
focused on health, education, culture, and other issue areas.
The NYC Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), an independent 15-member commission that
serves as an accountability partner in the City’s racial equity planning process, also contributed by
gathering feedback from its commissioners and residents across the city, and offering
recommendations for strengthening the Plan. Together, this input helped shape a plan designed
to improve the lives of New Yorkers most affected by racial inequities.
Below are several key insights from New Yorkers on what the Preliminary Plan needed
1
:
•
Clear, cross-cutting goals connecting priorities across agencies
•
Stronger, more direct links between agency goals, outcomes, and indicators
•
Greater data disaggregation to better identify and act on racial disparities
•
Language that more accurately reflects communities' lived experience
•
The final Community Equity Priorities, as promised in the Preliminary Plan
These key insights are reflected directly in the final Racial Equity Plan. The City added the first-
ever set of Citywide goals described in this section, increased data disaggregation by race and
ethnicity, gender identity, and/or neighborhood where possible throughout, strengthened the link
between goals and outcome-connected indicators, refined language across the Plan, and
incorporated the final Community Equity Priorities. The final Plan is both a substantially larger set
of agency commitments than the preliminary version and the first iteration of a citywide framework
built directly from what New Yorkers told us.
What We’re Building Towards
The final Plan operates at two levels. First, each of the 45 agencies has its own Racial Equity
Plan, grounded in its mission, core business, and services, with indicators to measure progress.
These plans use a shared planning framework with each agency assessing its work across core
levers of government—service delivery, staffing, contracting, budgeting, and land use—crucial to
advancing racial equity and structural change.
Second, the Plan establishes eight new Citywide Goals that bring the City together around
disparities that cannot be addressed by any single agency on its own. These priorities focus
collective attention on specific outcomes and provide a clear direction for measuring progress
toward racial equity across the city. Agency plans include strategies that contribute to these goals,
alongside Administration-wide strategies that may not be represented in individual plans, together
establishing a shared commitment to racial equity in both breadth and depth. Achieving
meaningful progress will require continued coordination across agencies, communities, and
external partners, as well as new strategies and investments, and sustained action beyond a
single planning cycle.
1
This is not an exhaustive list.
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Equity in Action: Agency-Level Commitments
Agency-level commitments illustrate how racial equity is being embedded into the daily work of
government, not treated as a separate initiative. Guided by our foundational values and a shared
planning framework, agencies use short-, medium-, and long-term goals to work towards
reforming core services, targeting investments, addressing historical harms, and more.
Full agency-level goals, strategies, and indicators are available in each agency's individual plan.
•
Advancing pay equity
o
Department of Citywide Administrative Services:
Conduct a citywide pay equity
analysis of selected civil service job titles and develop recommendations to
address identified disparities.
o
Office of Management and Budget:
Advance pay equity across all roles to
address the effects of occupational segregation and gender discrimination.
•
Building disaggregated data and analytics
o
Department of Correction:
Build and improve data pipelines to be
disaggregated by various demographics, like race, age, and gender identity to
identify disparities in service provision.
o
Department of Sanitation:
Establish baseline datasets for diversion,
containerization, and commercial waste reform to measure progress over time,
better understand impacts across neighborhoods and historically underserved
communities, and support data-driven decision making and community
response.
•
Dedicated commitment to language access & plain language:
o
Civic Engagement Commission:
Reduce language barriers for voters who
prefer interpreter assistance in elections to increase voting participation.
o
Mayor’s Office of Contract Services:
Expand and standardize the use of plain
language across NYC contracting and PASSPort resources so vendors can
more easily understand how to do business with NYC and identify opportunities
that align with the offerings they provide.
o
Taxi Limousine Commission:
Address digital and language access barriers
faced by TLC-licensed drivers and the public in navigating agency services.
•
Centering community voice and advancing equitable outcomes
o
Department of City Planning:
Support communities by advocating for community
needs and capital investment in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty and
historic segregation.
•
Centering innovation, prevention, and pilot programs
o
Department of Finance
: Through the newly formed Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft
Prevention, decrease incidents of deed theft and fraud.
o
Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice:
Direct prevention and supportive-service
strategies toward communities disproportionately affected by violence, enforcement,
and chronic disinvestment.
•
Pursuing compliance and analyzing the impact of fees and fines
o
Department of Transportation:
Review the impact of NYC DOT’s
transportation-related fees, fines, and enforcement programs on different
communities for any racial and ethnic disparities.
•
Guiding investment into historically underserved communities
o
Department of Youth and Community Development:
Prioritize
investments in communities with the highest needs using a data driven
approach, applying DYCD’s equitable investment methodology to 100% of
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City Tax Levy (CTL) funded DYCD programs.
o
Department of Environmental Protection:
Prioritize agency investment in
resilience projects for communities disproportionately impacted by flooding to
better protect them from becoming more vulnerable to climate change.
•
Pursuing structural and systemic reform
o
Fire Department for the City of New York:
Analyze Citywide medical emergency
response times alongside neighborhood demographics to assess potential racial
disparities and identify opportunities for resource allocation or reallocation to ensure
equitable service delivery.
o
Office of Technology and Innovation:
Build a coordinated citywide approach to
advancing digital equity
to better align investments and improve outcomes for New
Yorkers.
o
NYC Public Schools:
Ensure all students experience equitable, safe, and culturally
responsive learning environments by reducing disproportionate disciplinary practices
impacting students of color and fostering inclusive school communities.
•
Addressing historical harms and advancing equity
o
Administration for Children’s Services
: Support reduction of disproportionate
representation of Black and Latino children in foster care by protecting child and
family rights during initial contact through Front Door Notification.
2
o
Small Business Services:
Reduce racial and gender wealth gaps/disparities that
stem from the historical harms from cannabis prohibition through entrepreneurship
opportunities.
•
Reducing affordability barriers and increasing economic stability
o
Housing and Preservation Department:
Increase share of affordable homes
financed in Limited Affordability Areas (LAAs) in alignment with the goals of
Where
We Live NYC
, relative to total new construction housing production.
o
Department of Consumer and Worker Protection:
Increase access to Free Tax
Prep and critical tax credits and refunds to keep money in the pockets of working
families, lower filing costs, and support low-income communities in progressing
towards meeting the city’s True Cost of Living.
o
Department of Social Services:
Advance equitable access to benefits, services,
and employment opportunities that reduce economic instability, with a focus on
closing employment disparities for clients from underserved communities including
Black and Latino clients.
A Citywide Undertaking - How the Citywide Goals Were Developed
The first full set of Citywide cross-cutting goals were not the starting point in this first cycle. The
first-ever Preliminary Plan started by establishing overarching North Stars as a preliminary
citywide framework and agencies spent time developing individual plans and goals, based on a
shared racial equity framework, as well as their core business and services. This provided the
public with an important opportunity to engage with the preliminary citywide framework alongside
agency plans and provide input to further shape more detailed citywide goals. Leveraging
feedback from the Preliminary Racial Equity Plan, the Mayor’s Office further articulated that
citywide framework into a shared layer of cross-cutting priorities that connect agency-level work
and focus attention on addressing disparities that no single agency can solve alone. The eight
goals below are the product of that process.
The
Citywide goals are cross-cutting, aim to provide a shared direction, and serve as an
initial set of priorities
.
They are not an exhaustive list of all disparities or all of the work ahead to
advance towards our vision for racial equity. They complement agency plans; they do not replace
17
them. Agencies remain fully accountable for every goal, outcome, strategy, and indicator in their
own plans, including priorities the cross-cutting goals do not capture. Where an agency's work is
relevant to and helps advance a cross-cutting goal, that connection is called out, creating two
levels of accountability: agencies for their own commitments and the City overall for the eight
shared goals in this section.
Progress for each of these goals will be monitored using available data by race, ethnicity,
neighborhood, and/or other categories, where data are consistently available. Where needed, we
will work to strengthen data systems and build capacity to disaggregate data more consistently.
Citywide Goals
1. Connectivity
Goal:
By 2034, increase home broadband adoption in the most under-connected
neighborhoods, with data disaggregated by neighborhood.
•
Reliable, affordable internet is essential to employment, education, health care, and
easier access to government services, yet roughly 25% of households lack a home
broadband subscription and the percentage is even higher in Black, Latino, low income,
and older adult households. For some neighborhoods – many in the Bronx and high
poverty areas – nearly 40% of households do not have high speed broadband
subscription. Led by the Office of Technology and Innovation, with support from
agencies including HPD and NYCHA and community institutions, this goal focuses
resources on neighborhoods with the greatest home broadband adoption gaps so that
where a New Yorker lives does not determine their access to opportunity.
2. Unemployment
Goal:
By 2034, reduce unemployment rates for Black, Latino, and Asian American populations
relative to 2026 rates, including but not limited to by improving workforce development program
outcomes.
•
Citywide economic growth does not benefit all New Yorkers equally. This goal aims
to address documented racial disparities in unemployment through a range of
strategies over time, including investments in economic mobility and workforce
development, targeted supports for people facing elevated barriers to education and
employment, as well as efforts to modernize outdated requirements for City jobs
while maintaining essential job qualifications. Key agencies include NYC EDC, SBS,
DSS, NYCHA, and DCAS, among others.
Our city has an interest in addressing demonstrated disparities and an obligation to know
where disparities are growing. We will work to ensure that economic growth that creates
good jobs is widely shared and will work to use all available levers to address the myriad
reasons for unequal unemployment outcomes, including discrimination, occupational
segregation, and systemic exclusion from opportunity. At the same time, we know that
broader economic conditions (e.g. recessions, labor-market shifts, changes in federal policy)
impact the availability of jobs, the rise and fall of unemployment rates, and our ability to
address disparities.
18
3. Housing
Goal:
By 2034, address racial disparities in rent burden and homelessness by dramatically
increasing the production of new affordable housing opportunities in New York City.
•
Decades of policies and procedures have prevented the equitable development of
affordable housing across the five boroughs, leading to an extreme shortage of available
homes and some of the nation’s highest housing prices. This crisis
affects the daily lives
of nearly all New Yorkers, but it has particularly strong
impact on Black and Latino New
Yorkers. Through the Mayor’s
Block by Block
housing plan, the City is using an all-of-
the-above approach to increase affordable housing opportunities for households seeking
to move and for households seeking to stay in their neighborhoods. In addition to
tracking growth in the production of affordable housing, the City will also continue to
evaluate the racial and ethnic composition of applicants to the City’s affordable housing
lotteries and the dynamics of neighborhood change through its fair housing planning
processes.
Ultimately, this goal expands the availability of affordable housing across the city and works to
tackle disparities in rent burden and homelessness, so New Yorkers can live in housing they
can afford and are better positioned to meet other essential needs. Key agencies include HPD
and DCP, with supporting agencies such as DSS, among others.
4. Early Childhood Education
Goal:
By 2034, reduce achievement gaps and racial disparities in literacy, numeracy, and
social-emotional development for students by expanding and improving early childhood
education and promoting job quality for childcare workers.
5. K-12 Education
Goal:
By 2034, increase the number of integrated NYC public schools with sufficient and stable
enrollment, equitable access to academic programs and services, and culturally responsive and
adaptive leadership that improve student belonging, engagement, and equitable academic
outcomes for Black and Latino students, multi-lingual learners, students with disabilities, and
other historically underserved communities.
Long-standing disparities in education have persisted in our city and they are heavily shaped by
our city’s history of residential and school. Led by NYCPS, these goals aim to:
•
Ensure every child accesses high-quality early learning and all the supports that
embrace their uniqueness and allow them to thrive. This means stronger educational
foundations, diverse learning experiences, and a well-supported early childhood
workforce.
•
Expand access to integrated schools while ensuring equitable access to strong
academic programs, culturally responsive education, supportive student services, and
opportunities to thrive.
19
6. Transportation
Goal: By 2034, reduce racial disparities in transportation access by prioritizing faster, more
reliable and accessible bus service in Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE)
neighborhoods and communities experiencing the greatest transportation burdens.
•
When New Yorkers don’t have access to reliable transportation, it limits access to
employment, education, health care, and other opportunities and influence economic
mobility. This goal aims to reduce racial disparities in transportation by prioritizing faster,
more reliable and accessible bus service in communities that have faced some of the
greatest transportation and economic burdens. The Administration’s
Fast Buses, Better
Service
plan centers racial equity by directing investment toward 50 priority corridors
where need is highest, many of which serve neighborhoods with limited transportation
alternatives, and 34 of which serve TRIE neighborhoods.
7. Justice System Contact
Goal:
By 2034, reduce the jail population, which is disproportionately comprised of New Yorkers
of color, and operationalize smaller borough-based jail facilities.
•
Black and Latino New Yorkers are disproportionately represented in the justice system,
making up approximately 88% of the population in custody. This goal aims to reduce
unnecessary incarceration and help those who are jailed remain connected to their
children, families, and communities. This also allows people to receive other everyday
support vital to their stability, including employment, housing and health care. The
borough-based facilities and therapeutic hospital beds aim to strengthen community
connections by keeping people closer to their homes, building bridges to local networks
and improving access to services. Key agencies include DOC as well as supporting
agencies like MOCJ and DOP, among others.
8. Health
Goal
: By 2034, improve pregnancy-related health outcomes for Black New Yorkers, including
but not limited to reducing Black maternal mortality, with progress monitored by race and
ethnicity.
•
Pregnancy and childbirth should be safe for everyone, yet Black women and Black
pregnant people experience substantially higher rates of maternal mortality, severe
maternal morbidity, and other pregnancy-related complications than white New
Yorkers. Led by DOHMH, and supported by City agency and community partners,
this goal focuses on improving access to timely, respectful, and high-quality care
before, during, and after pregnancy, while ensuring continuous pathways to
affordable primary, preventative, and specialty care.
From Plan to Practice
This Plan is a foundation for sustained action, not an endpoint, and its success will be judged by
what actually changes for New Yorkers, not by the existence of the Plan itself.
20
Key requirements for implementation include the following:
•
Continued coordination across all 45 agencies and with MOERJ
•
Alignment of resources and budget decisions, including embedding equity in budgeting
through appropriate processes, to support the goals in this Plan
•
Stronger, more consistent, and more disaggregated data across systems
•
Ongoing, meaningful community engagement, not a one-time input period
•
Regular assessment of whether strategies are producing real results, with course
correction where they are not
City agencies, with guidance and standards from MOERJ, will use their own goals, strategies, and
indicators to track progress. MOERJ, through direct support of Equity Planning Managers as well
as agency leadership vision, will provide support, tools, training, and technical assistance
throughout implementation, including assisting agencies in developing templates and approaches
for data disaggregation as well as convening agencies and stakeholders to identify opportunities
for coordination and collective action.
MOERJ will also work with agencies to recommend changes to existing policies and develop new
policies that can fundamentally address and transform the systems and institutions in which racial
disparities are embedded. In partnership with City agencies, MOERJ will be responsible for
continuing to refine the plan every two years, reporting on City progress, incorporating new data,
priorities, lessons learned, and continued input from New Yorkers into each planning cycle.
Ultimately, advancing racial equity requires the City to look beyond whether programs and
initiatives exist and ask whether they are changing outcomes. The Citywide Racial Equity Plan
establishes that expectation: to identify disparities, act on their underlying causes, measure
progress transparently, and remain accountable to the communities the City serves each day.
21
Introduction
Over the course of its history, New York City has been at the forefront of advancing racial
equity in the U.S. – shaping pivotal moments of progress while also facing backlash and
setbacks along the way. It has been a historical and present battleground to a clash of ideas
and a symbol of the arc of justice within United States history in confronting the
contradictions of our declared values, creating a “values gap.” A country that proclaims “all
men are created equal…with inalienable rights…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
1
in its Declaration of Independence, is also a country which greatly profited off practices and
systems of slavery, since the founding of settlements and colonies in the 17
th
century.
New York City’s past is deeply intertwined with the structural racial inequities experienced
by its communities of color. This first-ever Citywide Racial Equity Plan comes within this
context and reflects an evolution of 400 years of history shaping how the City responds
and meets the moment of ensuring New York City centers racial equity in every facet of
life.
This report serves to contextualize the deep-rooted challenges that marginalized
communities have experienced in their lived experience, both present and past. It
provides a roadmap for the governing bodies of the City of New York to actively
acknowledge and address historical harms, and through a unified plan, move our City in
the direction of progress. Every preliminary City agency plan documented here works
together to build a strong foundation within our municipal government and outline a path
toward racial equity.
Racial Equity: A Mandate by the People, for the People, and of the
People
Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the ensuing racial reckoning and
uprisings across the nation, New York City formed the NYC Racial Justice Commission
(RJC).
A charter revision commission, the RJC was tasked with identifying and dismantling the
structural barriers to racial equity that exist within the City’s governance.
2
Following an
extensive public engagement process, the commission proposed significant changes to
the City Charter, resulting in three historic ballot measures which overwhelmingly passed in
November 2022.
These measures included:
•
Adding a
preamble
to the City Charter that recognizes and commits to clearly
outlined values and a vision for a just and equitable city for all;
•
Forming an
Office of Racial Equity
,
creating the City’s first racial equity plan, and
creating a
Commission on Racial Equity
to establish and sustain a new city
government infrastructure that advances and evaluates racial equity to ensure
accountability; and
22
•
Creating a
True Cost of Living
measure to track the cost of meeting
essential needs and thriving in NYC.
These milestones and our new charter amendments represent foundational steps in the
City’s efforts to institutionalize racial equity across City services and systems.
New York City's history is one of both progress and profound injustice. The journey
towards racial equity cannot be understood without acknowledging the pivotal moments and
themes that have brought us to the present.
1624: Settler-Colonization and Establishment of Slavery
New York’s history has been one of colonization, exploitation, and racial oppression. The
land New York City stands on today once belonged to the Lenape people, who were forcibly
displaced through settler colonialism. From the era of Dutch colonization to modern times,
systemic racism has shaped the experiences of Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian, Pacific
Islander, Middle Eastern, and other communities of color.
The story of racial injustice in New York City begins with the arrival of Dutch colonists in 1624,
who established New Amsterdam on Lenape land, part of a larger Indigenous territory
known as Lenapehoking. The Lenape people, the original stewards of this land, were
forcibly displaced by European settlers who claimed exclusive possession of the land,
devastating the local environment and using military force to assert dominance.
3,4
Prior to
Dutch settlements, the pre-colonization Lenape civilization was dense and populous, with as
many as 15,000-20,000 people living in what became the five boroughs. The Lenape built
travel and trade routes through this land, including roads that later became Broadway in
Manhattan and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Due to its strategic location, Manhattan was a
trading hub and seat of government in Lenapehoking.
As the colony expanded, the Dutch introduced slavery in 1626, using enslaved labor from
Africa to build the colony’s infrastructure. The establishment of Wall Street as a hub for
trade included the buying and selling of enslaved people, solidifying the City's role in the
Transatlantic Slave Trade and the development of the United States economy. When the
British took control of New Amsterdam in 1664, renaming it New York, they further
entrenched the system of slavery, making New York the largest slaveholding city in the
North by the early 1700s.
The era of Dutch and British colonization entrenched a system of slavery that exploited
Black labor to build much of the City's early infrastructure, including Wall Street.
5
The slave
market as we know it was deeply prominent on Wall Street. As New York transitioned into a
23
commercial and economic powerhouse, the exploitation of Black labor continued, and
racial inequities were codified in law.
In 1703, about 42 percent of the city’s housholds
6
enslaved at least one person. By 1741,
the city witnessed one of its first major uprisings of enslaved people known as the New
York Slave Rebellion, a direct response to the harsh conditions of slavery and systemic
violence. Despite the formal Wall Street slave trade ending in 1762, enslaved people were
bought and sold informally throughout the City.
Although New York formally abolished slavery in 1827, the legacy of slavery continued to
shape the City’s economy and social structures long after.
Wall Street and the Economic Legacy of Slavery in New York City
(19
th
Century)
New York’s economic rise in the 19th century was built on the backs of enslaved people and
the exploitation of Black labor. Even after slavery was abolished in the state, Black New
Yorkers continued to face systemic exclusion from economic opportunities. The legacy of
slavery persisted through Jim Crow laws, segregation, and economic disenfranchisement.
However, during this period New York also became a hub for abolitionist activities and
developing the movement. Frederick Douglass gave lectures and mobilized communities in
New York City to call for an end to slavery permanently. The Underground Railroad had
various routes and safe houses that protected enslaved people in New York, led by New
Yorkers like Harriet Tubman.
Free, Black communities like Weeksville in Brooklyn established in 1838, and Seneca
Village established in the 1820s in Manhattan, flourished as places of refuge and self-
determination. However, these communities experienced violence from governing bodies
of New York City. Seneca Village, for instance, was destroyed through eminent domain in
the 1850s to make way for Central Park, displacing free Black communities in upper
Manhattan.
Civil War: Emancipation and Draft Riots
While slavery was formally abolished in 1827, the City still played a role in facilitating
slavery in the South up until the Civil War.
The Civil War deeply divided the City of New York. In the same year that the
Emancipation Proclamation was issued, declaring enslaved people free, New York City
witnessed one of the worst draft riots in the North. Eleven Black men were lynched and
entire Black neighborhoods were destroyed, fundamentally changing how Black New
Yorkers lived and functioned in the City.
24
After the Emancipation, NYC witnessed a boom in the Reconstruction Era, developing and
building out its grid structure. With great wealth coming from new industries,
industrialization also brought great inequality, impacting who received what, how, and why.
Reconstruction also led to progressive protections and organizing with the creation of labor
unions. New York City itself hosted some of the largest labor union protests and
demonstrations.
The Great Migration and Harlem Renaissance
The Great Migration starting in the 1910s and 1920s led to a large influx of Black migrants
moving from the rural South, where Jim Crow systems dehumanized and continued to hold
systems of slavery and exploitation against Black Americans. The mass migration altered
Harlem and created the conditions for the Harlem Renaissance, a moment of great
significance where Black artists, musicians, and community members produced some of
the United States’ defining work and shaped U.S. history and culture through music, arts,
sciences, diplomacy and so much more. Despite these contributions and advancements,
the Harlem Uprisings of 1935 and 1943 signify how economic exploitation and police
brutality impeded Black liberation in New York City.
Segregation and Desegregation: The Struggle for Racial Equity
As New York City entered the 20th century, racial segregation was entrenched through
policies such as redlining, which prevented Black and immigrant communities from
accessing homeownership and financial stability. The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation
(HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) systematically denied loans to
neighborhoods with predominantly Black populations, contributing to cycles of poverty and
disinvestment that have persisted to this day.
HOLC provided map guidelines that set criteria for banks to offer mortgages. As of today,
the median household net worth of white New Yorkers is roughly $276,900, nearly 15 times
that of Black New Yorkers, $18,870.
7
Much of this stems from a housing policy meant to
privilege and favor one set of New Yorkers over another.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s saw significant victories, such as the desegregation
of public spaces and schools, but the battle for racial equity in housing, education, and
employment remained unfinished. The Civil Rights movement also ushered in advocacy for
immigration protections, leading to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of
1965 and fundamentally altering New York City’s population.
While these civil rights advancements occurred, the City of New York and its governing
bodies also played a role in the mass displacement of Black and Latino New Yorkers in the
Bronx, with the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, created by public builders.
The construction of these new highways in the 1950s and 1960s led to the mass
displacement of at least 40,000 Bronx residents, and the redlining of newly built
environments.
25
And yet, New York City agencies and bodies also played a role in the creation of human
rights laws in the 1960s, amid the broader civil rights-era movements. At the time, Black and
Puerto Rican communities strategically organized for better services and Lincoln Hospital
became an important focal point. In 1969 roughly 200 mental-health workers at the Hospital
took control of its mental-health program, demanding greater community control and in 1970
the Young Lords and allies occupied the Hospital to protest inadequate health care and
greater community control. During this period (1960s-1970s), NYC also reorganized and
expanded social services and other institutions, included the Department of Social Services
and Human Resources Administration. These developments reflect broader changes in the
city’s approach to services alongside growing pressure from communities for better services
and accountability. The Black Panther Party – which influenced the Young Lords – also built
models of mutual aid in New York City in the 1960s, including its Free Breakfast Program for
Children. Decades later, such models demonstrated the feasibility and importance of
universal free school meals and the principle that no child should go hungry.
The Modern
Era:
From
Civil
Rights
to
Black
Lives
Matter
(1960s-present)
The latter half of the 20th century saw New York City become a battleground for racial
justice.
The Civil Rights Movement brought about significant legal changes, but racial disparities
persisted. The fiscal crisis of the 1970s hit communities of color hardest, and the
introduction of punitive policing policies in the 1990s further marginalized Black and Latino
communities. This led to mass incarceration and systemic over-policing, where Black and
Latino men were stopped and frisked on average three to five times more than any other
group.
More recently, the killings of Eric Garner in 2014 and George Floyd in 2020 reignited the
fight for racial justice, leading to widespread protests and a renewed focus on systemic
racism in policing, housing, education, and health care. The Black Lives Matter movement
has galvanized a new generation of activists, who continue to demand not only the end of
police violence, but also the dismantling of all forms of systemic racism that pervade every
aspect of life in New York City.
This has all led us to the creation of this moment, right here, right now, to operationalize
racial equity into every aspect of City life.
27
Framework
Building a Framework for Citywide Racial Equity Planning
Following the passage of the 2022 racial justice ballot measures—including the creation of
the City’s first-ever Citywide Racial Equity Plan—the City established the Mayor’s Office of
Equity & Racial Justice (MOERJ) in October 2023 to build the foundation for this work and
advance a vision of government guided by racial justice.
In developing this framework, the City drew lessons from nearly a dozen localities that have
undertaken racial equity planning, including Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago. New York
City also recognized the unique opportunity and responsibility created by its Charter to
establish, implement, and sustain a citywide process for addressing systemic inequities
through concrete goals, strategies, and structural reforms.
To help guide this work, the City convened a Racial Equity Advisory Board of nonprofit
leaders, civil rights advocates, and former government leaders with experience in
community engagement and municipal operations. The Board helped shape the citywide
planning process, which supported 45 City agencies and entities in developing their first
preliminary racial equity plans.
The framework is grounded in the foundational values established in the Charter’s
preamble, which declares New York City a multiracial democracy and sets out three core
values:
•
Our government justly values all talents and contributions.
•
Our government ensures the conditions of thriving for every person.
•
Our government embraces vigilance, remedy, and reconstruction.
8
These values guide how City agencies understand their role in advancing racial equity and
transforming government.
To put these values into practice, MOERJ worked with agencies to establish cross-
divisional racial equity planning teams. More than 200 City agency leaders participated in
full-day onboarding workshops covering the Charter amendments, structural racism and
government transformation, disaggregated data, community equity priorities developed by
the Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), and tools and technical assistance available to
planning teams.
Across the plans, four elements are central to the framework: acknowledging the past,
setting measurable goals, developing strategies, and measuring results. Agencies were
guided to establish two-, four-, and ten-year goals, outcomes, strategies, and indicators
designed to improve equity outcomes for New Yorkers and drive lasting structural change.
These efforts focus on core levers of government, including budgeting, staffing, service
delivery, and contracting, to embed racial equity into how government operates.
28
Building a Shared Language Towards Racial Equity
Shared language is critical when we are working to acknowledge and act on long
histories of exclusion and marginalization in relation to identity. While a full list of terms
and concepts important to this Racial Equity Plan is described in the Glossary found in
Appendix A, below are foundational definitions.
As you read in these pages, it is important to acknowledge and understand that there
are different forms of
racism
frequently interacting and functioning at the same time.
The term racism can describe the idea that a particular racial group is better than others
and is commonly recognized as an individual or group’s negative beliefs and/or
behavior towards others motivated by such ideas (
interpersonal
). But, just as often, it
refers to policies and practices that create unequal outcomes, whether or not those
institutions intend to do so (
institutional
), existing inequities that spread within a
system of various institutions (
systemic
), as well as different systems that interact to
perpetuate widespread racial inequality (
structural
).
We define
racial equity
to refer to an outcome, the achievement of equity with a
particular focus on race, or the intersection of race with other characteristics of identity.
Working toward
racial equity
means the intentional closing of gaps in policy, practice,
and allocation of city resources through the prioritization of access, opportunities, and
resources to those people and communities who, based on or at least in part due to race,
have historically faced or currently face marginalization or oppression, underinvestment,
disinvestment, or under-resourcing. The practice of racial equity strives to build a city in
which outcomes for every group are just as strong as they are for white New Yorkers, so
that all New Yorkers, including Black people, Latino people, Asian people, Indigenous
people, and other people of color, can thrive.
The term
disparity
means a lack of equality and is used in this plan to refer to a
disparity between the experiences, circumstances, or outcomes of white New Yorkers and
New Yorkers of color except where the context indicates otherwise. For example, Black
New Yorkers have the lowest life expectancy among racial/ethnic groups at 76.1 years, while
white New Yorkers have the highest at 81.8 years.
10
Racial disparities can demonstrate
unequal treatment and/or access for people of color, often rooted in historical discriminatory
policies and practices within institutions, regardless of whether an institution and its actors
intend to discriminate or not. These disparities are perpetuated – and in some cases,
exacerbated – because they spread and are deeply embedded within a single system (e.g.
health care) and interact across systems (e.g. housing, education, health care).
Racial disparities can be found in virtually all facets of society, including government
services and outcomes in various issue areas, including but not limited to health,
education, public safety, environment, infrastructure, housing, and economic wellbeing.
Disparities compound over time within and across systems. It takes significant,
meaningful, and consistent work and resource allocation by various actors to undo and
repair them.
When referencing a
diverse workforce
, we are referring to one that includes people
29
with a broad variety of backgrounds and experiences, relating to a wide range of
characteristics, such as (among other things) race, national origin, gender (including
gender identity), economic status, education institutions attended, family circumstances,
languages spoken, neighborhood(s) of residence, cultural awareness, challenges faced,
and prior work experiences.
These terms are crucial to building a shared language together to actively and tangibly
advance racial equity for the City and create an equity-based approach to our
methodology.
30
Citywide Racial Equity Goals
The Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan established a foundation for racial equity
planning across New York City government. Forty-five City agencies developed more than
200 goals, along with more than 800 strategies and 600 indicators to track progress.
Together, these agency-level commitments identify the many ways that City policies,
programs, services, investments, and internal systems can affect racial disparities—either
by reducing them or reinforcing them.
New Yorkers were clear in their feedback. They wanted an answer to a simple question:
how will this work improve the conditions people experience in their daily lives, particularly
in communities most affected by inequities and structural racism? The Final Plan responds
with an initial set of Citywide Racial Equity Goals, built from the Plan's North Stars—a long-
term vision for racial equity shared earlier in the plan—and shaped by New Yorkers’ desire
to see a plan that speaks to lived experience.
These goals do not replace agency-level goals, and no single agency can advance them
alone. They are this first Racial Equity Plan’s shared goals which speak to conditions we
are collectively working to change.
These goals are intended to be directional. They identify an initial set of key areas where
the City will work together to improve conditions, reduce disparities, and establish a
measurable trajectory for progress. They also recognize that racial inequities are the result
of complex and longstanding conditions that cannot be changed through the actions of a
single agency or strategy. The goals therefore serve as a commitment to sustained action:
to measure disparities, understand where government can make a difference, change
policies and practices when they are not producing equitable outcomes, and hold ourselves
accountable for whether conditions are improving over time. This approach reflects the
central purpose of the Racial Equity Plan—to move beyond naming inequity and toward
changing how government makes decisions, allocates resources, delivers services, and
measures results.
The eight goals included in this section, spanning connectivity, employment, housing,
justice system contact, education, transportation, and health, are intentionally cross-cutting:
each draws on relevant work from multiple agency plans as well as other existing City
strategies and requires coordination across government. They represent a starting point for
action, investment, and adaptation over time, recognizing that meaningful progress will
require sustained work beyond a single racial equity planning cycle.
Connectivity
Goal:
By 2034, increase home broadband adoption in the most under-connected
neighborhoods, with data disaggregated by neighborhood.
31
By the Numbers
:
•
Approximately 25% of NYC households, roughly 981,000, lack a home broadband
subscription, with even higher rates among Black, Hispanic, low-income, and older
adult households.
•
For some neighborhoods – particularly in the Bronx and other high poverty
communities – nearly 40% of households do not have high speed broadband
subscription.
•
Over one third of households headed by Black or Hispanic New Yorkers and nearly
half of low income and older adult households are not fully connected (home
broadband subscription and mobile broadband).
•
Citywide, approximately 75% of households have full connectivity.
What This Means for New Yorkers
Reliable, affordable internet is essential for finding a job, attending school, seeing a doctor,
and accessing government services more easily. Yet access often still depends heavily on
where you live. This goal targets the specific neighborhoods with the lowest connectivity,
so that no New Yorker's zip code determines their access to opportunity.
This goal and the work documented in this plan is a steppingstone, and we recognize that
reaching and sustaining true digital equity in the most under-connected neighborhoods will
require continued investment, support, and ongoing work.
REP highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI): Publish a citywide Internet Access
and Adoption Plan, connect 90%+ of NYCHA households to free home internet
by 2028, and allocate $2.4 million in Public Computer Centers offering digital-
skills and online-safety training.
Connectivity is anchored primarily in OTI's REP, but this goal's reach is supported by
collaboration with partner agencies (HPD, NYCHA) and community institutions promoting
uptake of these programs among residents.
Unemployment
Goal:
By 2034, reduce unemployment rates for Black, Latino, and Asian American
populations relative to 2026 rates, including but not limited to by improving workforce
development program outcomes.
32
By the Numbers
2
:
•
Citywide unemployment is 5.2%, but the racial disparity is profound: Black New
Yorkers face 8.5% unemployment, more than three times the white
unemployment rate of 2.5%.
•
Latino unemployment is 6.8%, more than double the white unemployment rate.
•
The unemployment rate for Asian New Yorkers is 4.9%, nearly double the white
unemployment rate and trending upward.
What This Means for New Yorkers
A resilient citywide economy can mask gaps and obscure who benefits from it. The
unemployment rate for Black, Latino, and Asian American New Yorkers is higher than that
for white New Yorkers. This goal tackles that inequity head-on, so the City stays honest
about whether economic opportunity is reaching Black, Latino, and Asian American New
Yorkers in addition to white New Yorkers.
Our city has an interest in addressing demonstrated disparities and an obligation to
know where disparities are changing. We will work to ensure that economic growth that
creates good jobs is widely shared and use all available levers to address the myriad
reasons for unequal unemployment outcomes, including discrimination, occupational
segregation, and systemic exclusion from opportunity. At the same time, we know that
broader economic conditions (e.g. recessions, labor-market shifts, changes in federal
policy, etc.) impact the availability of jobs, the rise and fall of unemployment rates, and
our ability as a City to address disparities.
REP highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
Small Business Services (SBS): Connect people from economically
disadvantaged communities with high unemployment to quality workforce
services, with a goal of registering 5,000 jobseekers in the Workforce1 system
by 2028.
•
NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA): Expand resident connection to high-quality
employment and educational services to increase opportunities for underserved
low-income, primarily black and brown communities, including Childcare
Business Pathways Program, NYCHA Residency Training Academy
construction track, and more.
•
NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC): Expand access to career
pipelines that lead to long-term economic mobility for underserved communities,
including investing $2 million in economic mobility networks in Sunset Park and
2
Data reflects unemployment for the second quarter (Q2) of 2026.
33
Hunts Point and grow financial investment in workforce and entrepreneurship
programs to $7 million by 2028.
•
Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS): Review approximately
150 civil service titles by 2028 to reform outdated minimum-qualification
requirements that screen out qualified candidates.
Housing
Goal:
By 2034, address racial disparities in rent burden and homelessness by dramatically
increasing the production of new affordable housing opportunities in New York City.
By the Numbers:
•
Approximately 70% of New Yorkers in low-income, renter households are Black or
Latino.
•
36% of Black- or Latino-headed households are severely rent burdened, meaning
they pay at least 50% of their income each month toward rent, compared with 28%
of white-headed and 29% of Asian-headed households. Latino-headed households
have the highest overall rent-burden rate, meaning they pay at least 30% of their
income each month toward rent, at 59%.
•
People of color, particularly Black and Latino New Yorkers, are overrepresented
among people experiencing homelessness in our city, underscoring racial and
economic inequities and disparities in access to affordable and supportive housing.
•
In recent years, the vast majority (83%) of New Yorkers who have received City-
financed, new construction homes have been people of color – approximately 35%
Black, 32% Latino, 10% Asian, and 6% multi-racial.
What This Means for New Yorkers
Decades of policies and procedures have prevented the equitable development of
affordable housing across the five boroughs, leading to an extreme shortage of available
homes and some of the nation’s highest housing prices.
The most recent NYC Housing
and Vacancy Survey found a rental vacancy rate of 1.4%, the lowest in half a century, and
a mere 0.4% for the lowest-rent apartments were available. This crisis
affects the daily
lives of nearly all New Yorkers, but it has particularly strong
impact on low-income
households, who are
disproportionately
Black and Latino.
Through the Mayor’s
Block by Block
housing plan, the City is using an all-of-the-above
approach to increase affordable housing opportunities for households seeking to move
and for households seeking to stay in their neighborhoods. In addition to tracking growth in
the production of affordable housing, the City will also continue to evaluate the racial and
ethnic composition of applicants to the City’s affordable housing lotteries and the dynamics
34
of neighborhood change through its fair housing planning processes. For example, when
looking back at the decade from 2010 to 2020, the Department of City Planning found that
the neighborhoods with the highest
housing growth rates also experienced the highest
population gains among Black and Latino New Yorkers, while the neighborhoods with the
lowest
housing growth rates experienced Black population loss.
REP highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
Department of City Planning (DCP): Advance fair housing growth by implementing
the 2025 Charter Revision Commission amendments, which will permit the creation
of affordable housing in community districts that historically excluded New Yorkers
who have experienced economic or racial marginalization.
•
Housing Preservation and Development (HPD): Increase the share of affordable
homes financed in areas with limited affordable housing options by prioritizing
affordable housing financing projects that combat segregation and foster inclusive
communities.
•
DCP: Implement the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, which replaces
outdated zoning laws with equitable policies that promote affordable housing,
particularly in neighborhoods that have not produced significant new housing in
recent decades, by creating additional zoned capacity for 82,000 homes.
•
HPD: Publish the first Fair Housing Growth Strategy, in accordance with Local Law
167 of 2023, which will set housing production targets across the city and for each
community district, with the greatest growth changes identified in the community
districts that have grown the least over the past decade. The plan will also identify
obstacles to achieving these targets and strategies to overcome them.
•
Department of Social Services (DSS/HRA/DHS): Create 1,000 deeply affordable
homes through the Affordable Housing Services program by the end of 2026,
helping extremely low-income households afford permanent housing.
Early and K-12 Education
Goal:
By 2034, reduce achievement gaps and racial disparities in literacy, numeracy, and
social-emotional development for students by expanding and improving early childhood
education and promoting job quality for childcare workers.
Goal:
By 2034, increase the number of integrated NYC public schools with sufficient and
stable enrollment, equitable access to academic programs and services, and culturally
responsive and adaptive leadership that improve student belonging, engagement, and
equitable academic outcomes for Black and Latino students, multi-lingual learners, students
with disabilities, and other historically underserved communities.
35
By the Numbers:
•
Approximately 80% of households in New York City cannot afford child care, and
affording care is often more challenging for Black and Hispanic households who on
average earn less than the median income.
•
Racial and economic segregation across NYC schools exacerbates disparities in
access to high-quality learning opportunities, with inequities intersecting across race,
poverty, disability, and English learner status.
•
In the 2025-26 school year, Citywide proficiency among students in grades 3-8 was
50.3% in ELA and 57% in math, but racial disparities persist.
o
ELA and math proficiency among Black and Latino students was substantially
lower than among white and Asian students, with proficiency gaps of roughly
24-36 percentage points across the two subjects and racial and ethnic
groups.
What This Means for New Yorkers
Long-standing disparities in education have persisted in our city and they are heavily
shaped by our City’s history of residential and school. These goals aim to:
•
Ensure that every child has access to high-quality early learning and all the supports
that embrace their uniqueness and allow them to thrive. This means stronger
educational foundations, diverse learning experiences, and a well-supported early
childhood workforce.
•
Advance educational equity by increasing access to integrated schools and
equitable access to strong academic programs, supportive student services, and
opportunities to thrive. In addition, emphasize culturally responsive education,
student belonging, and leadership practices to recognize the value of students’
racial, cultural, linguistic, and other identities.
Existing and future investments focused on these priorities can help address disparities
before they widen, strengthen academic foundations, and improve a student’s ability to
succeed in school and life.
REP highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
NYC Public Schools (NYCPS):
o
Successfully launch 2-K programming to serve 2,000 students in five selected
school districts, building the foundation for further expansion in SY 2027-28,
and broadening 3-K capacity to elevate the number of families that have
reasonable travel from home to school.
o
Implement an evidence-based curriculum and culturally responsive
assessment systems and strengthen community-based partnerships,
36
providing targeted support for new providers, and designing professional
learning for diverse models and communities.
o
Five school districts will hold superintendent-led working groups in fall of
2026, bringing together school leaders, educators, families, students, and
community partners to examine enrollment, student demographic, program
access, and academic data and develop locally driven proposals to better
align school programs, enrollment, and resources to advance integration and
equitable access to opportunity.
o
All 32 school districts will have superintendent-led working groups by fall of
2028, implementing locally driven strategies to advance integrated,
sustainably enrolled schools and equitable access to high-quality
programming.
o
Ensure that curriculum and materials reflect the diversity of the families and
communities served in NYC, including integration of culturally relevant
curriculum such as Black Studies, Latinidad in Schools, and Hidden Voices
Resources into literacy and Social Studies instruction, accompanied by
professional learning and district support to ensure systemic equitability
across districts.
These goals are anchored in NYCPS’s work; However, their success is heavily supported
by collaboration with partner agencies and community providers.
Transportation
Goal:
By 2034, reduce racial disparities in transportation access by prioritizing faster, more
reliable and accessible bus service in Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE)
neighborhoods and communities experiencing the greatest transportation burdens.
By the Numbers:
•
Approximately 75% of bus commuters are people of color, compared with 67% of
overall New Yorkers.
•
Lower income New Yorkers ride the bus most frequently, but face slower and less
reliable service. Additionally, the city’s most bus-dependent neighborhoods have
longer commutes, fewer bus lanes, and are disproportionately majority Black and
Latino communities.
•
The average white New Yorker can reach over 990,000 jobs within a 45-min transit
commute, while Black, Latino, and Asian New Yorkers reach 44%, 22%, and 14%
fewer jobs, respectively.
•
Bus commuters also tend to have lower incomes, making reliable access to
transportation essential to employment and economic opportunities.
37
What This Means for New Yorkers
When New Yorkers don’t have access to reliable transportation, it limits access to
employment, education, health care, and other opportunities that can influence economic
mobility.
This goal focuses on reducing racial disparities in transportation access and requires
prioritizing faster, more reliable and accessible bus service within communities that have
faced some of the greatest transportation and economic burdens. By centering these
neighborhoods, the City can help remove a structural barrier to opportunity and support
pathways to greater economic stability and mobility.
The Administration’s
Fast Buses, Better Service
plan will have profound impacts on New
Yorkers of color by directing investment toward 50 priority corridors where need is highest,
many of which serve neighborhoods with limited transportation alternatives, and 34 of which
serve TRIE neighborhoods.
Highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
Increase access to fast and reliable bus service by prioritizing priority bus corridor
infrastructure—including dedicated bus lanes, busways, transit signal priority, queue
jumps, and other treatments—in TRIE neighborhoods and corridors that provide
critical connections to those communities.
•
Improve the bus-rider experience in TRIE communities by pairing priority bus
corridor investments with accessible bus stops, shelters, seating, lighting, real-time
passenger information, safe pedestrian connections, accessible boarding
infrastructure, and more.
•
Strengthen partnerships with CBOs and residents in TRIE neighborhoods by giving
bus riders, youth, older adults, and other community stakeholders a meaningful role
in identifying bus needs, shaping project proposals, and evaluating outcomes.
•
Measure whether faster buses reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in
transportation access by tracking travel time, reliability, wait times, bus speeds,
accessibility, and connections to jobs with data disaggregated by neighborhood and
demographic characteristics
.
This goal is anchored in DOT’s work; However, their success is heavily supported by
collaboration with City and community partners, including the Office of Mass Engagement
(OME).
38
Justice System Contact
Goal:
By 2034, reduce the jail population, which is disproportionately comprised of New
Yorkers of color, and operationalize smaller borough-based jail facilities.
By the Numbers:
•
There are approximately 6,542 people in custody (6,767 on 1/1/26)
•
83% of people in custody are pre-trial.
•
The median length of stay is approximately 138 days and the average length of stay
is approximately 251 days.
•
Approximately 88% of the population are Black/African American and
Hispanic/Latino (55.9% and 32.1%, respectively)
What This Means for New Yorkers
This goal focuses on reducing the number of people who are jailed and how long they
spend in jail, a change that would significantly impact Black and Brown communities given
the disproportionate representation of Black and Latino people among those in custody, the
negative impact it has on their employment, housing, and health, and the intergenerational
trauma it causes. This goal aims to reduce unnecessary incarceration and help those who
are jailed remain connected to their children, families, and communities, as well as
everyday supports vital to their stability, including employment, housing and health care.
For those who are held, the borough-based facilities and therapeutic hospital beds aim to
strengthen community connections by keeping people closer to their homes, building
bridges to local networks, and improving access to services.
Taken together, existing and future strategies can reduce the harm caused by unnecessary
incarceration, strengthen the services and support that produce stability, and help prevent
future contact with the justice system.
Progress will be tracked by race and ethnicity, including changes in the number of people
of color in custody, disparities in length of stay, and other measures of justice-system
involvement.
REP highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
Department of Correction (DOC): Center community voices to inform design,
improvement of operations, and overall human experience in all borough-based jail
facilities as well as operationalize all facilities, centering safety and well-being for
those in custody and staff through space for quality education, health, and
therapeutic programming.
•
Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ): Work to ensure equitable access to
outcomes from City-funded programs, including diversion and alternatives to
incarceration, supporting the overall goal of expanding diversion opportunities and
39
reducing racial disparities. A focus on measuring diversion program utilization and
disaggregated participant outcomes helps understand whether eligible young people
are accessing and benefiting from opportunities equitably.
Health
Goal
: By 2034, improve pregnancy-related health outcomes for Black New Yorkers,
including, but not limited to, reducing Black maternal mortality, with progress monitored by
race and ethnicity.
By the Numbers:
•
In 2017, NYC DOHMH recorded 284 cases of severe maternal morbidity
3
for every
10,000 live births. Black women experienced the highest rate of severe maternal
morbidity, at 457 cases per 10,000 births.
•
Black women and pregnant people were four times more likely to die from
pregnancy-associated causes than white women and pregnant people.
•
The five-year pregnancy-associated mortality ratio for Black women and pregnant
people was 127.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, compared with 52.3
citywide—about 2.4 times the citywide rate.
•
In 2022, 28 of the city's 66 pregnancy-associated deaths (42.4%) were among Black
New Yorkers, despite Black New Yorkers accounting for 17.5% of live births.
What This Means for New Yorkers
Pregnancy and childbirth should be safe for everyone, yet persistent racial disparities
demonstrate this is not the reality for Black people. Structural racism, longstanding
inequities, and disparities in access to and quality of care contribute to inequitable
outcomes. This includes maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, pregnancy and
childbirth complications, and other serious health consequences.
This goal is about making sure Black New Yorkers get safe, timely, quality, and respectful
care before, during, and after pregnancy, because no one should have to face preventable
long-term health consequences or death as a result of pregnancy or childbirth. This
includes continuous pathways to affordable primary, preventative, and specialty care.
Progress will be monitored by race and ethnicity across key pregnancy-related health
outcomes, including maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. Data should help us
understand whether interventions are working, where gaps in care persist, and if strategies
need to be adjusted to improve outcomes for Black people.
3
Defined as life-threatening complications of labor and delivery that result in significant short- or long-term
consequences to a woman or pregnant person’s health.
40
REP highlighted strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
•
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH): Invest in place-based
approaches that reduce health care segregation and improve access to care, and to
work directly with the communities most affected to improve the quality of pregnancy
and postpartum care.
•
NYC Health and Hospitals (H+H): Work to increase the number of uninsured New
Yorkers connected to affordable, high-quality primary, preventative, and specialty
care, regardless of their ability to pay, helping to ensure a continuous pathway to
care.
Together, these eight goals begin to translate the Racial Equity Plan's North Stars into
measurable standards of progress. They are cross-cutting and directional, providing a
foundation that can evolve over time. Advancing them will take ongoing investment,
support, as well as coordination and partnership inside and outside of government, but the
City is accountable for monitoring whether conditions are improving over time and
disparities are being addressed.
41
Snapshot: Areas of Focus and Common Themes
Background
In the City’s first-ever Citywide Racial Equity Planning process, 45 city agencies worked
with MOERJ and within their agency to build their first racial equity plan.
The core business of these 45 agencies includes one or more of the following:
•
Children, Youth, Older Adults, and Families
•
Economy
•
Housing and Preservation
•
Infrastructure and Environment
•
Health and Wellbeing
•
Community Safety, Rights, and Accountability
•
Good Governance and Inclusive Decision-Making
Goals, strategies, outcomes, and indicators varied across racial equity plans, but
common themes were established early on due to the framework that guided agencies
to not only work towards improved equity outcomes for New Yorkers, but structural
reforms that create lasting change and new norms in our City government.
Common Themes
•
Budget Reallocation
– Shifting existing resources to address equity priorities
outlined in plans
•
Equitable Service Delivery
– Analysis and reform of core services to address
racial disparities in access and/or outcomes
•
Targeted Investment
– Directing budget resources towards target
neighborhoods and/or populations historically underserved
•
Reversing Past Harms
– Specific acknowledgment of past harms and strategies
to reverse or mitigate community impact
•
Reducing Disproportionate Enforcement
– Promote preventative and
alternative actions that avoid disproportionate enforcement
•
Supporting Business Diversity
– Administering M/WBE programs to meet
City M/WBE goals identified in disparity studies in compliance with local, state,
and federal law
•
Disaggregating Data
–
Commitment to begin or expand data disaggregation
by race and other characteristics to continually identify and address inequities
•
Building Organizational Capacity & Diversity
– Diverse workplace culture and
training as well as equitable recruitment, retention, and promotion practices.
•
Advancing Pay Equity
– Analyzing and addressing equitable compensation as
well as occupational segregation
4
4
Occupational segregation is the under-representation or over-representation of a group, identified on the
basis of a shared characteristic protected by the employment related provisions of the City's human rights
law, in a position or field of work to the detriment of that group's ability to obtain higher levels of pay,
responsibility, flexibility, stability, or other indicators of job desirability.
Children, Youth,
Older Adults, and
Families
Children, Youth, Older Adults, and Families
Structural racism has profoundly impacted the opportunities available to children, youth,
older adults, and families of color across our City. Generations of discriminatory policies
and practices in education and social support have created barriers that prevent many
families from thriving. The resulting disparities leave many children, youth, older adults,
and families disproportionately impacted by poverty, instability, and limited access to
vital resources.
Inequities in Education
For children and youth in New York City, educational inequities have long been a
defining issue. The roots of these disparities trace back to the origins of free public
schooling in the early 19
th
century, where access was initially limited to white children.
Over time, racism concentrated families of color in underfunded areas, resulting in stark
contrasts in educational opportunities. Children of color continue to face barriers to
accessing quality early education, disproportionate rates of inappropriate discipline,
over-referral for special education, and lower levels of academic readiness, all of which
have profound life-long effects on students of color, limiting their career options,
earnings potential, and overall sense of well-being and happiness.
Today, over 70 years after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in
Brown v. Board of
Education
that “separate but equal” education is inherently unequal, that reality
continues to be borne out. Disparities persist even after numerous ambitious attempts to
remedy them, including court-ordered school desegregation orders, federal Title I
funding aimed at narrowing school budget gaps, the bipartisan No Child Left Behind
legislation early in this century, and innovations like school vouchers and charter
schools. A McKinsey & Company analysis shows that, at the pre-pandemic pace,
achieving educational parity would take between 60 to 160 years.
11
The pandemic only
exacerbated those gaps, with much larger declines for Black students in National
Assessment of Education Progress math scores compared to their white peers.
Disparities in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
Additionally, systemic racism in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have
disproportionately harmed Black and Hispanic
5
children and families. In the child welfare
system, racism and biases against these communities influence the reports made to the
Statewide Central Register (SCR), with racial disparities established at the earliest
stages of child welfare contact. In fiscal year (FY) 2025, African American/Black non-
5
Data sources and historical documents may use different language to describe people, identities, and communities.
When quoting, citing, or otherwise referring to these sources, we retain the terminology used in the original source to
remain faithful to the data and context.
Condition of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to thrive with:
Quality and culturally relevant child and
youth supports, including early childhood and pre-kindergarten through twelfth
grade education
Hispanic and Hispanic/Latinx families represented 36.1 percent and 46.2 percent of
SCR intakes, respectively, compared with 6.3 percent of white and 3.6 percent of
Asian/Pacific Islander children.
12
Similar patterns appeared in FY 2023, when African
American/Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic/Latinx families accounted for 36.8 percent
and 46.8 percent of SCR intakes, respectively, compared to 6.8 percent of white and
5.1 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander families.
13
Despite these disparities at the intake
stage, families of different racial and ethnic backgrounds were referred to prevention
services at roughly equal rates. There are many instances where a family is reported to
the SCR unnecessarily, causing the City to respond. When a child is not in danger of
maltreatment, families would be better supported with services or concrete resources
rather than a child protection response.
The result is undue stress for largely Black and Hispanic families. As a result of the high
rates of reporting, African American/Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic/Latinx children
and families are overrepresented at virtually every stage of the child welfare process.
Although the disparity decreases once the City receives the report and begins a
response, it is essential to eliminate disparate outcomes that can be traced to an
individual’s or family’s race or ethnicity throughout systems. The impact is also visible in
the juvenile justice system. From 2021 to 2024, the number of youth in detention rose
dramatically, widening the disparity gap for youth of color.
14
Barriers to Social Services
The pervasive impacts of poverty on families in New York City are exacerbated by
systemic racial inequities, creating profound disparities in social services and support
for families of color. For decades, welfare policies and systems systematically excluded
people of color, often due to racial discrimination in employment practices and eligibility
criteria. Programs such as work-based social insurance under the 1935 Social Security
Act required formal employment with payroll contributions, excluding many Black
Americans who often were employed informally and paid in cash.
15
Additionally, public
assistance programs such as the Aid to Dependent Children primarily benefitted white
widows, further marginalizing people of color who needed support.
New York City is home to over 8.2 million residents with two-thirds identifying as people
of color, 18 percent living below the poverty threshold, and 23 percent identifying as not
able to speak English very well or at all.
16
Through anti-poverty programs and initiatives,
the City serves low-income New Yorkers, a disproportionate number of whom are
people of color, reflecting the ongoing impact of structural racism. For example, poverty
rates among Black, Latino, and Asian New Yorkers are significantly higher than for
white New Yorkers, with 23 percent, 16 percent, and 24 percent respectively, compared
to 13 percent.
17
These disparities reflect generations of discrimination including redlining
that limited intergenerational wealth transfer and unequal access to education. Poverty
is also a strong predictor of homelessness, coupled with higher incarceration rates, lack
of affordable housing, and income inequality. In New York City and throughout the
country, people of color, particularly Black Americans are over-represented among
homeless populations, and Black families and individuals are more likely to experience
deep poverty than their white counterparts.
These disparities are visible in the City’s assistance programs. Specifically, Latina/o/x
individuals account for 49.8 percent of adult families receiving services due to an
increase in asylum seekers, followed by Black individuals at 34.8 percent. For families
with children, the percentages are even more pronounced with Latina/o/x families
accounting for 61.3 percent and Black families making up 28 percent. Among single
adults receiving services, Latina/o/x individuals make up 29.1 percent and Black
individuals 54.1 percent. These disparities also carry over to specific programs such as
Cash Assistance and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), highlighting
racial disparities in access to and reliance on social services.
Spotlight:
Barriers for Youth
Through a competitive process with community-based organizations, the City offers
organizations an opportunity to propose citywide services that support NYC youth and
their families. However, youth and families often experience multiple barriers to services
and remain underserved. Moreover, gaps in the diversity of nonprofit leadership further
exacerbate existing disparities in service delivery for youth. Research has shown that
youth-serving organizations with diverse leadership and staff are better positioned to
understand and address the needs of young people of color,
18
who make up
approximately 70 percent of NYC's youth population. Studies also indicate these youth
often face greater barriers accessing culturally responsive programming and support
services. More broadly, a 2023 analysis
19
of nonprofit demographics in the New York
City metropolitan area found that white CEOs and leadership teams represent 64
percent and 61 percent of nonprofit administration, respectively, while making up only
39 percent of the City’s population. Conversely, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
(BIPOC) individuals, who make up 61 percent of the population, are significantly
underrepresented, accounting for only 36 percent of nonprofit CEOs and 39 percent of
leadership teams. It remains vital to support organizations that have diverse
experiences, cultural competency, local knowledge, and connections to foster the
development of programs that meet the unique needs of NYC’s communities.
Spotlight:
Barriers for Veterans
Veterans of color and their families have also been affected by discriminatory policies.
Veterans of color often face additional hurdles in accessing housing, health, and
disability benefits due to systemic biases in military discharge statuses. According to a
2023 report from the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, between 2014 and 2020,
Black service members accounted for 18 percent of separations while also accounting
for over 25 percent of Other Than Honorable discharges and more than 30 percent of
General discharges.
20
These non-Honorable discharge statuses create a barrier to
accessing VA healthcare as they prevent Veterans from accessing the full suite of
benefits they could be entitled to. A Yale statistician’s analysis of VA records revealed
that over a two-decade period, the VA denied Black Veterans disability compensation
and benefits at an average rate of 29.5 percent, compared to the 24.2 percent of white
veterans. VA officials often relied on discharge status for disability determination despite
federal government studies concluding that Black service members were substantially
more likely than their white counterparts to face military justice or disciplinary action due
to racial bias. This disparity also limits the ability of Black Veterans to file and obtain VA
disability claim compensation, which negatively impacts their income and economic
stability.
Moreover, studies have shown that Black Veterans are overrepresented in the nation’s
homeless Veteran population, suggesting that race is a major risk factor for housing
insecurity.
21
Being Black is associated with a 1.5 times increased risk of homelessness
among VA Health Administration service users. In addition, Black Veterans are four
times more likely to be homeless than white Veterans. In urban centers, which are
home to some of the country’s largest communities of color, co-ops often serve as a
“housing ladder” entry point for first-time home buyers, allowing middle class residents
to own real estate that is more affordable. However, not being able to use the VA home
loan to purchase co-ops significantly limits homeownership opportunities particularly for
communities of color in dense urban centers where co-op stock is high.
In 2006, legislation introduced by Congress Member Carolyn Maloney and Senator
Chuck Schumer allowed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loan
Program to guarantee share loans for co-ops. However, a five-year sunset clause was
placed in the U.S. Code, and the VA did not effectively notify the public that co-ops were
only temporarily included in the VA Home Loan Program. Consequently, no transactions
occurred during the five-year pilot period, leading to the lack of renewal of VA
guarantees for co-ops after 2011 due to the lack of activity. This oversight effectively
excluded affordable cooperative housing from the VA Home Loan Program, which is
particularly significant since co-ops represent a critical pathway to homeownership in
major urban centers where many veterans reside and where single-family homes are
often financially out of reach.
Spotlight:
Older Adults
Racial disparities across education, support infrastructure, and other realms compound
over time, leading to significant harm and poor outcomes for communities of
color. According to the 2021 American Community Survey, from 2010 to 2021, New
York City’s ethnic and/or racial populations grew rapidly in comparison to the white non-
Hispanic older population. The Black non-Hispanic population increased by 22.9
percent, the Hispanic population by 39.5 percent, and the Asian non-Hispanic
population alone by 66.5 percent. By 2021, 61 percent of older New Yorkers belonged
to non-white ethnic and/or racial groups, compared to 56 percent in 2010. Despite this
demographic shift, older adults from these communities have historically experienced
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section are committed to addressing these longstanding inequities
across public systems and to ensuring that every child, youth, older adult, and family
has equitable access to the resources needed to thrive.
inadequate or imbalanced service delivery, resulting in negative consequences that
must be urgently addressed.
The COVID-19 public health emergency further showcased these disparities, leading to
the most significant drop in the average lifespan in the century, from 82.6 years in 2019
to 78 years in 2020. However, the decreases in life expectancy were not experienced
equally among all New Yorkers, with Black and Hispanic New Yorkers bearing the brunt
of this impact and underscoring the urgent need for coordinated, systemic change.
22
Administration for Children’s Services
Mission and Commitment
The Administration for Children's Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and
well-being of New York City's children, young people, families, and communities by
providing high quality child welfare, juvenile justice, and childcare assistance.
ACS acknowledges the complex and difficult history of the child welfare and juvenile justice
systems, which have contributed to systemic harm for Black and Latino children and
families in New York City. Fulfilling our protective mission requires an equitable system
where an individual’s or family’s race or ethnicity does not impact their experience, path, or
outcomes. In the child welfare system, we see the greatest disproportionality and disparity
at the “front door,” meaning systemic racism and biases against African American/Black
and Hispanic/Latino people may influence the reports made to Statewide Central Register
of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR). There are many instances where a family is
reported to the state unnecessarily—reports that ACS must respond to by law—as a child
is not in danger of maltreatment, and the family would be better served by supportive
services or concrete resources rather than a child protection response.
ACS is committed to addressing this disparity at the front door by collaborating with system
partners and communities to eliminate bias in the reporting of child abuse and neglect, while
also educating mandated reporters to better understand when a report is and isn’t required.
ACS understands that reducing racial disparities in child welfare and juvenile justice requires
addressing the structural conditions—including economic insecurity, inadequate access to
housing, and historically underfunded community supports—that too often bring families to
the attention of the child welfare system. Our prevention and diversion strategies are
designed to support efforts across City government and the nonprofit sector to strengthen
the community infrastructure that helps families thrive.
ACS is dedicated to equitable services by embedding linguistic accessibility across all of its
programs. ACS provides professional interpretation and translates vital materials for all
families navigating prevention, child protection, foster care, and the juvenile justice system.
ACS extends our deepest gratitude to the late Tyler James, Director of Race Equity
Strategies. Tyler’s leadership and vital contributions during the development of this report
were instrumental to its completion. He is greatly missed by his colleagues at ACS.
Racial Equity Goals
The broader indicators below serve as key measures of progress toward reducing racial
disparities across all goals and strategies, supplementing the specific metrics tracked under
each individual goal.
•
Percent of children involved in investigations disaggregated by race and ethnicity
compared to their proportion in the NYC child population
•
Percent of children in indicated investigations that have Article 10
6
placements
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Percent of children in indicated investigations that have Court Ordered Supervision
(COS) case openings disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Percent of children in care for two or more years with permanency within a year
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Family Services case openings during or within 60 days of an indicated investigation
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Detention and Close to Home admissions disaggregated by race and ethnicity
In addition to what is found in this plan, ACS publishes disaggregated data indicating racial
disparities on the
EquityNYC website
, which is updated on an annual basis.
7
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Launch school-based early support prevention services to help reduce racial
disproportionality at the “front door” by minimizing the risk of involvement with child
protection. Through school-based early support prevention services ACS partners closely
with schools to connect families to supports and services well before concerns warrant a
call to the SCR. The partnering schools are concentrated in the Taskforce on Racial
Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) neighborhoods and other areas of need
a.
Outcome
: By FY 2027, serve at least 800 families annually through these
upstream, non-investigative services, focusing heavily on historically over-reported
communities.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Monitor and support the development and implementation of this program
model for the 11 community providers who received a total of 16
programs
•
Collect and analyze data systematically to identify trends and make
informed recommendations for expanding this model, if appropriate
•
Continue to train staff in ACS’s “you can support a family without having
to report a family” approach to connecting families to resources before
child welfare involvement (
more details provided in Medium Term Goal
#3
).
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of families supported with prevention services, disaggregated by
race and ethnicity
•
Number of community-based referrals to prevention
•
Percent of referred families from school-based early support prevention
services connected to services
6
Under Article 10 of the Family Court Act, ACS may file a petition in Family Court on behalf of a child who is
alleged to be abused or neglected. This allows ACS to seek child protective orders that may include Court
Ordered Supervision, which means the child remains at home with their parent or in the care of another safe
adult, with court oversight and orders in place to address the risks of harm to the child. ACS may also seek
temporary placement into foster care, which involves placement with a kinship foster parent or placement in
another appropriate foster care setting to meet the child’s needs, while ACS works with the family to plan for
reunification or another appropriate permanency goal.
7
https://equity.nyc.gov/all-indicators
2.
Goal
: Increase community-based referrals to prevention services to help reduce racial
disproportionality at the “front door” by minimizing the risk of involvement with child
protection
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, increase referrals from community-based pathways.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with Health & Hospitals to train social workers, physicians,
and staff at select hospitals to best identify and connect patients to
beneficial family support services
•
Increase awareness amongst families of the Prevention Support Line
(212-676-7667) via community tabling, localized media, and inter-agency
events to allow parents, caregivers and youth to directly self-refer for
concrete items (food, clothing, and household items) without need of a
child welfare investigation
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of families supported with prevention services disaggregated by
race and ethnicity
•
Number of community-based referrals to prevention
•
Percent of community-based referred families connected to services
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Advance workforce operational capacity, equity literacy and psychological safety
to provide quality services to the communities most impacted by ACS
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, increase in staff participating in ACS Leadership Institute
programming ensuring equity principles and psychological safety are integrated
into supervision and casework.
b.
Strategies
:
•
ACS’s Workforce Institute provides motivational interviewing training to
direct service staff, leadership, and providers to listen to the perspectives
of families and accurately identify their needs
•
ACS’s Workforce Institute offers Building Coaching Competency training
for all direct service staff to support critical thinking. The Workforce
Institute will continue to assess the impact of this training on practice and
retention.
•
Strengthen the organizational and leadership culture to support open
discussions without fear of retaliation, facilitate learning, and increase
engagement
•
Continue development of programs under the ACS Leadership Institute
including Executive Coaching (6-hour coaching sessions for senior
leaders), Leading and Exploring Through Accountability and
Development (LEAD, a 11-month program for mid-level leaders), and
Learning, Evolving and Advancing Professionally (LEAP, a program for
supervisors in child protection)
•
Continue providing Understanding and Undoing Implicit Bias learning
curriculum to ACS staff and provider agency staff to improve bias-
mitigated critical thinking
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of applications to ACS Leadership Institute
•
Number of participants in ACS Leadership Institute
•
Percent of Leadership Institute participants reporting increased
confidence in applying equity principles and supportive supervision
practices
2.
Goal:
Prioritize City investment into community-driven strategies and spaces that
contribute to healthy child development and family strengthening, including but not
limited to priority neighborhoods identified by TRIE
a.
Outcomes
:
•
By 2028:
o
Ensure all 30 contracted Family Enrichment Centers (FECs) are
operating.
o
Commence 11 new Community Partnership contracts to deepen
coalition-based work to refer families to community resources,
implement well-being programming, and inform City policy and
practice.
8
b.
Strategies
:
•
Support the launch of 27 new Family Enrichment Centers (for a total of
30 citywide).
9
Family Enrichment Centers are walk-in centers that are co-
designed with and for local families and community members with the
goal of strengthening family protective factors, including social
connection, access to concrete resources, and parental resilience.
10
•
Support implementation of new contracts for 11 community partnerships.
Community Partnerships create inclusive spaces for residents,
organizations, and government partners (including ACS) to collaborate to
improve service connections, design and carry out community
engagement initiatives (like clothing drives, resource fairs, holiday
giveaways) to help families learn about resources in their neighborhoods,
and let families know who they can reach out to for housing, food,
childcare, mental health care, and other services
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of operational FECs
•
Number of FEC offerings
•
Registration of 11 new Community Partnership contracts
•
Number of organizations and agencies participating in Community
Partnership coalitions
3.
Goal:
Continue to decrease unnecessary reports to the State Central Register (SCR)
child abuse hotline, including those based in racial bias, by promoting a citywide
culture shift among mandated reporters from “when in doubt, call the SCR” to “you can
support a family without having to report a family,” when a child is not in danger of
maltreatment
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, partner with City and State agencies to ensure that both the
legal requirements about what must be reported to the SCR, and how mandated
reporters can support families who need help, are included in trainings for
mandated reporters across public schools, health and mental health providers,
and social service providers.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to partner with City and State agencies to expand ACS training
for mandated reporters on “The Evolving Focus of Child Welfare:
Addressing Over-Reporting and Providing Family-Centered Supports”
8
ACS's Annual Community District Snapshots (CY 2024) provide data on SCR intakes and investigations,
enabling the agency to identify overlaps between high-need areas and TRIE neighborhoods.
9
More information on FECs can be found at
https://www.nyc.gov/site/acs/about/fec.page
.
10
The city utilized the Center for the Study of Social Policy's Strengthening Families framework, which identifies
protective factors that build family resilience and community well-being.
across public schools, health and mental health providers, and social
services, including those contracted with ACS
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of presentations or training sessions provided to mandated
reporters
•
SCR reports disaggregated by type of mandated reporter
•
Percent changes of SCR reports by these reporter types over time
11
4.
Goal:
Strengthen restorative approaches to addressing conflict in juvenile justice
settings
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure restorative justice practices are embedded within
secure detention.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue recruiting, training, and developing restorative justice facilitators
within the Division of Youth and Family Justice
•
Convene restorative justice circles to collectively repair harm between
youth, family members, and employees
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of actively trained restorative justice facilitators
•
Description of restorative practices in the secure facilities
•
Youth-on-youth assaults and altercations with injury rate in detention (per
100 average daily population)
•
Youth-on-staff assaults and altercations with injury rate in detention (per
100 average daily population)
5.
Goal:
Maintain a fully staffed workforce, prioritizing recruitment of critical frontline titles
and essential support staff, to facilitate high-quality service delivery and prevent high
caseloads from leading to inequitable outcomes for families
a.
Outcome:
By 2029, on a continuous basis, hire critical frontline staff ahead of
attrition so that actual headcount is not below 85% of budgeted headcount.
b.
Strategies:
•
Expand and implement recruitment strategies to support efficient hiring
and onboarding for critical frontline titles ahead of attrition
•
Continue to hire operational support staff in key positions to support
critical frontline staff
•
Ensure the onboarding of Youth Development Specialists (YDS) and
Child Protective Specialists (CPS) continuously reflects the
demographic diversity of the families served by attending
neighborhood-centered career fairs and localized outreach
c.
Indicators:
•
Attrition rates for critical frontline and support titles
•
Hiring rates for critical frontline and support titles
•
Headcounts for critical frontline and support titles
•
Percent of actual headcount compared to budgeted headcount
Long-Term
11
“Reporter types” means the various types of mandated reporters such as public schools, health and mental
health providers, etc.
1.
Goal:
Support young people in preventing contact with the juvenile justice system,
strengthen re-entry for those in the juvenile justice system, and provide support in their
communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, ensure that 100% of juvenile justice strategies have a focus
on prevention, rehabilitation, and expansion of community-based programs.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Assess the efficacy of existing juvenile justice prevention and early
intervention strategies
•
Explore the expansion of community-based programs to serve young
people before they come to the attention of the Family Court
•
Expand Fair Futures to provide youth with coaches, and housing and
educational specialists to put them on a path to success and independent
living
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of youth participating in Alternatives to Detention
•
Enrollment in Fair Futures
•
Percentage of youth admitted to detention with previous admission(s) to
detention
•
Utilization of Family Assessment Program (FAP)
2.
Goal:
Support reduction of disproportionate representation of Black and Latino children
in foster care by protecting child and family rights during initial contact through Front
Door Notification
12
a.
Outcome
: By 2032, 100% of active and onboarding Division of Child Protection
(DCP) staff consistently and equitably distribute Front Door Notification
information, ensuring families understand their rights at the onset of an
investigation.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue training Child Protective Specialists (CPS) in providing
families with Front Door Notification information about their rights and
requests to enter homes to assess the safety of children, as well as
resources available within their community
•
Institutionalize semi-annual virtual refreshers to sustain the practice
c.
Indicators:
•
100% of newly hired CPS complete Front Door Notification training
during onboarding and 90% of active staff complete semi-annual
refreshers
•
An increase in the percentage of case files showing documented Front
Door Notification was provided to the family during initial contact
3.
Goal:
Advance equitable foster care practices that maximize kinship placements and
expedite safe and permanent placements
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, ensure that 100% of foster care practices and strategies
prioritize timely permanency, safety, and stability and enhanced wellbeing.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand kinship foster care placement to support successful reunification
of children to their families
12
Front Door Notification provides families with written information about their rights and supportive services
regarding ACS requests to enter and assess the safety of the children.
•
Continue to work with Foster Care Providers to advance respectful and
effective practices with families that lead to timely, safe, and stable
placements
•
Continue to leverage initiatives such as Fair Futures, College Choice, and
Career Choice to bolster youth well-being
c.
Indicators
:
•
Proportion of all children in foster care placed with kin
•
Moves in foster care per 1,000 care days
•
Children maltreated during family foster care placement per 100,000 care
days
4.
Goal:
Continued development of Collaborative Assessment, Response, Engagement
and Support (CARES) which is a non-investigative response for low-to-moderate risk
reported concerns of child abuse and maltreatment. CARES is a core strategy for
combating racial disparity and promoting social justice in NYC’s child welfare system
by shifting low-to-moderate risk cases away from a traditional investigation to a
collaborative and less intrusive response for families with service needs which enables
families to drive solutions for themselves
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, ensure that more than 30% of cases are diverted to the
CARES program.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continued promotion of increased percentage of cases assigned to
CARES track. ACS has implemented practices and case assignment
supports for intake teams to assist with identification of cases that are
eligible for CARES upon assignment. Practice supports include guidance
to assist staff to identify cases initially assigned to investigations to
identify when cases can be re-tracked to CARES. A growing percentage
of new reports forwarded to ACS from the NY State Central Register are
being assigned to the CARES track. ACS launched the program in 2013
as a pilot and has steadily expanded it since 2018. With CARES, there is
no court involvement or determination (which can impact employment for
confirmed subjects). Instead, specially trained child protective staff
assess the safety of the children; partner with the family to identify their
needs; empower the family to make decisions about their needs and their
children’s needs and connect families to appropriate services. The
CARES approach is family-centered, family-driven, and solution-focused
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of CARES cases
•
Percent of new child protection cases that are CARES
5.
Goal:
Strive to ensure that first-hand experiences of families and youth impacted by
child welfare and juvenile justice guide our work
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, ensure robust infrastructure and processes for working with
parent advocates and parents/youth involved or formerly involved with our
systems and continue to use youth experience and family experience surveys to
guide decision-making.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continued development of Parents Empowering Parents, which embeds
parent advocates in all Enhanced Family Foster Care (EFFC) case
planning units
•
Continued development of ACS Youth Leadership Council and support of
Parent Advocacy Council which provides platforms for young people and
parents formerly involved with the child welfare and juvenile justice
system to participate in planning, policy development, and decision-
making within the agency
•
Continued use of annual
Prevention Services: Family Experience Survey
,
asking families receiving prevention services about their experiences,
and the biannual
Foster Care Youth Experience Survey
, asking youth
about their experiences in care, to provide feedback guiding policy
planning and program development
•
Collaborate with Commission on Racial Equity (CORE) to engage
stakeholders with lived experience around systems improvement and
accountability
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of meetings and events held with parent and youth advisory
bodies
•
Percent of family survey participants who reported prevention services
are helping them achieve their goals
•
Percent of youth survey participants who reported receiving various types
of support from their foster care agencies (support can include the
following: education, job readiness, independent living workshops,
housing support, and connecting with attorneys)
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
•
#11: Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They must
meet the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social injustice.
Spotlight Wins
•
School Based Early Support request for proposal (RFP) resulted in 16 awards for
programs that began at the start of FY25, which is part of ACS’ efforts to increase
community-based supports. ACS re-envisioned the model for our programs formerly
known as ACS Beacon Prevention to partner closely with schools and connect families
to supports and services well before concerns warrant a call to the SCR. Providers will
connect families to community resources that can meet concrete needs, assist with
case management, support caregivers, and avoid unnecessary child welfare
investigations. The partnering schools are concentrated in TRIE neighborhoods and
other areas of need.
•
Successful RFP resulting in 27 new contracts for FECs, which is part of ACS’ efforts to
increase community-based supports.
13
FECs, which are in TRIE neighborhoods, are
walk-in centers co-designed with and for local families and community members with
the goal of strengthening family protective factors, including social connectivity, access
to concrete resources, and economic mobility.
13
A list of FECs and their locations is available at
https://airtable.com/appWIEPGTQbHDihnX/shrwPOWtGcZPBUHqS/tblwKiw56M1296Ugf
•
Expanded Parents Empowering Parents (PEP) citywide. As of November 30, 2025,
over 90 parent advocates have been hired across 20 foster care agencies. The
Parents Empowering Parents strategy embeds parent advocates in all Enhanced
Family Foster Care (EFFC) case planning units. Parent Advocates work closely with
parents to engage and support their partnership in service and permanency planning.
ACS sees PEP as a race equity strategy because parents who are better engaged can
reach service planning milestones and address the issues that brought the family to the
child welfare system sooner, creating opportunities for safe reunification in a timely
manner.
•
Since January 2023, ACS has conducted or co-led 450 presentations reaching more
than 29,000+ mandated reporters in New York City. Titled “The Evolving Focus of Child
Welfare: Addressing Over-Reporting and Providing Family-Centered Supports,” these
sessions provide information about new training requirements for mandated reporters
in New York State and guidance on how to assess when a report to the State Central
Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) is and is not necessary. We explain
a shift underway within child welfare in New York, which is moving the messaging to
mandated reporters from “when in doubt, call the SCR” to “you can support a family
without having to report a family.” The sessions provide detailed information on ACS-
funded and other supports and services available for families in New York City and
ways to build towards a culture shift from reporting to supporting families with
successful engagement, relationship-building, and service referrals. ACS has
conducted over 230 sessions reaching 16,000+ school and childcare staff; over 110
sessions reaching 6,000+ social services staff; and over 70 sessions reaching 3,000+
health and mental health staff. As a result of this work, SCR reports from these three
sectors declined by 14 percent between 2023 and 2025 and the Support Line now
receives over 4,000 inquiries per year.
Department for the Aging
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department for the Aging (NYC Aging) promotes and supports inclusive, safe,
affordable, healthy aging. NYC Aging remains steadfast in its role and responsibility to
preserve the dignity and quality of life for approximately 1.8 million diverse older New Yorkers
by eliminating food insecurity, providing access to affordable, stable housing, enhancing
access to quality healthcare services and protecting older New Yorkers from harm and abuse
with the ultimate goal of a more age-friendly city in which older adults can age gracefully with
respect.
Research shows that older New Yorkers live longer and are happier when they age in a city
without barriers to services such as healthcare, housing, food, and employment. NYC Aging
recognizes its role in addressing these inequities and is proud to have provided services to
3,336 Caregivers, secured employment for 345 older adults, served 6,340,477 meals at Older
Adult Centers (OAC) and 4,068,777 meals through the Home Delivered Meals (HDM)
programming totaling 10,409,254 meals (in City Fiscal Year 2026).
NYC Aging remains committed to addressing the impacts of structural racism on older adults
and advancing an equitable New York City where everyone can thrive and age in place with
dignity.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Prioritize training staff on inclusive program delivery that enhance productivity,
support career advancement; and fosters a culture of belonging. Training will equip staff
with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively serve the rapidly growing and
increasingly diverse older adult community
a.
Outcome
:
•
By the end of 2027, strengthen workforce capability by ensuring at least 85%
of selected staff complete required professional development, increase their
knowledge and confidence in inclusive service delivery, and are satisfied
with the quality and relevance of the training.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Implement a multi-month Learning Academy for non-supervisors and new
frontline supervisors, with a curriculum that includes communication,
technical, leadership, and self-improvement skills
•
Deliver required personnel compliance training to all selected staff
•
Incorporate pre- and post-training assessments to measure learning and
identify opportunities for continuous improvement
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of selected staff who complete required training
•
Training completion rate by program
•
Pre- and post-training assessment score improvements
•
Participant satisfaction ratings
•
Percentage of staff reporting increased confidence in applying inclusive
practices in their work
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Prioritize agency resources to address historical inequities in underserved
neighborhoods
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure that the demographic served by agency-funded Older
Adult Centers (OACs) mirrors each community district’s racial and ethnic
demographics.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Establish new contracts with Providers that require programming that aligns
with the cultural interests of the population being served
•
Develop targeted outreach and engagement efforts to historically
underserved neighborhoods by partnering with trusted community
organizations, faith-based groups and local leaders to recruit participants
whose demographics reflect the community
•
Establish demographic participation benchmarks based on community
population data, regularly monitor participant demographics, and adjust
outreach, program locations, scheduling, language access, and other
resources as needed to ensure equitable representation and participation
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of average daily participants at Older Adult Centers
•
Demographics of OAC populations and community districts, including race,
gender identity, and ethnicity
2.
Goal:
Ensure that diverse communities feel a sense of inclusion and belonging at Older
Adult Centers and through home delivered meal (HDM) programs by prioritizing cultural
competency standards, especially through meals served
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, OACs and HDM programs verify via surveys that older adults
are satisfied with the meals served at OACs and through the HDM program.
b.
Strategies:
•
Ensure that meals at OAC and those that are home delivered are
appropriate to the older adult participants’ cultural and religious backgrounds
•
Continue gathering data through a five-year research grant from the
Administration for Community Living (ACL) to implement 18 pop-up cafes,
which serve culturally appropriate meals to the older adults
•
Utilize assessment and survey results to inform future meal programming
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of OAC total meals
•
Percent of older adults stating “always” or “often” that the menu at their OAC
“has enough food or dishes that represent my culture”
•
Increase in Client and neighborhood demographic data, including race and
ethnicity
3.
Goal:
Expand the NYC Aging workforce to meet the needs of the growing older adult
population through equitable recruitment and standardized, bias-aware hiring practices
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure 100% of agency vacancies include an equitable
recruitment plan and are filled using a standardized, structured interview process
designed to reduce bias.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Maintain diverse recruitment pipelines to increase the pool of qualified
candidates
•
Use structured interviews for 100% of hiring processes
•
Monitor recruitment and hiring practices to ensure consistent implementation
of equitable hiring standards
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of vacancies that include an equitable recruitment plan
•
Percentage of hiring processes that use structured interviews
•
Annual workforce demographic profile (race, ethnicity, and gender identity)
tracked to monitor workforce composition and trends
14
4.
Goal:
Ensure that older adults with limited English proficiency (LEP) and those who
communicate in languages other than English have equitable access to high-quality,
culturally and linguistically appropriate services that support their health, independence,
and well-being
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, improvements made in older adults’ understanding of available
services, effective communication of their needs, informed decision-making, and
access to programs without language barriers, resulting in improved service
utilization, satisfaction, and outcomes.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Strengthen Language Access Policies and Procedures
•
Expand Interpretation and Translation Services
•
Develop and implement a comprehensive language access plan
•
Establish clear protocols for identifying language preferences
•
Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local language access
requirements
c.
Indicators
:
•
Status of language access plan implementation
•
Percentage of language access policies reviewed and updated annually and
percentage of staff completing language access training
•
Percentage of clients with language access needs who receive interpretation
or translation services
•
Number of multilingual outreach and community engagement activities
conducted
•
Number of languages supported through interpretation services
•
Percentage of vital documents translated
•
Reduction in missed appointments or service delays related to language
barriers
•
Number of bilingual or multilingual staff hired or retained
•
Number of outreach events conducted in multiple languages
•
Increased participation by older adults from linguistically diverse
communities
•
Client satisfaction scores related to language access
•
Increased utilization of services by older adults with limited English
proficiency
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Increase the participation of underserved older adults in NYC Aging services to
build an age inclusive city for all New Yorkers
a.
Outcome
: By 2035, expand NYC Aging’s reach from the current 12% to 15% of
the older adult population, ensuring that interested clients from communities of
color are proportionally represented.
14
For informational and communications purpose only.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Implement programming that matches neighborhood demographics and
addresses age and racial disparities in service delivery
•
Prioritize public engagement and ensure that older adults and providers
have an accessible and efficient feedback loop with the agency
•
Continue to identify grant opportunities within our existing network and
pursue public-private cross-sector partnerships to reach new and isolated
populations
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage of older adults residing in New York City who receive NYC
Aging service(s), by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Percentage of program participants whose demographics reflect the
communities served
•
Percentage of underserved older adults who report that NYC Aging
services are accessible, welcoming, and responsive to their needs
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
Spotlight Wins
•
NYC Aging has published and continues to build upon its Community Care Plan (“the
Plan”) which is a guide or blueprint to help eliminate silos and ensure older adults age-
in-place in their community. Additionally, the Plan provides useful data on NYC
demographics, partner organizations, and national statistics. The Plan seeks to ensure
the following elements in NYC Aging operations:
More multi-cultural programming to appeal to the interests of varied groups,
including immigrants;
Services that better reflect demographic changes in the older adult population,
specifically requiring providers to consider language and cultural competencies;
and
Fairly, but intentionally award OAC contracts in neighborhoods that are
underserved and needing an infusion of resources to promote greater equity for
low income, ethnically diverse, immigrant and other groups with particular
needs.
•
NYC Aging has developed language, specifically citing racial and cultural needs, to be
used in nearly all NYC Aging solicitations. For example, proposers for solicitations are
asked to explain how they will be “sensitive and responsive to issues relating to culture,
religion, socioeconomic status, gender equity, sexual orientation and immigrant
adjustment.”
•
The Cabinet for Older New Yorkers (Cabinet) was established in September 2022,
which is an interagency collaborative established to realize and institutionalize an age-
inclusive New York City through structural, legislative and systemic solutions. The
Cabinet includes over 30 New York City government agencies covering health,
housing, public safety, social services, transportation, and more. The New York City
Council passed legislation in 2024 to codify the Cabinet and expand agency
membership to include five additional Mayoral offices, including the Mayor’s Office of
Equity & Racial Justice, and the three library systems. The Cabinet’s age-inclusive
inter-agency work helps to ensure that City government as a whole is responsive to the
needs of older New Yorkers, who are diverse, more likely to speak a language other
than English, live alone, experience frailty, and live below the poverty line.
15
15
According to the 2021 American Community Survey 5-year Estimate, 61% of older adults in NYC identify as
Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, or Other or Multiracial, in comparison to 26% nationally. In addition,
48% of older adults in NYC primarily speak languages other than English at home, compared to 16% nationally.
It is also known that older adults in NYC are more likely to live below the poverty line at 17% of older adults ages
60+ living at 100% below the poverty level compared to 10% of older adults nationally.
Department of Social Services – Human Resources
Administration and Department of Homeless Services
Mission and Commitment
The Department of Social Services (DSS) enhances the quality of life for all New Yorkers by
providing temporary help to eligible individuals and families with social service and economic
needs to assist them in leading independent lives. These goals are accomplished by
effectively administering a broad range of social welfare programs and services.
DSS is comprised of the administrative units of the NYC Human Resources Administration
(HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). Through integrated management of
HRA and DHS, client services can be provided more seamlessly and effectively. The city
leverages shared services functions across agencies, which results in better day-to-day
management and building an integrated mission across agencies. HRA promotes equity for
New Yorkers through its commitment to services that fight poverty and income inequality,
prevent homelessness, and promote employment. DHS addresses homelessness that is
driven by social and structural factors such as income inequality, lack of affordable and
supportive housing, stagnant wages, eviction, domestic violence, and lack of community
services for mentally ill and formerly incarcerated persons.
DSS recognizes the need for a deeper understanding of the underlying causes and potential
solutions to address these disparities. Established by Executive Order No. 28 in 1966, DSS is
responsible for addressing homelessness, food insecurity, and poverty in the city. The agency
is committed to addressing disparities across the city and in our systems by reforming how we
deliver services to better center clients and modernize access to benefits, as well as
expanding legal and program services for vulnerable populations such as those facing
eviction and immigration challenges. Our ongoing work to rectify systemic inequalities through
programs and resources reflects our role in addressing historical disinvestment and
supporting individuals to have access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Advance equitable access to benefits, services, and employment opportunities
that reduce economic instability, with a focus on closing employment disparities for
clients from underserved communities including Black and Latino clients
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, increase the number of clients in unsubsidized employment
by 5% from the current caseload in FY28.
b.
Strategies:
•
Monitor and facilitate the compliance of agency subcontractors through
the HireNYC initiative and that requires organizations that enter contracts
with the City of New York to hire one Public Assistance (PA) recipient for
every $250,000 of annualized contract value
•
Oversee contractor compliance with Community Hiring workforce goals
by monitoring hiring and apprenticeship commitments, coordinating with
referral partners, and supporting the placement of low-income New
Yorkers and local residents into employment opportunities generated
through City procurement contracts
•
Conduct targeted outreach to individuals who appear eligible for benefits,
including SNAP, Cash Assistance, and childcare subsidies, but are not
currently enrolled, to reduce gaps in benefit uptake and improve equitable
access to essential supports
•
Analyze benefit application approval and denial rates, including reasons
for denial, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, to identify potential
barriers in eligibility determination, application processing, or program
access and inform continuous improvement efforts
•
Strengthen partnerships with community-based organizations serving
historically underserved communities, including Black and Latino New
Yorkers, to expand trusted referral pathways into HireNYC, Community
Hiring, and other workforce development opportunities
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent increase in HireNYC participants
•
Percentage of clients employed for at least one-year post-placement
through HireNYC, disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Increase in at-risk individuals entering the workforce within a year of
support
•
Percentage of employers participating in job fairs for clients who receive
services
•
Number and percentage of clients placed into employment,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
2.
Goal
: Promote inclusive and equitable access to stable housing by empowering
individuals and families, strengthening connections from shelter to permanent housing,
and expanding engagement with community-based homelessness prevention services
to reduce racial inequities
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, reduce the number of long-term stayers and
repeat homelessness instances among clients who accessed support services
across 100% of facilities.
b.
Strategies:
•
Expand Affordable Housing Services contracts to add 1,000 more units
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of new units contracted
•
Number of individuals in shelter connected to new units, disaggregated
by race and ethnicity
•
Average time from submission to approval and checks
•
Clients receiving preventive services who did not enter the shelter
system, disaggregated by race and ethnicity
3.
Goal:
Strengthen a culture of equity, belonging, and well-being by advancing a trauma-
informed, culturally responsive, inclusive workforce equipped to recognize and address
individual and structural bias, secondary traumatic stress, and the disparate impacts of
trauma on staff and clients
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, create stress reduction plans and programs that
are available to 100% of client-facing and non-client-facing staff.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Build on existing initiatives including Anti-Bias Trauma-Informed (ABTI)
trauma and bias trainings, microaggression workshops, gender identity
and inclusion trainings
•
Expand wellness resources through the Wellness Office and Employee
Assistance Program (EAP)
•
Invest in ongoing learning, staff wellness, and resilience-building
opportunities
•
Continue to partner with public and private sector agencies to provide a
series of health and wellness programs throughout the year to reduce
traumatic stress that all staff face in our client-facing and non-client-facing
offices
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of employee participation in health and wellness programs
•
Percent of employees reporting reduced stress levels
•
Percent of employees reporting greater productivity levels
•
Percentage of frontline staff accessing wellness, counseling, peer-
support, or trauma-informed supervision resources
•
Annual retention rate for frontline staff working in shelters,
public assistance centers, domestic violence programs, and other high-
trauma environments
•
Average overtime hours worked by frontline staff (housing placement
staff, case management staff, street outreach staff, laborers, and fleet
staff)
4.
Goal:
A
dvance food equity and reduce racial and geographic disparities in food
insecurity by expanding access to nutritious, culturally responsive food options for New
Yorkers experiencing economic hardship
a.
Outcome:
By FY27, launch the Pantry Link pilot, an innovative voucher- or
credit-based model designed to reduce food insecurity among participating
families in targeted critical neighborhoods who are not receiving SNAP benefits
and rely on emergency food assistance, while increasing choice, dignity, and
accessibility.
b.
Strategies:
•
Identify barriers to food pantry access, including physical, logistical,
geographic, dietary, religious, and food preparation limitations
•
Invest in anti-hunger initiatives in historically underserved communities
and implement participant-centered strategies that promote equitable
access to food resources
c.
Indicators
:
•
Rate of voucher redemption by participants (with a goal of 90%+)
•
Rate of household food security among participants
•
Rate of economic stress among participants
•
Percentage of participants reporting improved access to foods that meet
their household's cultural, dietary, or nutritional needs
•
Participant-reported grocery purchasing patterns, food preferences, and
barriers to food access used to inform future program design
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Advance housing equity by providing tailored, person-centered support to
individuals and families transitioning from shelter to permanent housing, promoting
community integration and reducing time spent in shelter
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase the percentage of clients transitioned from hotels
to permanent living arrangements up to 35%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Offer tailored support to vulnerable clients to transition from shelter to
permanent placement
•
Equitably distribute borough-based shelters near schools, healthcare, and
other community services and resources that provide specific
accommodations, such as legal services and interpretation or translation
capabilities outside of the shelter
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of clients in new shelters connected to services
•
Percent of clients transitioning to permanent living arrangements
•
Percentage of shelter clients remaining in shelter longer than 2 years,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Subsidized housing retention rate 12 months after placement for DHS
exits, disaggregated by race and ethnicity
2.
Goal
: Connect clients to Pathways for Access to Careers and Employment (PACE)
and other workforce development programs to expand access to career pathways,
family-supporting wages, and opportunities for economic mobility
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, increase the number of clients who experience income
stability or growth through PACE by 25%.
b.
Strategies:
•
Conduct a needs assessment to identify specific workforce development
needs in underserved populations
•
Develop and customize career pathway plans and industry-recognized
training programs based on the assessment
•
Collaborate with agency partners to align resources and expertise
•
Launch pilot programs in select underserved communities
•
Monitor and evaluate the impact of the programs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of clients reporting satisfaction with career pathway programs
•
Percent of clients connected with employment that increases or stabilizes
their income
•
Number of pilot programs launched in underserved communities
•
Percentage of clients who secure employment with wages that meet the
definition of “good jobs” as defined by the U.S. Economic Development
Administration, disaggregated by race and ethnicity
3.
Goal
: Leverage agency recruitment efforts to expand equitable access to career
pathways and inclusive employment opportunities
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, ensure that robust recruitment plans are developed for 80%
of vacancies to increase the percentage of new agency hires that are from the
communities we serve.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Build stronger communication channels to notify existing clients of agency
job vacancies
•
Increase our flexibility in hiring and compensation through working to offer
additional civil service exams for key titles, ensure job qualifications are
relevant and up to date, convert some multiple-choice exams to an
“experience and education” format, and designate several frontline
positions as “hard to recruit”
•
Leverage partnerships with community-based organizations, faith-based
organizations, and local universities, as well as programs such as the
Summer Youth Employment Program, to build diverse recruitment
pipelines
•
Increase agency participation in local career fairs and targeted recruitment
initiatives, with agency staff providing candidate recruitment, resume
screening, and referral support in collaboration with DCAS and Business
Link to fill essential frontline positions
•
Encourage employment of people with disabilities through the DSS Office
of Disabilities Affairs and HRA’s We CARE program
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of community events, career fairs, and workshops attended to
promote DSS vacancies
•
Number of newly developed community partners and stakeholders in
workforce development
•
Demographics of the workforce and new staff
•
Number of community events, career fairs, and workshops attended
•
Number of newly developed community partners and stakeholders
•
New hire demographics by race and ethnicity, compared against DSS
client caseload demographics
16
•
Number of civil service titles converted to experience-and-education
format, and change in pass/hire rates for those titles disaggregated by
race and ethnicity
•
One-year retention rate for new hires from underrepresented communities,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
16
This information is used for informational and communications purposes only.
4.
Goal
: Strengthen equitable pathways to accessible and affordable housing by
proactively identifying and connecting individuals in the DHS system with mobility and
sensory disabilities who require reasonable accommodations
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, successfully place at least 70% of people with mobility
and/or sensory disabilities in the DHS system in affordable housing with
reasonable accommodations.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify the number of individuals in the DHS system requiring reasonable
accommodations for mobility and sensory disabilities
•
Develop a system for identifying and flagging individuals in the system
who require these accommodations
•
Coordinate with HPD to identify affordable housing buildings with available
disability set-asides
•
Train staff on how to use the identification system and ensure that
individuals are appropriately matched with supportive housing
•
Regularly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the system and adjust
as necessary
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of DHS clients with an approved supportive housing application,
mobility and/or sensory disabilities and a reasonable accommodation
granted by DHS placed in supportive housing
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: In collaboration with New York State, modernize public assistance policies,
benefit levels, and administrative processes that contribute to household poverty and
racial disparities in economic security
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, decrease the number of households living below the
poverty line due to antiquated public assistance benefit by 25%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop key list of priorities to increase antiquated benefit levels
•
Create multi-year stakeholder engagement plan and legislative and state
agency strategy
•
Leverage other poverty reduction efforts to coordinate strategy to increase
public benefit levels to adequate levels to support households’ self-
sufficiency
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of clients receiving public assistance who have more access to
benefits
•
Percent reduction in number of people entering shelter in NYC
•
Percent unemployment in NYC
•
Average call center wait times and service access measures
2.
Goal:
Enhance homelessness prevention by refining Homebase's risk assessment and
targeting processes to identify households at greatest risk of housing instability,
improve access to prevention services, and expand equitable outcomes for historically
underserved and disproportionately impacted communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, increase the early intervention rate for households identified
as being at risk of housing instability.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct a needs assessment of the target population for Homebase
program Prevent chronic homelessness among multisystem-involved
single adults
•
Continuously evaluate and adjust the targeting and delivery of services
based on feedback and outcomes
•
Develop intervention plans for individuals at risk of chronic homelessness,
focusing on early intervention and support
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent decrease in emergency shelter usage
•
Clients receiving preventive services who did not enter the shelter system,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity
and social justice.
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#7: Expand access to safe, stable housing for those at risk of homelessness, eviction,
and deed theft without delay. Access should be available to individuals and families.
•
#13: Increase access and lower the cost to basic needs such as quality food,
transportation, medical, and housing.
Spotlight Wins
•
Protecting SNAP Access Amid Federal Policy Changes:
In response to expanded
federal SNAP work requirements that threatened eligible New Yorkers' access to food
assistance, DSS and the Mayor's Office of Mass Engagement led a citywide outreach
effort to help residents maintain their benefits. Working with community organizations
and City partners, the initiative connected New Yorkers with resources, documented
eligible exemptions, and reduced by 65 percent the number of people projected to lose
SNAP benefits.
•
Expanding Safe, Affirming Housing for Transgender New Yorkers:
Amid
increasing attacks on transgender rights nationwide and longstanding disparities in
homelessness, DSS partnered with Destination Tomorrow to open the nation's first
city-funded shelter for transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers. The
program provides affirming transitional housing alongside trauma-informed services,
mental health support, workforce development, and housing assistance to help
residents achieve long-term stability.
•
Improving Access to Public Benefits:
DSS streamlined benefit application and
recertification processes to make it easier for eligible New Yorkers to access and
maintain public benefits. Process improvements, staff training, and technology
investments increased the timeliness of SNAP applications to nearly 90 percent and
Cash Assistance applications to 67 percent, reducing administrative barriers and
improving client experience.
•
Strengthening Housing Stability Through CityFHEPS:
DSS expanded access to the
CityFHEPS rental assistance program, helping more New Yorkers secure and maintain
permanent housing. As the nation's largest municipally-funded rental subsidy,
CityFHEPS supported more than 64,000 households in October 2025, a 31 percent
increase from the previous year.
•
Supporting Community Food Access:
Through the Community Food Connection
program, DSS funded more than 700 community kitchens and food pantries that
distributed 14.5 million pounds of food during the first four months of Fiscal Year 2026,
helping address food insecurity across New York City.
Department of Veterans’ Services
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS) connects, mobilizes, and empowers New
York City's Veteran community in order to foster purpose-driven lives for US Military Service
Members – past and present – in addition to their caregivers, survivors, and families.
DVS has a crucial role to play in advancing racial equity among Veterans in New York City by
addressing systemic disparities that affect marginalized Service Members. By ensuring
equitable access to benefits, information, and opportunities, the agency can actively combat
historical injustices and promote inclusive policies that recognize the unique challenges faced
by Veterans of color. Through outreach, education, and targeted support services, the agency
is committed to fostering an environment where all Veterans can live a life with purpose and
stability.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Support Veterans in gaining greater awareness of affordable and supportive
housing opportunities, in a manner informed by agency disparity analysis
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, operationalize 100% of affordable housing
outreach strategies.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand outreach capacity through onboarding an Affordable Housing
Specialist staff member
•
Devise inclusive and effective outreach and education strategies that
expand our agency’s work in historically underserved and underinvested
neighborhoods
•
Connect Veterans and their families to affordable housing counseling,
presentations, and marketing materials, with a focus on those of
underrepresented backgrounds
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Veterans and their families who live in historically underserved
and underinvested, council districts that accessed housing services from
DVS, disaggregated by race, gender identity, and ethnicity
•
Number of outreach engagements conducted in underserved and
underinvested council districts
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Pursue structural reform to rectify policies that have consistently been harmful to
the socio-economic mobility of Veterans, including Veterans of color
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, inform and support Veterans, particularly those who live in
historically underserved and underinvested neighborhoods, with all changes in
laws and policies related to the VA Home Loan and co-op ownership.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with Congressional Legislators to advocate for a rule change that
would allow the VA Home Loan to be used for purchasing co-op
apartments in an effort to create more opportunity for first time
homebuying particularly for Veterans of color
•
Inform Veterans in New York City with information about changes to the
VA Home Loan and other financing resources
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Veterans and their families who access VA home loans to
purchase co-ops in historically underserved and underinvested ZIP codes
in New York City, with participant data disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
and gender identity
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Enhance the city’s capacity to assist Veterans who seek to have their discharge
status upgraded and identify and address any systemic harms contributing to the rates
of homelessness for Veterans, who often face housing insecurity due to ineligibility for
VA care and housing support because of their discharge status
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, expand the number of legal service providers that offer free
legal services to Veterans living in underserved and underinvested zip codes,
including those living in shelter and supportive housing, for the purposes of
upgrading their discharge status.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Advocate for more legal service providers to offer discharge upgrade
services to expand the DVS Discharge Upgrade Assistance Legal
Services (DUALS) program
•
Increase the number of veterans’ benefits claims and housing claims filed
in a manner informed by agency disparity analysis
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of legal services providers providing free legal services to
Veterans living in underserved and underinvested zip codes, including
those living in shelter and supportive housing, for the purposes of
upgrading their discharge status
•
VetStat data of claims filed for Veterans disaggregated by race, gender
identity, and ethnicity
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#7: Expand access to safe, stable housing for those at risk of homelessness, eviction,
and deed theft without delay. Access should be available to individuals and families.
•
#15: Remove barriers and increase access for people harmed by racial and social
injustice to learn about buy and keep ownership of property.
Spotlight Win
•
Since 2016, the New York City Department of Veterans’ Service has placed more than
1,400 Veterans in supportive and permanent housing.
Department of Youth and Community Development
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) invests in a
network of community-based organizations (CBOs) and programs to alleviate the effects of
poverty. DYCD’s programs provide opportunities for New Yorkers and communities to
flourish. DYCD supports New York City youth, families, and communities by funding a wide
range of high-quality youth and community development programs. These include after-
school and summer programs in schools and community centers, as well as workforce
development, health and safety initiatives, family support and literacy services. This network
also includes Beacon and Cornerstone Community Centers, which provide year-round spaces
where youth, families, and community members can access educational, recreational,
workforce, and other supportive services in neighborhoods across New York City.
DYCD advances this work through partnerships with community-based organizations across
the five boroughs, connecting New Yorkers to programs, employment opportunities, and
neighborhood resources while expanding access through tools such as Discover DYCD and
Community Connect. Complementing these efforts, Workforce Connect supports workforce
development by connecting youth and adults to paid work experiences, career exploration
opportunities, and information about available employer tax credits that encourage
businesses to hire eligible individuals within the local workforce. As the City’s largest investor
in capacity building for human services providers, DYCD also strengthens nonprofit
organizations by providing technical assistance, training, and organizational development
support so they can better serve communities and successfully manage sister agency
contracts.
DYCD is committed to ensuring all New Yorkers have opportunities to reach their full
potential. This includes expanding opportunities for individuals, communities, minority and
women small business owners, and emerging nonprofits led by leaders with deep cultural
community knowledge and experience. Through this plan, DYCD will strengthen equity in its
programs, outreach, contracting, and investments by focusing on three priorities: helping
emerging nonprofits compete for and manage City contracts, expanding meaningful public
engagement, and using data to guide resource allocation to communities with the highest
needs.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Increase capacity building of emerging nonprofit organizations
17
to compete for
opportunities and effectively manage contracts
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, create and promote knowledge and skill-based
opportunities to nonprofit organizations in DYCD's contracting process.
b.
Strategies:
•
Establish an internal workgroup to identify barriers in contracting for
nonprofit organizations
•
Establish a training program that addresses the needs of these
organizations
17
Emerging nonprofits are defined as those with a revenue of under $3 million.
•
Provide technical assistance to these organizations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of capacity building offerings and interventions
•
Percent of participants who report increased skills or readiness
•
Number of organizations that received interventions and felt prepared to
apply for a DYCD or NYC agency solicitation
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Increase awareness and understanding of DYCD’s programs and strengthen
community voice by expanding opportunities for input that informs decision-making
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase awareness of DYCD programs among
underserved communities. DYCD has established clear, accessible ways for
community members to share feedback and that feedback is tracked and used
to guide outreach, planning, and programmatic decisions.
b.
Strategies:
•
Create an inventory of current public engagement practices across the
organization to understand who is being reached, how feedback is
collected, and where gaps exist, and use this information to improve
outreach and decision-making
•
Perform targeted outreach to communities with the highest need for
DYCD’s programming and ensure outreach is accessible to those who do
not speak English well or at all
•
Leverage DYCD networks (such as coalitions, councils, and boards) to
build awareness and receive community feedback
•
Establish public engagement tracker and feedback loops for new
outreach efforts
•
Establish a language bank program of multilingual staff who can provide
input from a language and cultural competency perspective on outreach
strategies and participate in content development
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of engagement touchpoints and participant mix by geography,
language, and target populations
•
Percent of outreach that reaches high-need geographies/communities
•
Number of partner events with DYCD networks as outreach multipliers
2.
Goal
: Improve public understanding of DYCD's role in contracting, procurement, and
reimbursement by providing accessible information about agency processes,
expectations and responsibilities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, CBOs have a greater understanding of DYCD's contracting,
procurement and reimbursement processes, and available opportunities for
engagement and support.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Leverage data collected from providers and community members to
identify recurring knowledge gaps for CBOs
•
Analyze and improve existing educational materials on contracting,
procurement, and reimbursement processes. Ensure materials are written
in plain language, understandable and comprehensive
•
Expand informational sessions for CBOs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of organizations/community members participating in contracting
education sessions
•
Percent of participants reporting increased understanding after trainings
or informational sessions
•
Number of educational resources that are evaluated and updated
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Prioritize DYCD’s investments in communities with the highest needs using a
data driven approach
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, apply DYCD’s equitable investment methodology to 100%
of City Tax Levy (CTL) funded DYCD programs.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Calculate needs based on poverty data and program specific data
•
Conduct outreach and engagement to solicit input on refining the
methodology for the applicable solicitations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percent of participants slots allocated to top 10% of
neighborhoods with the highest levels of poverty
•
Number, percent, and demographics of participants enrolled in our
programs
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
Spotlight Wins
•
Transformative Social Emotional Learning (SEL):
Social and emotional learning
(SEL) is the process through which people apply knowledge and skills to develop
healthy identities. It is also a process where they learn to manage emotions and set
and achieve goals. Individuals also learn to feel and show empathy for others,
establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring
decisions. DYCD expects all programs to help participants develop the core SEL
competencies that they need to thrive and grow. DYCD revised the SEL framework to
include an equity lens. This revised approach is Transformative SEL. Transformative
SEL includes developing a sense of identity, agency, belonging, curiosity, and
problem-solving. This can empower individuals to address inequities and build safe
and healthy communities. DYCD is currently working on applying this framework to
DYCD program areas.
•
Equitable Investment Methodology:
DYCD contracts with nonprofit organizations to
deliver programs and services. Organizations are selected through a competitive
process. In 2021, DYCD began developing an equitable investment methodology. This
approach prioritized places with the highest concentration of people living in poverty.
This approach aligns with DYCD's mission as an anti-poverty agency. This method
also takes into account the targeted population for program goals. DYCD is currently
working on applying this methodology to program solicitations. DYCD expects that this
approach will bring programs closer to communities with the highest need.
•
Summer Youth Employment Program Expanded Initiatives:
DYCD’s Summer
Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is the nation’s largest youth employment program.
In 2025, it provided 100,000 NYC youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with career
exploration opportunities and paid work experience. DYCD ensures that SYEP serves
young people who need this experience the most, by doing targeted outreach. SYEP
prioritizes residents who live in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). It also
prioritizes youth who live in the six precincts with the highest levels of gun violence.
After the application was released in January 2025, DYCD conducted recruitment
events in these precincts. DYCD also targeted youth with barriers to employment.
Through these specialized programs, over 14,000 youth participated in tailored SYEP
experiences designed for participants with specific needs, including young people with
disabilities and those experiencing homelessness. Approximately 20,000 were from
communities at risk of gun violence and 15,000 were from NYCHA developments, the
highest number served to date. More than 22,000 participated in the CareerReady
program, which works with the New York Public Schools to identify schools that have
youth at highest risk of dropping out. After the online application closed, DYCD
continued targeted recruitment to allow those experiencing barriers to employment the
opportunity to apply until all designated slots were filled.
NYC Public Schools
Mission and Commitment
New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) are committed to the ongoing development of safe,
academically rigorous, and truly integrated schools. During his first 100 days, Chancellor
Kamar H. Samuels conducted ten in-depth Community Conversations across the five
boroughs; individual visits to all 45 superintendent districts; and continued public feedback
sessions with the community to shape the mission and commitment towards equity and
integration of our public schools.
The overarching goal of this plan is to ensure academic success for all NYCPS students, with
a deliberate focus on eliminating long-standing racial disparities that disproportionately impact
Black and Brown scholars. As we continue forward, every action, investment, and policy must
be designed in a thoughtful and community-centric framework that creates learning
environments where every student—regardless of race or socioeconomic status—has
equitable access to rigorous instruction, safe and supportive schools, and meaningful
opportunities to thrive in a truly integrated environment.
This work has already begun, and NYCPS will never stop turning policy into practice. That
includes launching targeted 2-K, expanding 3-K, broadening access to academically rigorous
and culturally responsive curriculums (e.g., NYC Reads, NYC Solves, Hidden Voices, and
Black Studies), strengthening restorative practices, and inaugurating district working groups.
NYCPS serves a diverse student body with 19.3 percent identifying as Black, 18.7 percent as
Asian and Pacific Islander, 42.3 percent as Hispanic, 16.1 percent as White, and 3.6 percent
as Multiracial or Native American. Our students and communities encompass over 180
distinct languages with deeply diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnicities. Among NYCPS
students, English Language Learners (ELLs) comprise 16.8 percent, students with disabilities
(SWDs) 22.4 percent, and economically disadvantaged 75.3 percent. NYCPS is a truly rich
environment that reflects and invites all New Yorkers.
Community feedback and data continuously highlight the importance of every student
attending a school that is safe, academically rigorous, and truly integrated. NYCPS is
committed to aligning its words and actions to break down systemic barriers, confront historic
inequities, and authentically partner with the community to build upon the Racial Equity Plan
(REP) to meet these goals.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure timely payments and address systemic inequities in the fiscal processes for
early childhood Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Family Child Care Networks,
and other partners who play a pivotal role in serving historically under-resourced
communities
a.
Outcome
: By FY2027, increase the percentage of early childhood providers with
fully registered contracts and correctly submitted invoices paid within two weeks
from the baseline of 78% to 88%, specifically reducing disparities in payment
timelines across provider types and communities.
b.
Strategies:
•
Operationalize performance management using tracking systems:
o
Generate routine reports to create bi-monthly exception lists for
programs not meeting expectations pertaining to invoicing and
budget submission
o
Create a targeted support and tiered escalation pathway with
defined response and engagement timelines to prioritize providers
with historically late or incorrect budget and/or invoice submissions
o
Release an enhanced tool that supports tracking, analyzing, and
organizing resources for communications
•
Incorporate provider voice and feedback: engage providers in at least
one structured feedback loop within FY2027 and integrate that feedback
into ongoing process improvements
•
Increase internal capacity by hiring Operations Analysts in order to lower
individual caseloads and improve response time support and assistance
•
Launch the Early Childhood Management System (ECMS) to increase
fiscal process transparency for providers across various care settings
c.
Indicators:
•
Average number of days between invoice submission and provider
payment
•
Percent of monthly payments processed
•
Total number and percentage of targeted providers showing improved
performance
2.
Goal
: Reduce racial disparities in access to the full continuum of special education
services by expanding access to high-quality specialized and inclusive programs in
community schools closer to students’ homes, while preserving District 75 as an essential
option for students whose needs are best served there.
18
a.
Outcome:
Expand access to inclusive and specialized program options for Black
students with disabilities in their home districts through the Kindergarten IEP
Process (KIP), increasing the percentage of students with access to inclusive
programs from approximately 76% in SY 2025–26 to 78% in SY 2026–27.
b.
Strategies:
•
Ensure that all students participating in the Kindergarten IEP Process
(KIP) are considered for the full continuum of special education program
options, including specialized neighborhood-based programs and, when
appropriate, District 75
•
Expand specialized programs, particularly AIMS, in historically under-
resourced communities and communities of color, with sufficient planning
time, staffing, space, related services, behavioral supports, resources,
and school-based implementation support to increase equitable access to
high-quality program options closer to home
•
Enhance district-level monitoring and accountability structures to track
student recommendations, enrollment, and access across the continuum
of special education program options that allows ongoing assessment
and adjustment of practices, with a particular focus on KIP
•
Deepen sustained professional learning and coaching for educators and
school leaders to address implicit bias and strengthen culturally
18
Each year, approximately 2,500 students enter kindergarten through the Kindergarten IEP Process (KIP) with
recommendations for highly specialized services. In the 2024–25 school year, 17% of students participating in
KIP were recommended for District 75, compared with more than 23% of Black students, highlighting racial
disparities in access to the full continuum of special education program options.
responsive assessment practices, fair referral processes, and culturally
responsive supports
•
Sequence implementation so specialized programs are built, staffed, and
supported before making changes intended to reduce reliance on District
75 or other distant placements
•
Engage families and communities in the referral process to ensure
transparency, awareness, and cultural relevance
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percentage of Black students with equitable access to the
full continuum of specialized program options, including neighborhood-
based specialized programs and District 75, as appropriate
•
Number and percentage of Black students recommended to receive
supportive and necessary Assistive Technology devices at KIP
3.
Goal
: Reduce barriers to the participation of Minority- and Women-Owned Business
Enterprises (M/WBEs) in procurement by implementing targeted policy reforms,
strengthening accountability structures, and expanding vendor access to contracting
opportunities, consistent with federal, state, and local law
a.
Outcome
: By FY27, 85% of NYCPS Small Businesses that are M/WBE vendors
certified by the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) will be incorporated
into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop a CRM tool that will support tracking, analyzing, storing, and
organizing small businesses by M/WBE status, engagement, and
communication with NYCPS
•
Improve timely payments for M/WBE vendors (and all NYCPS vendors)
by pursuing changes in the Polaris Invoicing System to streamline the
payment and invoicing process, as well as providing immediate support
for troubleshooting novel challenges
•
Launch an Opportunity Advisory Council by December 2026 that will
guide NYCPS on the identification of barriers that prevent M/WBEs from
successfully competing in the contracting process; develop policies and
strategies that increase M/WBE participation; and recommend solutions
that help foster collaboration between NYCPS, the business community,
and M/WBE advocates
•
Develop and implement pre-qualified lists (PQLs) in NYCPS procurement
by December 2026
c.
Indicators
:
•
Total number of M/WBE vendors receiving purchase orders and contract
awards within a fiscal year
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Ensure all students experience equitable, safe, and culturally responsive learning
environments by reducing disciplinary practices that disproportionately impacting students
of color and fostering inclusive school communities
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, increase the number of schools and programs that have
access to high-quality, culturally responsive training sessions and resources that
support students’ social-emotional growth and restorative practices.
b.
Strategies:
•
Early Childhood settings
o
Provide high-quality professional learning focused on social-
emotional learning (SEL) to early childhood program leaders and
staff across all NYCPS early care and education settings,
equipping educators with evidence-based strategies that foster
positive relationships, supportive learning environments, and
children's social-emotional development
o
Provide additional support to early childhood program staff, such
as practice-based coaching, with an emphasis on equity and
culturally sustaining practices to ensure successful implementation
o
Provide differentiated implementation support, including practice-
based coaching and technical assistance, with an emphasis on
equity and culturally sustaining practices to strengthen educators'
capacity to implement high-quality social-emotional learning
practices
•
K-12 settings
o
Implement equitable, clear, and consistent discipline policies by
educating students, families, and educators in the
DisciplineCode
and increase the use of restorative practices in addressing student
behavior
o
Increase education and awareness to ensure school communities
understand discipline through an educational, growth mindset
rather than as punishment
o
Re-design restorative practices to increase access for all NYCPS
communities
o
Propose amendments to the Discipline Code that promote
supportive responses to behavior and address areas of
disproportionality
o
Create training modules for principals on the development and
implementation of best practices that improve school
environments, increase student voice, and heighten student
belonging
o
Strengthen monitoring systems to ensure schools are in full
compliance with the training of designated liaisons responsible for
supporting students
•
Develop and facilitate targeted professional learning to selected partners
(district and school leadership and their teams) to build upon and deepen
their leadership practice around culturally responsive and adaptive
leadership
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percentage of early childhood leadership coaches (LCs),
social workers (SWs), and instructional coordinators (ICs) who have
become master cadre teachers and will have completed Pyramid Model
Equity Coaching training
•
Number and percentage of early childhood LCs, ICs, and SWs offering
ongoing professional learning to support curriculum implementation
•
Percentage of positive responses to students’ perception of safety
surveys for continued and ongoing development
•
Number and percentage of staff participating in both required and
optional training sessions
•
Number and percentage of schools with clear, visual presence of
welcoming environments during school visits by central staff
•
Number and percentage of safety incidents and suspensions for students
of color, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Number and percentage of families facing a superintendent's suspension
who choose to waive the hearing rather than exercising their due process
right to contest the suspension
2.
Goal
: Close achievement gaps and racial disparities in literacy, numeracy, and social-
emotional development for students by expanding and improving early childhood
education
a.
Outcome
: By the end of SY 2026-27, launch 2-K programming to serve 2,000
students in five selected school districts,
19
building the foundation for further
expansion in SY 2027-28, and broadening 3-K capacity to elevate the number of
families that have reasonable travel from home to school.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Increase access to early childhood programming by growing seat
availability for 2-K and 3-K in targeted communities, using an evidence-
based approach to demographic, economic, enrollment, and waitlist data
•
Implement an evidence-based curriculum and authentic, culturally
responsive assessment systems that embrace children’s uniqueness and
offer differentiated instructional supports
•
Strengthen and expand partnerships with community-based providers
through NYCPS, the Mayor’s Office, and the Office of the Governor by
prioritizing early childhood growth through CBOs and FCC networks
rooted in the communities they serve
•
Provide targeted support for new providers to participate in and succeed
as part of the 2-K and 3-K expansions
•
Design professional learning for diverse models and communities while
coaching staff engage with teaching teams and leaders in interventions,
learning walks, and on-site debriefs to share and strengthen systems,
structures, and practices that promote racial equity and cultural
responsiveness across programs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of 2-K seats launched, operationalized, and filled by FY28, laying
the foundation for Universal 2-K access citywide by fall 2029
•
Number and percentage of 3-K families with shorter travel times from
home to school
•
3-K seats filled in high-need communities
•
Racial disparities in achievement for students entering Kindergarten
•
The number of students who enroll with NYCPS both at Kindergarten and
the end of their elementary school experience
3.
Goal
: Expand equitable access to high-quality specialized programs in community
schools, particularly in districts with high rates of District 75 recommendations, so that
more students can receive specialized supports closer to home and in the setting that best
meets their individual needs, while preserving District 75 as an essential part of the
continuum of services
20
19
https://www.schools.nyc.gov/enrollment/enroll-grade-by-grade/2-k
20
During the 2024–25 school year, 86.5% of students recommended to District 75 through the Kindergarten IEP
Process were identified as autistic, underscoring the need to expand high-quality specialized program options across
students’ home districts.
a.
Outcome
: Increase the percentage of Black students with disabilities who have
access to high-quality program options in their home districts as they transition to
Kindergarten by 8% in SY 2029-30.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Seek funding models and financial investment strategies, in partnership
with the Office of the Mayor, that creates a long-term specialized program
pathway for Black students with disabilities.
•
Launch preschool specialized programs in communities across New York
City
•
Include space for AIMS, Nest, and Horizon programs in new schools,
ensuring students needing specialized programs have access to a
broader continuum of high-quality program options in new school
communities
•
Expand high-quality specialized and inclusive programs throughout
NYCPS through a sequenced, capacity-building approach that ensures
schools have the staffing, services, resources, leadership support, and
implementation readiness necessary to provide students and families
with equitable access to the full continuum of program options across
communities
•
Increase coaching and implementation support provided by the Division
of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL) while expanding the use of
evidence-based practices from specialized programs across NYCPS
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of specialized coaches employed by NYCPS
•
Number of pedagogical staff serving in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
positions to support specialized programs and other developmental
disabilities
•
Number of specialized program seats available citywide
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Build culturally responsive, sustaining, and truly integrated schools that address
both composition and instructional practices by reducing the number of schools with higher
concentration of needs and creating more robustly enrolled, fiscally sustainable schools.
Simultaneously, spearhead system-wide leadership and instructional practices by building
inclusive and affirming learning environments where student engagement, belonging, and
equitable outcomes are consistently strong for all students
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, all schools will be sustainably enrolled and truly integrated to
support student achievement and access to high-quality programming and services.
Programs, schools, districts, and central leaders will demonstrate a growing
proficiency in culturally responsive and adaptive leadership practices that advance
racial equity.
b.
Strategies
:
•
By 2028,
all
community school districts (CSDs) will have superintendent-
led Working Groups, to develop locally driven strategies that expand
equitable access to high-quality academic opportunities and sustainably
enrolled, integrated schools
•
Develop district-based, community-developed strategies for school
utilization proposals that foster holistic integration and high-quality
schools
•
Ensure that curriculum and materials reflect the diversity of the families
and communities served in NYC
•
Integrate culturally relevant curriculum such as Black Studies, Latinidad
in Schools, and Hidden Voices Resources into literacy and Social Studies
instruction through curriculum crosswalks, leadership development,
implementation supports, and sample lessons developed in partnership
with educators. Curriculum implementation accompanied by professional
learning and district support to ensure systemic equitability across
districts
•
Facilitate tailored professional learning opportunities—such as job-
embedded coaching cycles, leadership coaching and collaborative
planning with grade-level teams to district and school leadership and their
teams—building upon and deepening leadership practices to advance
equity and facilitate courageous conversations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of high-enrolled and sustainable schools with diverse student
populations overlapped with student proficiency in key subject disciplines
•
Increased school enrollment data across each district
•
Number of students with access to advanced coursework, arts programs,
and strong teachers available through sustainably enrolled and integrated
school communities
•
Percentage of school and district leaders who complete professional
learning around culturally responsive and adaptive leadership and
demonstrate the use of adaptive leadership strategies through coaching
notes, reflections, and artifacts
•
Reflection and survey data that establishes an increase in leadership
confidence and skill for the facilitation of difficult conversations
•
Schools and district partners who consistently utilize planning and
monitoring systems as well as engage in structured walkthrough and
reflection cycles
•
New York City School Survey data for measurable, statistical progress in
belonging, safety, and inclusion
2.
Goal
: Prioritize evidence-based, culturally responsive, literacy, and mathematics
instruction for elementary, middle, and high school students with a focus on addressing
racial disparities in academic achievement that develops students as thriving readers,
writers, and mathematicians
a.
Outcome:
By 2035, 100% of students in grades 3-8 demonstrate English
Language Arts (ELA) and math proficiency.
b.
Strategies:
•
Integrate Black Studies, Latinidad in Schools, and Hidden Voices
Resources into Literacy and Social Studies instruction through curriculum
coherence, crosswalks, implementation support, and sample lessons
developed in partnership with educators, that coincides with professional
learning and district support
•
Institute instructional shifts through the implementation of high-quality
instructional materials
•
Provide teachers and leaders with professional learning and culturally
responsive job-embedded support
•
Build system-wide coherence of core curriculums, supplemental
programs, academic resources, interventions, and assessments to
support high-quality literacy and mathematics instruction
•
Spearhead professional learning and support for all districts on how to
use multi-tiered systems of support to address literacy and numeracy
gaps
•
Provide citywide training to school and district leaders, as well as
academic (math and literacy teams) on how to review and synthesize
assessment data to identify students who need support
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of students in grades 3-8 achieving ELA and math proficiency
overall and by race
•
Percentage of students scoring at the lowest performance level on New
York State ELA and math assessments, disaggregated by race, gender
identity, and ethnicity, and the resulting racial achievement gaps
•
The percentage of classroom teachers who have attended NYC Reads
and Solves curriculum training
•
Total number of community school districts that have adopted NYC
Reads and Solves
•
Percentage of teachers, parents, and school leaders who perceive
increased academic rigor and student progress
•
Survey and feedback results showing school leader and teacher
satisfaction with NYC Reads and Solves coaching, specific to its impact
on instructional quality
3.
Goal
: NYCPS has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement
and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and
local law
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, support participation of M/WBEs in compliance with city, state,
and federal laws while maintaining and tracking consistent implementation and
assessment of M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
Create formal M/WBE mentorship programs across prioritized industries,
beyond construction, that will support and build the capacity of small
businesses by industry: facilities, transportation, food, educational
resources, professional development, etc.
•
Build vendor and employee relationships through intentional, structured
matchmaking, including pitch sessions for large, contracted opportunities
•
Devise and refine sets of policies that synthesize M/WBE into all
procurement programs and Panel for Educational Policy activities,
integrating M/WBEs as active participants in all business processes,
workflows, and systems
•
Launch the “Get the Word Out” campaign to increase vendor participation
in trainings and pre-bid, proposal conferences.
•
Identify and retain M/WBE legal expert consultants to support the
implementation and evaluation of goals to ensure consistency and
compliance with federal, state, and local laws
c.
Indicators:
•
Number and percentage of M/WBE participating in the procurement
solicitation process and awarded contracts, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Total percentage increase of contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
•
Number of M/WBE Small Purchase Contracts disaggregated by race,
ethnicity gender identity
•
Total dollar amounts awarded to M/WBE contractors disaggregated by
race, ethnicity, and gender identity
4.
Goal
: Close achievement gaps and racial disparities in literacy, numeracy, and social-
emotional development to strengthen student outcomes and career pathways for English
Language Learners (ELLs)
a.
Outcome
: By 2035, ELLs in grades 3–8 who are at the Transitioning or Expanding
levels of English language proficiency will demonstrate 63% English language
proficiency, 61% math proficiency, an 89% five-year graduation rate, and an
increase in students graduating with the New York State Seal of Biliteracy
(NYSSB).
b.
Strategies
:
•
Establish high-quality pathways to multilingualism from Preschool to
graduation
•
Strengthen language and literacy across grades and subjects for
multilingual learners
•
Build a culturally and linguistically responsive workforce that appropriately
reflects the students of NYCPS
•
Recognize multilingualism as a core competency for college, career, and
civic readiness
•
Increase provision of English as a New Language (ENL) per New York
State (NYS) Commissioners Regulation Part 154
c.
Indicators
:
•
Annual progress of English Language Proficiency (ELP) for ELLs as
measured by NYSESLAT (until 2026) and WIDA (post 2026)
•
Total number of ELLs participating in bilingual education programs
•
Number of ELLs with postsecondary readiness plans
•
Year-over-year (YoY) test score proficiency rates in math and ELA for
ELLs
•
YoY increase of ELLs graduating from NYCPS with a high school
diploma
5.
Goal
: Disrupt historical inequities in college and career success by ensuring all NYCPS
students graduate with a pathway to a rewarding career and long-term economic security
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, ensure that 100% of NYCPS graduates have foundational
skills for career readiness, computer science, and financial literacy, as well as a
plan to gain early college credits and/or career credentials.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Scale FutureReadyNYC to increase access to early college credits,
Pathways-aligned advising, financial literacy, and career-readiness
courses
•
Increase the number of apprenticeships and internships available through
FutureReadyNYC, Career Readiness, and Modern Youth
Apprenticeships
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of high schoolers with paid work-based learning experiences
such as internships or apprenticeships in high-growth, high opportunity
fields
•
Percentage of students who have received 1:1 advising across grades 9-
12, including Individualized Progress Reviews
•
Percentage of students completing courses in financial literacy, career
readiness, and digital fluency
•
Percentage of students with access to early college credit opportunities
•
Percent of students enrolled in market-aligned pathways
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#10: Reduce racial and economic segregation and education gap by increasing
support to schools. Help every student and family with education and other health-
related social needs.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
Expanding Black Studies Across NYC Public Schools (NYCPS)
In the 2025–26 school year, the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL)
expanded implementation of the NYCPS Black Studies Curriculum (BSC) across 35 of
45 community school districts and nearly 475 schools and programs.
Through supporting resources, leadership development, curriculum crosswalks, and
professional learning, more than 6000 educators integrated the BSC into their core
curricula citywide.
•
Inclusive History Through The Hidden Voices Project
The NYCPS Social Studies and Civics Department advances culturally responsive-
sustaining education through The Hidden Voices Project, a collaboration with
educational and cultural institutions, artists, and scholars.
Hidden Voices helps students learn about the many people often overlooked in
traditional historical narratives who have shaped and continue to shape our history and
identity. Through these resources, students analyze the past and make meaningful
connections to the present.
Aligned to the Passport to Social Studies curriculum, Hidden Voices supports inclusive
learning across content areas. The project encourages educators to teach from
multiple perspectives and ensure instructional materials reflect diverse racial, ethnic,
and cultural backgrounds.
During the 2025-26 school year, approximately 2,200 educators participated in citywide
professional learning on the Hidden Voices Project, expanding access to inclusive and
culturally responsive instruction across NYC Public Schools.
•
Math and ELA proficiency rates increased from the previous school year across
key student groups.
Math Proficiency Gains:
•
Black students: +4.6 percentage points
•
Hispanic students: +3.4 percentage points
•
Asian students: +1.1 percentage points
•
Students with disabilities: +1.7 percentage points
English Language Arts (ELA) Proficiency Gains:
•
Black students: +8.3 percentage points
•
Hispanic students: +7.1 percentage points
•
Asian students: +4.9 percentage points
•
Students with disabilities: +5.6 percentage points
For more Spotlight Wins visit
schools.nyc.gov/racialequityspotlights.
Economy
Economy
Systemic racism has created profound and lasting economic disparities that continue to
affect New Yorkers’ economic well-being today.
Disparities in Employment and Benefits
The history of labor exploitation in the United States, including the enslavement of
African people from whom trillions of dollars in unpaid labor were extracted, followed by
Jim Crow laws that restricted Black workers to specific occupations, has created deep-
rooted inequities in economic opportunity.
23
Even transformative worker-protection
legislation like the New Deal deliberately excluded occupations predominantly held by
Black individuals, such as domestic and agricultural work, from crucial wage and labor
protections.
These historical injustices laid the foundation for persistent racial disparities in
employment, wages, benefits, and wealth accumulation that we see today. Black
workers continue to face systematically higher unemployment rates than white workers,
with Black women in particular experiencing some of the highest rates of workplace
discrimination and wage inequality.
24
This burden is especially significant given that 84
percent of Black mothers serve as primary breadwinners for their families.
25
Hispanic
and Asian American workers also face substantial wage gaps and barriers to
advancement, while immigrant workers are disproportionately vulnerable to workplace
exploitation and wage theft.
Condition of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to thrive with:
Resources necessary to prosper
economically and build wealth
Spotlight:
Innovation Industries
Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities are underrepresented in
innovation industries, including life sciences, technology, and the green economy (i.e.,
the jobs and activities that reduce emissions and protect against climate change),
among others. For example, in 2022 BIPOC workers made up 60 percent of the total
NYC workforce but represented less than half of the tech sector (48 percent).
26
Black
and Hispanic workers are particularly underrepresented in the tech sector, with Hispanic
workers making up 13 percent and Black workers 10 percent of the sector, compared to
52 percent for white workers.
Spotlight:
Entertainment and Media Industries
In the entertainment and media industries, systemic racism continues to shape both
representation and opportunities. People of color remain underrepresented in entry-
level and leadership roles both on-screen and behind the scenes, comprising only 17
percent of theatrical film directors and 12 percent of film writers, according to the 2023
Hollywood Diversity Report.
27
On-screen representation is similarly limited, with Asians
and Pacific Islanders comprising just 5.9 percent of characters in popular films from
2007 to 2019.
28
Similarly, Latinos account for only 4 to 7 percent of onscreen talent in
U.S. television and streaming, according to a 2024 report by McKinsey & Company
29
,
and Native Americans were nearly invisible in top-grossing films from 2007 to 2022.
30
In
theatre, Black actors made up just 1 percent of off-stage talent on Broadway, according
to the Black Theatre Coalition.
31
In the music industry, according to a 2021 report by USC Annenberg, only 13.9 percent
of executives at 70 major and independent companies were people of color
32
, and,
according to a 2024 USC Annenberg report, in 2023 only six women of color were
producers.
33
The inequalities in representation extend to the gaming industry; of the
respondents to a 2023 survey from the International Game Developers Association, 79
percent were white, which suggests a very large racial gap.
34
In journalism, a 2023 Pew
Research study found that 76 percent of all reporting journalists are white, while only 8
percent are Hispanic, 6 percent are Black, and 3 percent are Asian.
35
These disparities not only harm individuals but also contribute to stereotypical and
harmful depictions of people of color in entertainment. For example, the
underrepresentation in journalism shapes how stories are told, and 63 percent of Black
people say news about Black people is more negative than news about other groups.
36
The digital divide also limits access to critical information with 35 percent of Black
households and 36 percent of Hispanic households lacking broadband access in New
York City, according to the U.S. Census American Community Survey 2020 Five-year
PUMS data. With less access to information, as well as financing, mentorship,
networking, and training, people of color have limited opportunities for growth in the
entertainment industry.
Beyond employment, communities of color face systemic barriers in accessing financial
services and building intergenerational wealth. They are more likely to be unbanked or
underbanked, face predatory lending practices, and carry disproportionate debt
burdens. Medical debt, the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, falls most
heavily on Black, Hispanic, and immigrant communities who are more likely to be
uninsured or underinsured. These communities also face higher rates of consumer
fraud and deceptive business practices, compounding the economic challenges they
face.
Obstacles to Small Business Ownership, Entrepreneurship, and
Partnership Opportunities
These barriers have also hindered those in historically underserved communities from
accessing opportunities for economic growth, such as support for small businesses,
entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and City contracting. NYC has one of the strongest
small business ecosystems in the world, with over 200,000 small businesses employing
more than half of the City’s private sector workforce. Small business owners strengthen
the City’s economy, create jobs in the communities they serve, and reflect the diverse
population that makes up NYC.
Since 1992, NYC government has hired consultants to perform disparity studies on the
utilization of minority and women-owned businesses (M/WBE) in the relevant market
relative to their availability. From the 2018 Disparity Study, which analyzed data from
July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2015, total M/WBE utilization was 10.4 percent of all of
NYC contracts. When compared to an availability estimate of 50.7 percent of
businesses that met the racial, ethnic, and gender ownership classes within the five
general procurement categories, this yields a disparity index of 20.4
utilization/availability.
Currently, NYC has over 11,000 certified M/WBEs benefiting from the City's M/WBE
Program through focused procurement training, capacity building training, and access to
capital. Although progress has been made, in FY23 M/WBEs still accounted for only 5.3
percent of the estimated $40 billion in annual contract spending in new City contracts
and purchase orders. The City is committed to address historic disparities in City
contracting, and in FY24, awarded $6.4 billion in M/WBE contracts through a multi-
agency effort. An M/WBE Advisory Council was also announced to support the City’s
OneNYC goal of awarding $25 billion in M/WBE contracts by the end of FY26.
However, small business owners of color encounter significant obstacles in establishing
and growing their enterprises, including limited access to capital, higher denial rates for
business loans, and complex regulatory requirements that can be particularly
burdensome for immigrant entrepreneurs who speak a language other than English.
Moreover, despite Black New Yorkers making up 22 percent of NYC’s population, only
3.5 percent of businesses are owned by Black entrepreneurs and BIPOC entrepreneurs
are still largely concentrated in lower-wage sectors (e.g., health care, social assistance,
and education).
37
Spotlight:
Manufacturing Sector
Within the manufacturing sector, Black-owned and Hispanic-owned manufacturers only
account for a small percentage (0.5 percent and 0.8 percent respectively) of supply
While the City has made efforts to streamline procurement processes and make it
easier to do business with the City, many providers, particularly small businesses and
M/WBEs, continue to face challenges navigating the procurement process. Delays at
various stages can create cash-flow pressures for smaller providers and affect their
ability to sustain operations and pursue growth. Continued efforts to improve efficiency,
transparency, and provider experience remain important to ensuring that City
contracting works effectively for all participants.
Spotlight:
Partnerships with Arts and Culture Organizations
New York City leads the nation in arts and culture investment, supporting over 1,000
nonprofit organizations annually. However, there are gaps in resource distribution that
have generated inequities in access for all New Yorkers to benefit from the
transformative power of the arts. Specific neighborhoods and communities, often those
with larger populations of people of color, have long received less arts and cultural
funding, mirroring broader systemic inequities.
Arts organizations often face obstacles in securing consistent, unrestricted funding.
Despite their critical local impact and cultural relevance, smaller community-rooted
organizations frequently struggle to meet funding criteria that favor "scale" and "reach".
This affects organizational growth and hinders community development, as studies
show that access to cultural resources is linked to improved outcomes in education,
health, and social cohesion. Moreover, systemic barriers limit the growth of culturally
specific organizations, crucial for preserving and promoting marginalized communities'
heritage and stories. Organizations rooted in communities of color often lack the
resources to secure larger grants, resulting in a cycle of under-resourcing that curtails
innovation and engagement.
Building a representative, diverse cultural workforce is critical to achieving equitable arts
access. People of color are underrepresented in arts leadership, limiting opportunities
for individuals from diverse backgrounds to lead, influence, and participate fully in
shaping New York City's cultural landscape. Barriers to entry, like low or unpaid entry-
level positions and inequitable hiring practices including those that do not consciously
and effectively consider talent from all communities, restrict career paths for people with
less privileged backgrounds and perpetuate disparities in the arts workforce.
chains supported by three key pieces of federal legislation enacted in 2021 and 2022:
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act),
and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section recognize the critical need to address these systemic
barriers and are committed to creating an inclusive, equitable economy where all
New Yorkers can thrive.
Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
Mission and Commitment
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation’s (BNYDC) mission is to fuel New
York City’s economic vitality by creating and preserving quality jobs, growing the City’s
modern industrial sector and its businesses, and connecting the local community with
the economic opportunity and resources of the Yard.
Through our work managing the Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial campus on the City of
New York’s behalf, we are committed to building new, inclusive paths to economic
opportunity that result in greater access and improved economic outcomes for business
owners and workers, including other diverse business owners and workers.
To accomplish these responsibilities, BNYDC is implementing targeted efforts to ensure
that our organizational practices are shaped through the lens of equity.
We are committed to leveraging the Yard for creating and preserving accessible
opportunity through industrial and manufacturing jobs, growing the City’s modern
industrial sector and its businesses, and connecting diverse communities with the
economic opportunity and resources of the Yard.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Implement new training and professional development opportunities for
staff, tenant employees, and BNY’s community, with a focus on participation and
access for those underrepresented in BNYDC’s programming
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, offer training and professional
development opportunities for staff, tenant employees, and BNY’s
community, in a manner that is reflective of the diversity of NYC.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop an internal professional development policy and offer new
programs to best meet staff needs
•
Launch new external training to support additional New Yorkers in
receiving the skills needed to obtain “green jobs”
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of staff trained, disaggregated by demographic information
available, including race, ethnicity, and gender identity, and compare to
total staff population
•
Number of training programs offered externally, number of program
participants.
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Support M/WBE participation in agency procurements while continuing to
implement and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with
federal, state, and local law
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, maintain consistent implementation and assessment
for M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with SBS to support outreach and engagement with
certified M/WBE vendors in connection with BNYDC
procurements
•
Utilize procurement tools that facilitate participation by certified
M/WBE vendors in agency contracting opportunities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of M/WBE vendors responding to BNYDC procurements,
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
2.
Goal:
Increase the number of first-generation college students from local New
York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments participating in workforce
and education programs, to support elimination of disparities in employment and
education
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase the number of first-generation college
students from local NYCHA developments participation in workforce
and/or education programs by 20%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Initiate targeted outreach to the four surrounding NYCHA
developments and local school partners to increase the youth and
community resident engagement at BNYDC events and public
programs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of first-generation college students from local NYCHA
developments participating in workforce and education programs
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Support new and growing businesses in advanced manufacturing, clean
technology, and emerging industries ecosystems by increasing awareness of
opportunities for tenancy among potential small business tenants and positioning
BNYDC to be a centralized and coordinating hub for small businesses, including
M/WBEs
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, achieve a tenanting strategy that attracts diverse
tenants underrepresented to the Yard.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop a small-space program where we match small
businesses with smaller spaces (>1,000 sf) to create new
pathways for business growth at the Yard
•
Develop a small business Tenant Improvement Fund to
support renovation of spaces to meet business needs, starting
with a pilot using $3 million of City capital earmarked for tenant
improvements for incoming small business tenants
c.
Indicators
:
•
Tenant data, disaggregated by identity of owners, including race,
ethnicity, and gender identity; analyzed with job density, job creation,
and other mission-aligned metrics
Community Equity Priority Referenced
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age,
and disability in city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age,
and disability access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
As part of New York City’s Climate Week in September 2024, the
Brooklyn Navy Yard partnered with the Eunoia Group on the
Bold Eco
Solutions: Diverse Minds Forum at Climate Week
. With the aim to
address the disparities for visibility and funding for entrepreneurs in the
climate space, this event convened a panel of industry influencers to
explore how technologies and strategies led by diverse leaders are
redefining and expanding the landscape of climate technology. The
audience was filled with investors, innovators and ecosystem builders
primed to learn from industry experts and to delve into a transformative
discussion. The event closed with a robust networking session with 60+
attendees.
•
In September 2024, the Brooklyn Navy Yard hosted its first-ever Green
Skills Summit, bringing together workforce development leaders to shape
the future of green-collar jobs training, including increasing access to job
opportunities for underrepresented groups in the tech and innovation
sectors. The event included 150 attendees representing 40+ different
organizations and featured a diverse set of speakers addressing talent
development and training issues in renewable wind power, electrification,
and building decarbonization. This summit was designed to support the
City’s commitment of building NYC’s green-collar workforce to 400,000
employees by 2040 and connecting New Yorkers to family- sustaining
jobs through the industries that help combat climate change.
Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) is the nation’s leading
municipal enforcement agency, charged with delivering economic justice. We bring New Yorkers
real economic relief and protect them from predatory, deceptive, and unfair practices that violate
their rights as consumers and workers. This includes pioneering cutting-edge protections for New
Yorkers, such as the City’s Consumer Protection Law, Protected Time Off Law, Fair Workweek
Law, and Delivery Worker Laws. Across New York City, DCWP levels the economic playing field
by licensing more than 45,000 businesses in over 45 industries and providing essential services
including free tax preparation and financial counseling to ensure New Yorkers Keep more of what
they earn and can plan for their futures. This work ensures that New York City is a fairer, more
affordable place to live for all.
DCWP embraces our role in advancing economic justice through our work in consumer protection,
worker rights, licensing and business support, and financial empowerment. We recognize the
challenges ahead, including resource constraints, evolving economic conditions, and the need to
build trust with communities that have historically been underserved by government institutions.
DCWP has continued to champion New Yorkers in every phase of their daily lives, and we will
continue this legacy of restoring fairness, dignity, and opportunity for New Yorkers. In a U.S.
Congress Joint Economic Committee report, people of color, specifically Black and Latino
consumers, are more likely to face barriers to mainstream banking and financing, with fewer
options to find affordable credit and build wealth, making them more vulnerable to predatory and
expensive lending practices.
i
Despite these challenges, we remain committed to centering racial equity in our work to ensure
that all New Yorkers, particularly those from historically marginalized communities, can access
economic opportunity and protection under the law.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Expand equitable access to financial empowerment resources to youth under 18 to
build generational wealth and economic stability
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, establish comprehensive youth financial
empowerment and consumer protection programming reaching students and their
families across NYC in 15 NYC Public School districts. Programming will focus on
financial empowerment and consumer protection education for students and their
families. Through this pilot phase, New Yorkers in these 15 districts will have access
to workshops and safe and affordable financial products for savings and banking.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop age-appropriate financial empowerment interventions for youth
under 18, including foundational financial concepts, consumer protection
concepts, and hands-on experience with banking and savings
•
Partner with schools and youth programs to deliver financial empowerment
education
•
Create targeted programs to reduce Summer Youth Employment (SYEP)
participants’ reliance on non-bank fintech for direct deposit
•
Collaborate with financial institutions to increase youth banking access to safe
and affordable financial products
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of students receiving financial empowerment and consumer
protection education
•
Number of families participating in financial and consumer education
workshops
•
Number of schools/programs participating in financial empowerment and
consumer protection education initiatives provided by DCWP
2.
Goal
:
Reduce barriers
to medical debt relief and increase access to financial assistance
and financial counseling for New Yorkers so they can reduce expenses and better
afford living in the city
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, medical debt counseling is accessible through
Financial Empowerment Centers at key H+H locations and provided at all NYC
Financial Empowerment Centers.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Train and place financial counselors at H+H locations
•
Develop specialized counseling protocols for medical debt
•
Create partnerships with healthcare providers for referrals
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of New Yorkers served through NYC Financial Empowerment
Centers citing medical debt as a presenting issue, disaggregated by
neighborhood or zip code
•
Number of financial counselors trained to assist with medical debt
concerns
•
Number of referrals to medical debt assistance
•
Percentage of clients successfully connected to medical debt resources
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Streamline business licensing processes to reduce barriers for small business
owners
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, reduce administrative burdens for small business owners by
reforming licensing requirements including removal of unnecessary fingerprinting
requirements while maintaining consumer protections.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Review and propose revisions to current licensing requirements
•
Work with City Council to eliminate unnecessary fingerprinting requirements
•
Create streamlined application processes centering the needs of our
regulated community
•
Develop clear guidance materials in multiple languages
•
Refine feedback loop to improve processes for small business owners
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of requirements eliminated or simplified
2.
Goal:
Increase access to NYC Free Tax Prep program and critical tax credits and refunds
to keep more money in the pockets of working families, lower filing costs, and support low-
income communities in progressing towards meeting NYC True Cost of Living standards
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase the number of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)-
eligible New Yorkers served through NYC Free Tax Prep by 25%.
b.
Strategies:
•
Strengthen service locations in underserved communities by increasing
diverse language access
•
Enhance culturally responsive outreach about available tax credits
•
Partner with community organizations for referrals
•
Strengthen referral pathways between NYC Free Tax Prep, Financial
Empowerment Centers, NYC Benefits, and workforce development programs
•
Expand virtual and facilitated self-assistance filing options to reduce barriers
to access
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of tax returns filed through program
•
Dollar amount saved in tax preparation fees
•
Estimated dollar amount of tax credits claimed
•
Number of returns claiming EITC
•
Number of self-employed filers served
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Reduce the rate of unbanked and underbanked New Yorkers to build financial
stability
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, the number of unbanked households will reduce by 7% across
New York City, with a special focus for the persistently high unbanked
neighborhoods of communities of color in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand Financial Empowerment Centers' locations in underserved
communities
•
Expand or strengthen investments in Financial Empowerment Centers
marketing
•
Partner with community organizations serving unbanked and underbanked
communities for referrals
•
Partner with financial institutions to develop accessible, safe and affordable
financial products that recognize the challenges of financial inclusion
technology, innovative and low-cost models, and embedded with culturally
relevant approaches
•
Utilize NYC Free Tax Prep and Financial Empowerment Centers to screen for
banking status and provide referrals to NYC SafeStart accounts, Bank On-
certified accounts, and other safe and affordable financial products and
services
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent reduction in citywide unbanked/underbanked rates
•
Number of clients receiving financial counseling
•
Percentage of Financial Empowerment Center clients who open a safe,
affordable bank account
•
Disaggregated data on banking outcomes at the Financial Empowerment
Centers by population
2.
Goal
: Support the City workforce’s financial health and address the disproportionate impact
of student loan debt by working with a city-contracted vendor and DCAS to leverage the
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, increase the number of City Employees who participate in the
PSLF program by 300%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand access to student loan debt assistance through additional supports to
City Agencies and at the Financial Empowerment Centers
•
Provide targeted outreach to eligible employees working with Department of
Citywide Administrative Services and Agency Personnel Officers
•
Track and support successful NYC employee loan forgiveness
completion working with Department of Citywide Administrative Services and
Agency Personnel Officers
•
Identify and address barriers to PSLF enrollment through participant
feedback
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of eligible NYC employees enrolled in PSLF
•
Number of eligible employees receiving PSLF counseling or assistance
•
Dollar amount of student loan debt relieved
•
Number of NYC employees using free debt relief services
•
Number of employees successfully receiving PSLF loan forgiveness
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#8: Evaluate and remove fines and fees to reduce the impact on low-income people of all
ages.
•
#13: Increase access and lower the cost to basic needs such as quality food,
transportation, medical, and housing.
Spotlight Wins
•
Over the first two years, the enhanced NYC EITC provided a total of $712.2 million in
benefits, reaching more than 760,000 filers each year, following its expansion for the first
time in nearly 20 years in 2022.
•
In 2026, DCWP and its partners celebrated the fourth year of NYC Free Tax Prep for Self-
Employed Filers, one of the nation’s first dedicated free tax preparation programs for
freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors, and small business owners. The
program provides free annual and quarterly tax preparation assistance, workshops, and
one-on-one consultations to help self-employed New Yorkers navigate complex tax
obligations, improve financial recordkeeping, and access critical tax benefits to build
financial health. Since its launch in 2023, the program has expanded access to tax
preparation services for workers who have historically faced barriers to affordable tax
assistance. The program has also contributed to increased utilization of the Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC) among eligible self-employed workers, helping connect historically
underserved New Yorkers to valuable tax benefits that support household financial stability,
asset building, and economic mobility.
•
In 2024, DCWP expanded its partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals to bring NYC Free
Tax Prep services directly into the City’s public healthcare system. By integrating free tax
preparation services into trusted healthcare settings and offering both in-person and virtual
filing options, the partnership helped connect historically underserved New Yorkers to
critical tax credits, refunds, and other financial resources that support household financial
stability and economic mobility. This partnership expanded again in 2025 when eight
Financial Empowerment Centers were opened at Health + Hospital locations to help New
Yorkers better plan and avoid going into medical debt in the future. This collaboration
ensures that more New Yorkers can access the financial care they need to improve their
lives and achieve their goals. In June 2025, DCWP, in partnership with NYC Public
Schools, announced the Financial Literacy for Youth Initiative with the goal to expand
financial empowerment resources to youth under 18 and their families to build generational
wealth and economic stability. With a focus on Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity
(TRIE) neighborhoods, the Initiative embeds financial educators in school districts to
provide financial counseling, lead workshops, and help educators and families foster a
financially healthy environment for all school children. The Initiative also brings an
innovative In-School Banking program to increase access to safe, affordable banking
directly to high school students by partnering with more than 15 local financial institutions
including credit unions.
•
DCWP released its third research brief on the Unbanked in NYC in Fall 2025. The research
brief, which is updated biennially based on FDIC survey data, describes geographic and
demographic characteristics of the city’s unbanked population, spotlighting systemic
barriers to banking access. Although the City’s unbanked rates have fallen, it is still
significantly higher than national averages. The data highlights persistent unbanked rates
by boroughs and neighborhoods, primarily in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
•
DCWP released the update to our Neighborhood Financial Health (NFH) Digital Mapping
and Data Tool. This data tool is a framework for understanding neighborhood financial
health, based on direct input from residents, consisting of a definition of neighborhood
financial health and five goals for a financially healthy neighborhood. The NFH Index
provides an easy reference tool for comparing neighborhoods and establish patterns in the
relationship of NFH indicators to economic and demographic factors, such as race and
income. Understanding these connections is potentially useful for identifying racial equity
patterns and uncovering systems that perpetuate the racial wealth gap which has helped
DCWP’s program targeting and site setting plans.
Department of Cultural Affairs
Mission and Commitment
The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is the largest municipal funder of arts and culture in the
United States and works to ensure that every New Yorker can participate in the cultural life of the
city as artists, cultural workers, and audiences. DCLA advances this mission through grantmaking
from the Cultural Development Fund (CDF), capital funding, support for the Cultural Institutions
Group (CIG), Materials for the Arts (MFTA), workforce development initiatives, policy leadership,
public art, and partnerships that strengthen New York City’s cultural sector.
New York’s cultural landscape has been shaped not only by extraordinary artists and communities
who have carried traditions to our city from around the world, but by generations of advocates who
fought to ensure public support reached those too often excluded from it. Their work helped
establish landmark public investments and programs that have reshaped
and immeasurably
enriched
our city’s cultural life. These victories affirmed that public support is essential to ensuring
artists, cultural workers, organizations, and audiences of color - especially as they intersect with
the LGBTQ+ and disabled communities - can fully participate in the cultural life of our city.
Yet despite that progress, public funding and resources have remained uneven, inconsistent, and
insufficient for the organizations and neighborhoods that have experienced generations of
underinvestment.
A plan for racial equity in our city must be grounded in the understanding that cultural equity, racial
equity, and economic justice are inseparable.
This plan advances racial equity not as a standalone initiative, but as an overarching approach to
strengthen how DCLA invests public resources, designs programs, and measures success.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
:
Eliminate barriers and give people back their time by reducing administrative burdens
and improving access
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, conduct a comprehensive review of all DCLA
application and reporting requirements to simplify processes, improve accessibility,
and reduce unnecessary paperwork needed to complete reports and applications.
•
Inequities are shaped not only by where public resources flow, but also
often by government processes themselves. Administrative complexity and
limited transparency create confusion and roadblocks to access public
funding for arts and culture, especially for smaller organizations, many of
which are culturally specific. This goal will give staff of organizations back
their time and will enable more organizations to participate more fully in the
agency’s programs.
b.
Strategies
: Based on existing agency information and knowledge, which the
comprehensive review will build on, the following strategies are expected, and
additional strategies will be added following the review:
•
Expand multilingual outreach, workshops, and technical assistance for first-
time and returning applicants across all DCLA funding opportunities
•
Expand DCLA’s direct engagement efforts by engaging in at least six
community outreach events in historically underinvested communities by end
of 2027
•
Strengthen partnerships with local arts councils and community-based
organizations to expand awareness of DCLA funding opportunities and
available resources in communities that have experienced historic under
investment
•
Solicit community feedback from organizations in historically underinvested
communities to identify additional ways to improve access to DCLA funding
opportunities and agency resources
•
Expand the role of the CDF Panel Advisory Group to provide ongoing
guidance on program design, eligibility criteria, funding structures, and
program definitions
•
Increase outreach by MFTA to organizations serving historically
underinvested communities
•
Expand MFTA residencies to additional Title One schools without arts
programming
•
Continue to expand open call outreach to artists of color and artists based in
historically under resourced neighborhoods for Percent for Art commissions
•
Grow the agency’s engagement with Deaf and disabled artists to help ensure
these communities can fully participate fully in the city’s cultural life
c.
Indicators
:
•
Reduced administrative burden for applicants and grantees based on reduced
amount of time needed to complete application
•
Applicant satisfaction and accessibility measures, based on applicant
feedback
•
Participation rates in technical assistance and outreach activities
•
Application rates among organizations and artists from historically
underinvested communities
2.
Goal:
Demystify the process and empower advocates by providing data, transparency, and
accountability
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, collect, analyze and share data in order to fully
understand the current distribution, impact, and gaps in DCLA’s funding and
programs, enabling more transparent decision-making and ongoing improvement.
•
DCLA will measure success not only by the breadth of organizations served,
but through the depth, consistency, and duration of public support. Providing
more robust and complete data sets on agency funding to strengthen
accountability and give researchers and advocates the tools they need to
analyze impact and build public trust. Ultimately, this will lead to better
equity-based policy decisions.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Establish a baseline study of Cultural Development Fund (CDF) support that
analyzes:
o
Primary community served
o
Borough
o
Organizational budget size
o
Arts discipline
o
Organizational age
o
Funding amount
•
Where feasible, collect data on DCLA funding serving Taskforce on Racial
Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) neighborhoods
•
Where feasible and legally permissible, analyze CDF and capital funding
patterns affecting organizations from historically marginalized communities,
including culturally specific organizations and organizations founded, led, or
governed by people of color, immigrants, disabled people, and LGBTQ+
New Yorkers
•
Measure depth of public investment in addition to overall distribution,
including:
o
Average grant size by budget tier
o
Percentage of multi-year versus single-year awards
o
Grantee retention rates over three- and five-year periods
o
Continuous funding patterns
o
Organizational funding stability over time.
•
Hire a dedicated DCLA data specialist to support data analysis,
transparency, and public reporting
•
Publish baseline racial equity funding data beginning in FY28 and update it
biennially
•
Where feasible and legally permissible, expand data collection and public
reporting for capital funding, public art, MFTA, and CIG programs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Baseline equity data completed
•
Public reporting framework published
•
Biennial racial equity data published
•
Expanded reporting on capital, public art, MFTA, and CIG investments
•
Funding stability and organizational retention measures established
3.
Goal:
Align our values with our practice by integrating racial equity as a governing
approach
21
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, apply a racial equity lens
22
to review agency policies, practices,
and processes including identifying any potential bias in decision-making, staff
development, public resource allocation processes, and evaluation of work at all
agency levels.
•
DCLA can strengthen its ability to serve all New Yorkers while ensuring that
advancing racial equity is a shared responsibility across every division of the
agency.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Re-establish an internal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Staff
Culture Committee with voluntary participation from staff across the agency,
led by the DCLA Deputy Commissioner
•
Support ongoing staff learning, collaboration, and accountability through
expert-led training, current best practices, and the integration of racial equity
principles into agency policies and procedures that lead to equity-driven
decision-making and evaluation strategies
•
Engage the internal Staff Culture Committee and the external Cultural Affairs
Advisory Commission in providing ongoing guidance on agency programs,
initiatives, policies, workplace culture, and opportunities to strengthen racially
equitable practices across the agency and to influence racial equity within the
cultural field
•
Provide unconscious bias training for all staff and panelists
c.
Indicators
:
•
Participation across agency divisions
•
Recommendations from Staff Culture Committee developed and implemented
•
Active staff engagement, feedback, and buy-in as measured by staff and
panelist learning and participation rates
•
Integration of racial equity considerations into agency operations, policies,
and decision-making processes
•
One Hundred percent of DCLA staff and external decision-makers (e.g., CDF
panelists) complete unconscious bias training
•
Development and adoption of a racial equity prime - a framework, list of
questions, or visual reminder to consciously center racial equity in daily
decision-making processes
21
Racial equity as a governing approach is defined here as applying a racial equity framework for improving decision
making, accountability, and service delivery.
22
A data-driven analytical process created and used to identify how policy, decisions, and programs might create
intentional and unintentional disparate impacts or reinforce historical inequities.
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Create economic opportunity for cultural workers by ensuring we advance workforce
equity and leadership development
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, through supporting leadership development through a racial
equity lens, DCLA seeks to build leadership pipelines and engage the sector to
shape a cultural workforce that is more just and better equipped to build New York
City’s cultural future.
•
A thriving cultural sector depends on artists, cultural workers, educators,
administrators, fabricators, technicians, union workers, nonprofit leaders, and
other cultural professionals who reflect the diversity of New York City and
have meaningful opportunities to grow, lead, and remain in the field.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Proactively partner with and reenergize the CUNY Cultural Corps program to
ensure it continues to build an equitable pipeline for the cultural workforce
•
Continue requiring ongoing CIG workforce diversity, equity, inclusion, and
accessibility plans while expanding assessment to include organizational
partnerships, artist participation and compensation, union collaboration,
institutional financial investments, and continued progress toward equitable
workplace practices
•
Create, bolster, or amplify five to ten pipeline programs for cultural workers
•
Support professional development opportunities for mid-career cultural
workers and emerging leaders through executive leadership training, board
governance education, fellowship opportunities, and other career
advancement initiatives
•
Support and encourage equitable and worker-centered human resources
practices across the cultural sector by promoting technical assistance, peer
learning, and other approaches related to anti-racist hiring practices,
disability-centered accessibility, trans-inclusive workplace policies, pay equity,
employee retention, and high-quality workplaces
•
Convene cultural organizations, artists, labor representatives, philanthropy,
and other sector partners to advance dialogue and shared action around
compensation, workforce sustainability, and pay equity across the cultural
sector
c.
Indicators
:
•
Participation in workforce development programs
•
Leadership pipeline opportunities created or supported
•
Utilization of workplace equity resources
•
Sector engagement on compensation, workforce sustainability, and workforce
equity through a published report and/or a series of workshops or convenings
for organizations based on discipline and budget size
2.
Goal
: With culture as a public good, build stronger neighborhood cultural infrastructure and
expand access to New York City’s cultural life
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, increase access to local assets, integrate culture into
neighborhood planning, and ensure residents are connected to free and affordable
cultural opportunities available to them at institutions across the city, helping all New
Yorkers recognize that the cumulative cultural identity of New York City is built by
and for them.
•
A city where New Yorkers can afford to live, work, and create is also a city
where culture remains within reach in every neighborhood, treated as the
civic infrastructure and public good that it represents. Every New Yorker—
regardless of race, income, language, disability, or ZIP code—should be able
to experience the full breadth of New York City’s cultural life: from
neighborhood cultural organizations that sustain community identity to the
city’s world-renowned cultural institutions.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Through interagency and external partnerships, integrate arts and cultural
infrastructure into neighborhood planning, housing, economic development,
and public investment initiatives, particularly in communities that have
historically experienced racial and economic disinvestment – delivering local,
community-oriented cultural assets in neighborhoods across the city and
recognizing culture as essential to the city’s life and social wellbeing
•
Expand City-supported marketing of arts and culture to connect residents of
all backgrounds with cultural opportunities in partnership with the Mayor’s
Office of Mass Engagement, NYC Tourism + Conventions, Department of
Citywide Administrative Services, and the Mayor’s Office of Media and
Entertainment
•
Reduce financial and other barriers to cultural access for New Yorkers by
supporting cultural organizations in their work to foster greater participation in
arts, strengthen meaningful community partnerships, and broaden
participation among New Yorkers who have historically faced barriers to
engaging with the city’s cultural institutions, programs, and resources
•
Through Materials for the Arts, increase the amount of free supplies,
education opportunities, and other resources delivered directly to schools and
nonprofit organizations located in TRIE neighborhoods
c.
Indicators
:
•
Strengthened, routine, and established interagency collaboration to advance
the integration of arts, culture, and cultural infrastructure into neighborhood
planning and public investment initiatives
•
Geographic distribution of cultural infrastructure investments made possible
through neighborhood planning, rezoning, and city capital funding
•
One or more new initiatives launched by FY29 that meaningfully integrates
arts and culture into civic infrastructure
•
Participation rates in free and low-cost cultural programming.
•
Diversity of organizations represented in City-supported cultural marketing,
including demographic, geographic, disciplinary, and organizational diversity
•
Increased participation and attendance rates in New York City’s arts and
cultural life across communities and neighborhoods
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Building community power and strengthening long-term stability through sustained
public investment
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2035, conduct extensive research to support the
development of workable proposals for sustainable long-term public investment.
•
Lasting racial equity requires sustained public investment that allows
culturally specific organizations, organizations founded by led by, and
serving people of color, and neighborhood anchor organizations to plan
beyond a single fiscal year, retain staff, steward cultural spaces, deepen
their relationships with the communities they serve, and ultimately repair the
cumulative effects of historic underinvestment.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Research opportunities to introduce general operating support within CDF
•
Assess opportunities for increasing the share of CDF funding awarded
through multi-year support
•
Develop strategies to prioritize organizations located in, or primarily serving,
communities that have historically experienced racial and economic
disinvestment
23
, including culturally specific organizations and organizations
founded by and led by people of color, where feasible and consistent with
applicable law and program requirements
•
Explore development of a Sector Stability Index to assess the long-term
health of New York City’s cultural ecosystem, including the stability of cultural
spaces, workforce retention, financial sustainability, organizational capacity,
and continuity of public investment over time
c.
Indicators:
•
Completion of research and development of proposals related to multi-year
general operating support
•
Assessment of opportunities to expand multi-year sustained funding
approaches within CDF
•
Completion of developed framework for measuring sector-wide stability,
continuity, and organizational resilience
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
23
Racial disinvestment refers to the systematic reduction or withholding of resources, investment, and/or opportunities
from specific geographical areas, driven by and reinforcing racial segregation.
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on NYC
government plans.
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
Grantmaking
: Since 2018, we have embarked on a holistic evaluation of our Cultural
Development Fund (CDF) award process to introduce a range of new reforms that promote
equity. We are committed to increasing access to DCLA’s competitive grantmaking
process. For example, our minimum funding level increased from $5,000 to $10,000, and
we introduced multi-year grants to enhance financial stability for our partners. This plan
builds on this progress and strengthens our mission to reach and support organizations in
communities that previously received limited funding.
•
Capital Spending
: We are committed to leveraging our capital spending to preserve,
renovate, and celebrate arts and cultural spaces to ensure that all New Yorkers can see
their stories represented in our cultural sector. For one recent example, on February 27,
2026, DCLA
joined Mayor Mamdani to announce
the completion of a $3.9 million
restoration project for the historic Hunterfly Road Houses in the Weeksville Heritage Center
in Brooklyn, which educates and preserves the history of Weeksville, one of the largest pre-
Civil War free Black communities in the United States.
•
Public Art
: DCLA’s Percent for Art program commissions permanent, site-specific artworks
for publicly funded infrastructure and capital projects across the city, working with
communities and artists to tell stories that reflect the full breadth of our city’s past, present,
and future. In April 2026, DCLA joined the Parks Department and Washington Street
Historical Society to unveil “Al Qalam: Poets in the Park,” a new monument in Lower
Manhattan by artist Sara Ouhaddou that pays tribute to the writers and poets of Little Syria,
New York’s first Arabic-speaking community which thrived in Lower Manhattan from the
1880s to the 1940s.
•
The CUNY Cultural Corps –
a program funded by DCLA - provides paid internships to
CUNY’s diverse and talented student body at dozens of the city’s most renowned cultural
institutions. Since launching in 2016, hundreds of CUNY students have gained work
experience at institutions like the Bronx Council on the Arts, Brooklyn Museum, the
American Museum of Natural History, Primary Stages Company, Museum of the Moving
Image, and more. Cultural organizations get access to the next generation of leaders in our
city, and students get paid experience at iconic cultural institutions.
•
Cultural Institutions Group Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plans
: Starting in 2017,
DCLA required all members of the city’s Cultural Institutions Group – 39 organizations on
city-owned property – to develop and implement strategic plans to foster more diverse
audiences, artists, and cultural workers at their institutions. In New York City, having staff
and programming that reflect the diversity of the city is critical for organizations to fully
connect with the city they serve. Cultural institutions, for their part, have embraced the
opportunity to grow, expand, and accelerate a range of programs and initiatives aimed at
welcoming people in as leaders and audiences who reflect the full diversity of New York
City.
Department of Small Business Services
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) helps unlock economic potential and
create economic security for all New Yorkers by connecting New Yorkers to good jobs, creating
stronger businesses, and building thriving neighborhoods across the five boroughs.
SBS is dedicated to promoting equitable economic development and enhancing economic
mobility. SBS acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented
populations within the three targets of our work: jobseekers, businesses, and neighborhoods.
To achieve our mission, creating economic security for all New Yorkers, SBS places a strong
emphasis on tailoring employment and business services for low-to-moderate income (LMI)
individuals and underserved small businesses. As evidenced through the NYC True Cost of Living
Report, those from underserved neighborhoods and outer boroughs face significant barriers in
meeting cost of living standards. SBS recognizes that providing resources for economic mobility
can enhance the lives of individuals and grant them greater access to a dignified life.
SBS draws inspiration in our approach to equity of opportunity from a speech given by
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm to the House of Representatives (May 1969). Congresswoman
Chisholm outlines the interconnectedness of economic justice and nondiscrimination, saying:
"Unless
we … defeat the enemies of poverty and racism in our own country and make our talk of
equality and opportunity ring true, we are exposed as hypocrites in the eyes of the world when we
talk about making other people free.”
SBS is committed to pursuing these goals of reducing barriers for underserved businesses,
jobseekers, and neighborhoods because we believe the vast power of government should be
deployed to address and reduce longstanding disparities, thus creating greater opportunities for
success and economic growth for individuals, their households and the broader economy of New
York City.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Reduce barriers to capital for underserved businesses
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, expand equitable access to capital for underserved
businesses by launching at least two new programs designed to address barriers to
financing.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Increase awareness and usage of Funds Finder tool amongst underserved
businesses and add additional local Community Development Financial
Institution (CDFI) partners
•
In partnership with the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC),
launch NYC Future Fund and Cannabis NYC Loan Fund programs to provide
access to capital to underserved small businesses that have historically faced
barriers to accessing traditional lending
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of new capital access programs launched that are focused on
underserved businesses
•
Percent of financial awards to underserved businesses
2.
Goal
: Expand the Jobs NYC initiative through a community-centered approach to advance
employment opportunities for historically underserved communities
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, reduce barriers to employment for priority
populations by partnering with five Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to co-
develop hiring halls that connect jobseekers to quality employment in growth
sectors.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Increase community-based engagement with jobseekers to understand gaps
in experience and other challenges in finding employment
•
Host hiring events in designated Jobs NYC zip codes
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Jobs NYC events conducted in designated Jobs NYC zip codes
•
Number of direct services delivered through Jobs NYC
•
Percent of target Jobs NYC zip codes engaged
3.
Goal
: Build equitable recruitment pathways within SBS's talent pipeline
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, establish partnerships with at least five institutions of
higher education to expand equitable recruitment pathways.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Strengthen recruitment and outreach efforts with institutions that serve
diverse student populations including The City University of New York
(CUNY), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Hispanic-
Serving Institutions (HSIs)
•
Host interns from local institutions that serve diverse student populations,
including CUNY, HBCUs, and HSIs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of interns hosted from local institutions that serve diverse student
populations, including CUNY, HBCUs, and HSIs
•
Number of partnered local institutions that serve diverse student populations,
including CUNY, HBCUs, and HSIs
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Expand access to financial assistance for underserved businesses to address
historical disparities in financing and growth opportunities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, expand access to financial assistance for underserved
businesses by providing 4,000 financial consultations that connect businesses to
capital and growth opportunities.
b.
Strategies:
•
Conduct research to identify financial challenges among underserved
businesses
•
Inform underserved businesses of responsible financial habits and the risks
of predatory lending
•
Expand notification of capital access opportunities through press releases,
social media, and partnerships with local CBOs and community
development financial institutions
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of financial consultations with underserved businesses
2.
Goal:
Connect individuals from economically disadvantaged communities facing high
unemployment to quality workforce services through the Jobs NYC initiative
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase access to workforce services for individuals from
economically disadvantaged communities by registering 5,000 jobseekers in the
Workforce1 system.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Leverage hiring halls in disadvantaged communities to engage jobseekers
•
Engage local employers from Jobs NYC communities
•
Tailor outreach and engagement to meet the needs of individual communities
to increase registration and connect individuals to jobs and trainings
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of New Yorkers from Jobs NYC communities registered into the
Workforce1 system, disaggregated by Jobs NYC zip code
•
Percent of all new Workforce1 system registrants from Jobs NYC zip codes
3.
Goal:
Reduce racial and gender wealth gaps/disparities that stem from the historical harms
from cannabis prohibition through entrepreneurship opportunities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, expand equitable access to cannabis entrepreneurship and
employment opportunities by engaging justice-involved populations and assisting
1,000 individuals in starting a cannabis business or receiving paid industry
employment.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Provide no-cost support for entrepreneurs and jobseekers looking to enter the
cannabis market
•
Train entrepreneurs and jobseekers on the tools and regulatory education
they require to succeed in the cannabis industry
•
Leverage additional, non-cannabis specific programming for emerging small
businesses
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of entrepreneurs and jobseekers assisted in entering or navigating
the cannabis industry
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Expand efforts to notify small businesses and M/WBEs about agency solicitations
and contracts
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, achieve a citywide increase in engagement with
underutilized firms.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Provide tailored capacity-building services that help M/WBEs and Emerging
Business Enterprises (EBEs) successfully compete for contracts
•
Analyze the sectors where sizable procurements are anticipated and assist
firms in connecting with contracting opportunities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of New Yorkers engaged about agency solicitations and contracts
through capacity building events and resources
•
Number of businesses awarded city contracts
•
Number of M/WBEs awarded city contracts
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity
and social justice.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
In 2026, SBS and the NYC Economic Development Corporation expanded the
Cannabis NYC Loan Fund to offer loans of up to $500,000 to NYC Cannabis
Entrepreneurs.
•
In 2026, SBS launched the $80M NYC Future Fund, expanding affordable financing for
small businesses.
•
In 2026, SBS launched the Office of Street Vendor Services, advancing economic
justice and supporting an equitable street vending ecosystem across all five boroughs.
•
Since 2022, SBS and LinkNYC have provided eligible businesses with free marketing
and promotion through the LinkLocal program.
Economic Development Corporation
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (“NYCEDC” or “Corporation”) aims to
create a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers by strengthening
confidence in NYC as a prime business location, fostering innovative sectors with an emphasis on
equity, developing healthy neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play, and delivering
sustainable infrastructure for communities and New York City’s future. NYCEDC is dedicated to
advancing a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable economy that lifts every community,
ensuring that all New Yorkers can participate in and benefit from New York City’s economic
growth.
In advancing this mission, NYCEDC is committed to addressing economic disparities in diverse
entrepreneurship, M/W/DBE
24
contracting, and workforce development to create an inclusive
economy for all New Yorkers. This commitment is critical to overcoming the recognized historical
and ongoing barriers faced by underserved communities in New York City.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: EDC has a 30% goal for M/W/DBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local
law.
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, maintain consistent implementation and assessment
for M/W/DBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
In industry sectors where disparities have been shown to exist, rate more
favorably procurement proposals that actively promote M/W/DBE utilization
and create opportunities for historically underutilized M/W/DBEs
•
Integrate the M/W/DBE small purchase procurement method into the
procurement process in industry sectors where disparities have been shown
to exist, offering more avenues for M/W/DBE participation
•
Advance the use of M/W/DBEs in internal discretionary spending activities
that do not require competitive procurement processes
•
Expand capacity-building program offerings, adapting to evolving market
conditions and ensuring M/W/DBEs have the resources and support they
need to successfully bid on NYCEDC contracts and other procurements
24
Minority, Women, and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of M/W/DBEs served by M/W/DBE capacity building programs
•
Percent and Dollars of contract amounts awarded to M/W/DBE firms
•
Percent and Dollars of contract amounts awarded disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender
2.
Goal:
Expand access to career pipelines that lead to long-term economic mobility for
underserved communities
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, establish economic mobility networks in priority
neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies:
•
Invest approximately $2 million to create an economic mobility network – a
coalition of workforce providers that will create programs tailored to the
unique needs of the neighborhood
•
Pilot locations for the economic mobility network will include Sunset Park and
Hunts Point
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of economic mobility networks established in priority neighborhoods
•
Number of workforce programs launched by the economic mobility networks
•
Percent of individuals of color receiving training from and/or job placement
through economic mobility networks
•
Demographics of individuals receiving training from and/or job placement
through economic mobility networks by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
3.
Goal:
Build a diverse NYCEDC workforce through equitable recruitment, hiring, and
retention practices
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, ensure that 100% of hiring managers have
completed the interview training sessions, develop partnerships with at least two
institutions to increase diverse representation of interns and fellows placed across
departments, evaluate the current mentorship program, and continue to build
Employee Resource Group programming.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Establish equitable interviewing practices and offer equitable interview
training sessions twice a year for all hiring managers to ensure fair,
consistent, and equitable approaches to interviewing
•
Identify and develop new pipeline partnerships with targeted institutions,
foundations, and local schools, to strengthen recruitment efforts of interns and
fellows from underrepresented communities
•
Evaluate and restructure current mentorship program to ensure it is equitably
serving employees of different backgrounds and experiences by formalizing
objective setting and learning offerings, and implementing evaluation and
impact measures
•
Establish a structured Employee Resource Group (ERG) program, which
celebrates the inclusion of diverse perspectives, identities, and experiences in
the workplace
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of hiring managers who have completed interview training
•
Number of new partnerships created for Pipeline Programs
•
Percent of interns and fellows who are from underrepresented groups
25
•
Percent of staff participation in the ERG program, and the number of cultural
events planned and supported by ERG leaders to celebrate diverse
experiences and backgrounds
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Expand NYCEDC’s financial investment into economic mobility strategies to support
disadvantaged New York City communities and reduce income and wealth disparities
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, increase total investment into economic mobility
(entrepreneurship and workforce development) programs to $7 million to reduce
income and wealth disparities in priority neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies:
•
Produce an internal needs assessment for economic mobility programs and
present to leadership to inform budget allocation requests
c.
Indicators
:
•
Amount of NYCEDC budget allocated to economic mobility programs
2.
Goal:
Increase exposure to career opportunities for New Yorkers within NYCEDC’s
innovation industries (i.e., life sciences, technology, creative, and green economy)
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase diverse representation within 100% of NYCEDC’s
innovation industries workforce programs.
b.
Strategies:
•
Standardize reporting and stakeholder requirements for all operators of
NYCEDC innovation industries workforce programs to maximize participation
•
Conduct inclusive outreach efforts to students of color
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of New Yorkers participating in NYCEDC innovation industries
workforce programs, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
22
3.
Goal:
Establish measurement and evaluation infrastructure that allows NYCEDC to
continuously monitor and evaluate NYCEDC’s impact and performance from an equity
perspective.
25
For informational and communication purposes only.
a.
Outcome
By 2028, ensure that 100% of applicable divisions build data pipelines that
assess internal and external equity metrics and submit department level equity data
annually.
b.
Strategies:
•
Establish internal data infrastructure that centralizes the Corporation’s project
including data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and zip code, at both the
department level and companywide
•
Leverage NYCEDC’s existing measurement and evaluation infrastructure to
inform NYCEDC’s leadership’s decision-making on budget allocation and
program operations
c.
Indicator
:
•
Percent of departments that have collected, assessed, and submitted equity
metrics
4.
Goal:
Evaluate and strengthen NYCEDC’s employee benefits programs to ensure
equitable access, remove barriers to utilization, and support internal economic mobility
across all employee groups.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, ensure that 100% of NYCEDC employee benefits programs are
evaluated for equity and accessibility, and implement improvements.
b.
Strategies:
•
Conduct a comprehensive equity and accessibility audit of all NYCEDC
employee benefits, including medical, financial, wellness, and leave
programs, and develop a report with recommendations and prioritized
improvements to increase utilization.
•
Conduct a benchmark study on affordability based on regional market plans
within similar organizations.
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of benefits programs evaluated for equity and accessibility
5.
Goal:
Expand and enhance NYCEDC’s apprenticeship, internship, and fellowship
programs to increase access to workforce opportunities for New Yorkers, strengthen
employment readiness, and support long-term financial mobility and career advancement.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, expand NYCEDC’s workforce development portfolio by
launching at least one new apprenticeship, Returnship, or similar program that
increases access to high-quality career opportunities for New Yorkers.
b.
Strategies:
•
Implement an expansion plan for NYCEDC’s pipeline programs, including
new partnerships with education and workforce organizations across NYC
communities, to strengthen economic mobility and long-term career
opportunities for New Yorkers
c. Indicators:
•
Number of participants who move through the pipeline to full-time positions
•
Post-program employment in NYC or career advancement rate (within 6–12
months)
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Identify and address pay disparities by race, gender, and experience across all
NYCEDC’s positions
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, assess all positions across departments for pay equity and
achieve 100% pay equity across departments by race, gender, and experience
where disparities have been found to exist.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct a companywide pay equity analysis by race, gender, and experience
across all levels within the Corporation every two years
•
Upon completion of such analysis, NYCEDC will (1) make salary adjustments
to the positions, if any, which are not in parity compared to their counterparts
and (2) update all job descriptions to reflect new compensation ranges and
education requirements, as applicable
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of positions whose salaries are at pay parity compared to
counterparts
•
Percent of positions that received salary adjustments
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
Organizational Wins
•
Equity & Community Impact Division:
In 2022, NYCEDC created a new division, Equity
& Community Impact, to ensure the Corporation advances equity across its projects and
contracting activities by providing technical assistance, measurement and evaluation,
strategy, and stakeholder engagement.
•
Diversity, Inclusion & Learning Department:
In 2022, NYCEDC created a new
department, Diversity, Inclusion & Learning to advance equitable programming and career
development while ensuring equity across organizational policies and employee metrics
and reporting.
•
Future Innovators in Real Estate (FIRE) Fellowship Program:
Launched by NYCEDC in
2023, this paid 16-month program prepares CUNY and SUNY graduates for careers in real
estate development. In FY26, NYCEDC began its second FIRE Fellows cohort and placed
all four inaugural fellows in full-time roles. By FY25, 73 percent of NYCEDC interns were
BIPOC, and in 2025, all four FIRE Fellows, along with six other program participants,
secured full-time positions at NYCEDC.
•
Housing and Planning Fellowship:
Launched in 2021 by NYCEDC with DCP, HDC, and
HPD, this two-year rotational program develops diverse planning talent by offering hands-
on experience in affordable housing, city planning, and economic development. Fellows
rotate through four city agencies, gaining practical skills and supporting neighborhood
revitalization. Two fellows have joined NYCEDC full-time, with others placed at partner
agencies. The program is now in its third cohort.
•
Undesign the Redline: Redlining in New York City Training
:
In 2023, NYCEDC
launched a Redlining in New York City Training across the Corporation. This training aims
to equip employees with knowledge of discriminatory policies and practices, like redlining,
that have historically impacted under-resourced communities and have led to disparities in
housing, education, income, criminal justice, and health. By learning about the systemic
challenges that New Yorkers face, NYCEDC employees are better equipped to engage in
projects that aim to develop a more equitable economy today. This training was offered by
Designing the WE and is a required training for all NYCEDC staff. In FY2026, NYCEDC
continues to offer this session, and had 173 staff in attendance in a recent session, with
plans to hold another session this fiscal year.
•
Equitable Economic Development Training:
In 2024, NYCEDC launched a corporation-
wide equitable economic development training. The training equipped staff with core
competencies in equitable economic development principles across industries and provided
subject matter application to core pillar and role functions. The training was provided by
Race Forward and was required for all NYCEDC staff; 94 percent (481) of staff completed
the training.
•
Pay Equity Study:
NYCEDC has conducted four pay equity studies over the past six
years. Pay equity is a framework whereby pay for employees performing the same duties,
regardless of gender, race, or any other defining characteristics, is analyzed. We review
our salaries and pay structure regularly to ensure that we are paying employees fairly and
equitably across the board, ensuring equal pay for similar work. NYCEDC has committed to
conducting a pay equity study every two years to ensure salaries are also aligned with
market rates.
•
Employee Population:
NYCEDC’s employee population was composed of 55 percent
BIPOC representation in FY25, upholding its commitment to mirror the racial demographics
of New York City’s population. This progress was further supported by updates to job
descriptions that removed unnecessary educational requirements and emphasized
experience and skills-based hiring, as well as an intentional decision to refrain from using
AI assessment tools in résumé reviews, application screenings, or interviews.
Citywide Economic Mobility Initiatives: Workforce
•
Sunset Park Economic Mobility Network:
Launched in 2025, NYCEDC is investing
1.4
million dollars
into workforce development programming in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The
Sunset Park Economic Mobility Network is a coalition of local workforce providers
collaborating to identify shared workforce priorities and to launch place-based programs
tailored to community needs and employer hiring demand.
Southwest Brooklyn Industrial
Development Corporation
(SBIDC), leads the Sunset Park Economic Mobility Network,
partnering with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI), Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow
(OBT), Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, Solar One, the Chinese-American Planning
Council, and the Center for Family Life.
•
The Hunts Point Economic Mobility Network:
Launching in 2025, NYCEDC is investing
$1.4 million
to support workforce development initiatives in Hunts Point, Bronx. The Hunts
Point Economic Mobility Network, led by the Greater Hunts Point Economic Development
Corporation (GHPEDC), focuses on expanding local training programs and creating career
pathways to increase South Bronx residents’ access to employment opportunities in the
area’s business community. GHPEDC collaborates with a range of partners such as The
Point CDC, The Hope Program, Bronx River Alliance, Rocking the Boat, Fulton Fish Market
Cooperative, Empire Clean Cities, Workforce1 ITC, and the Hunts Point Longwood
Community Coalition—to connect community members with jobs at the Hunts Point Food
Distribution Center and to explore future prospects at the Hunts Point Marine Terminal.
•
East Brooklyn Workforce Fund:
In April 2024, NYCEDC awarded
$1.4 million to the
recipients of its East Brooklyn Workforce Development Fund—advancing its commitment to
long-term equitable growth in the neighborhoods surrounding Broadway Junction. The fund
expands local workforce development programs that connect East Brooklyn jobseekers to
employment opportunities in existing industrial and emerging construction and green
economy industries. Each of the five awardees has made a significant impact within their
community, with a demonstrated commitment to investing in and empowering the local East
Brooklyn workforce.
•
BIOBUS:
NYCEDC's partnership with BioBus brings mobile, hands-on STEM education to
K-12 and college students in the Bronx, helping them to discover, explore, and pursue
science. Focusing on students excluded from the scientific community due to factors such
as race, gender, economic status, and physical access, BioBus has served over 13,000
Bronx students since 2023: 22 percent of students served were Black, 68 percent were
Hispanic, 6 percent were Asian, 1 percent were Native American, and 3 percent were
white.
•
Break into Biotech Program:
NYCEDC runs the Break into Biotech program which is a 3-
month, paid life sciences training program for NYC adults from any and all backgrounds
combining hands-on classes, mentored research, and professional development to
democratize access to careers in science. Across the first four cohorts served since 2024,
65 percent of participants identified as people of color
(Black/African American,
Hispanic/Latino/Spanish Origin, Middle Eastern or North African, or American Indian or
Alaska Native).
Citywide Economic Mobility Initiatives: Diverse Entrepreneurship
•
NYC Catalyst Fund (NYCCF):
Since launching in 2023, the NYC Catalyst Fund (NYCCF)
has deployed $40 million with impact
-
aligned fund managers, each required to align with at
least one equity pillar: diverse entrepreneurship, emerging sectors, or community
development. Many aligned with multiple pillars, intentionally directing capital to historically
underinvested founders, geographies, and industries. The Fund now spans 11 investment
vehicles, with allocations between $2M–$5M, expanding EDC’s ability to contribute to
racially equitable economic mobility. By 2025, NYCCF funds had deployed over $4 million,
invested in 35 NYC
-
based companies and supported 266 jobs, with impact expected to
grow as more capital is deployed. These investments strengthen pathways for diverse and
community
-
rooted entrepreneurs historically excluded from traditional venture and lending
markets.
•
Cannabis NYC Loan Fund:
In 2024, NYCEDC and Small Business Services (SBS)
launched the $9 million Cannabis NYC Loan Fund, a racially equitable lending program
designed to counteract the lasting economic harms of cannabis criminalization. The fund
provides below
-
market loans at 9.5 percent with flexible terms to licensed cannabis
entrepreneurs, many of whom face barriers to capital because federal prohibition restricts
traditional lending. $1 million has already been deployed to 10 Conditional Adult-Use Retail
Dispensary (CAURD) licensees, supporting entrepreneurs directly impacted by past
prohibition and enabling them to build wealth and stability within a newly legalized industry.
•
Founder’s Fellowship:
A NYCEDC initiative, cohort-based accelerator under the Venture
Access NYC initiative that supports underrepresented tech and tech-enabled startup
founders in New York City. Since its launch in 2022, alumni have collectively raised over
$170 million and built companies now valued at more than $1 billion. Since commencing in
2022, 240 startups have participated. In the 2025 cohort, over 66 percent of firms were led
by women and 77 percent by BIPOC founders.
•
Women.NYC:
NYCEDC is home to Women.NYC, the flagship City initiative for women’s
economic mobility to increasing women’s representation in innovation industries and
ensure New York City's future economy benefits from the full spectrum of talent, especially
women of color. Women.NYC's reaches a community of over 100,000 people and in the
past three years, over 5,000 women have participated in Women.NYC programs with over
70 percent of participants identifying as women of color, 30 percent Hispanic, and over 90
percent low-and-moderate income. Women.NYC programs are open to all, without regard
to gender or gender identity.
Citywide Economic Mobility Initiatives: M/WBE
•
Commercial Real Estate Developer Disparity Study
: In 2024, NYCEDC commissioned a
Commercial Real Estate Developer Disparity Study to examine how racial inequities shape
opportunity across EDC’s development portfolio. Completed in December 2025, the study
now serves as a foundational tool to develop interventions that support historically
underrepresented developers and ensure that EDC’s policies, programs, and investments
drive fair, inclusive, and racially equitable growth.
•
Diverse Utilization Goal-Setting:
In FY24, NYCEDC launched the Diverse Utilization
Goal-Setting initiative, establishing a more equitable procurement framework by setting
targeted, data
-
driven M/WBE participation goals based on certified group availability and
past utilization patterns. This marked a shift from generic goal
-
setting toward a race
-
and
gender
-
conscious model that actively addresses historic underutilization.
•
M/WBE Capacity Building Programs:
Construct NYC and Waterfront Pathways delivered
strong equity outcomes. Both programs scaled significantly in size and diversity and
produced measurable economic mobility for M/WBEs through deeper technical training,
improved industry alignment, and expanded opportunity pathways.
o
Capacity
-
building alumni secured $35.7 million in EDC contract awards in FY25,
which demonstrated a direct and powerful link between training and equitable
procurement outcomes.
o
Over 1,157 hours of technical assistance were delivered in FY25, significantly
expanding the pool of market
-
ready M/WBEs across multiple sectors and reducing
historical barriers to contracting.
•
Construction Management:
In 2025, EDC achieved a major structural milestone in its
Construction Manager (CM) portfolio
o
Six (6) of 12 CM Retainer awardees (50 percent) were M/WBE firms, including
graduates of EDC’s own capacity building programs. This marked a significant shift
toward racial equity in core project delivery roles, embedding M/WBE representation
in long
-
term, high
-
value CM contracts.
Measurement and Evaluation
In 2023, NYCEDC launched a company-wide effort to monitor and evaluate equity by establishing
a Measurement and Evaluation (M&E) role. This role is a core pillar of the Equity & Community
Impact Division, leading the Corporation to quantify its impact across company-wide key
performance metrics.
•
Disadvantaged Communities Index:
NYCEDC has developed a Disadvantaged
Community Index, a neighborhood-based index aggregating key indicators of economic
vulnerability, enabling EDC to assess how projects and investments align with community
need and economic justice priorities.
•
Social Impact Dashboard
: Launched in 2024 as an expansion of EDC’s agency-wide
outcome reporting efforts, with an intentional focus on equity and community impact. The
dashboard sets out 25-30 metrics across five pillars, focused on social and economic
outcomes, with the goal of further disaggregating data to highlight equity gaps. The
dashboard aims to map and measure all of EDC’s projects, programs, and investments
against the Disadvantaged Communities Index to better understand how EDC’s
investments align to community disadvantage and need. The index itself was designed to
incorporate key pillars needed for an individual to achieve economic security to support
their individual and family well-being.
•
Business Owner Survey:
In 2024, NYCEDC conducted a Sunset Park Business Owner
Survey to better understand the diversity of the business community within the EDC assets
and how we can be more supportive in expanding access to entrepreneurship
opportunities. Results of such study found that overall, 4,160 people are employed, 41
percent
of businesses are diverse-owned, 27 percent
of businesses are woman-owned,
and 5 percent of businesses are LGBTQIA-owned.
•
Industry Equity Analysis
: To better inform industry strategy with an eye towards
economic justice, EDC’s Economic Research and Policy Team often collaborates with
other EDC teams to analyze gaps in representation and opportunities for economic mobility
in our priority sectors, which serves to inform strategic decision-making on policy and
projects.
Mayor’s Office of Contract Services
Mission and Commitment
The Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS) is an
oversight and service agency
dedicated to optimizing existing NYC procurement operations and transforming
procurement processes to make it easier, fairer, and more efficient to do business with the
City.
MOCS leads procurement transformation by leveraging expertise, innovation, data, and a
results-oriented approach. Our vision is a procurement system grounded in transparency,
accountability, and efficiency.
Each City agency has its own Agency Chief Contracting Officer (ACCO), a position
delegated authority by the Agency Head to organize and supervise the agency’s
procurement activity. The City Chief Procurement Officer (CCPO) is delegated authority by
the Mayor to coordinate and oversee the procurement activity across mayoral agencies,
including the work of ACCOs. The Mayor has designated the Director of MOCS as the
CCPO. MOCS does not procure on behalf of City agencies. Rather, MOCS provides the
technology, guidance, and support agencies need to manage their own procurement
activities effectively.
The Procurement Policy Board (PPB) establishes the rules that govern the methods of
selecting procurement types, soliciting bids and proposals, awarding and administering
contracts, determining responsibility, retaining records, and resolving contract disputes.
MOCS works closely with the PPB to support implementation of the City’s procurement
rules and advance improvements to procurement policy and practice.
MOCS is committed to
increasing economic opportunity by reducing barriers to
participation in city contracting and improving access to procurement opportunities for
historically underrepresented vendors.
MOCS intends to leverage its strategic partnerships across the City’s procurement
ecosystem to inform policy decisions, identify barriers to equitable access, and measure
the effectiveness of equity initiatives in procurement. Because procurement is a citywide
process, MOCS’ role is not limited to direct service delivery; rather, MOCS leads, guides,
supports, standardizes, reports on, and improves transparency across a system that
depends on multiple actors, including City Hall, City Council, oversight partners, agency
procurement staff, providers, vendors, and the public. MOCS engages government
stakeholders through policy development, legislative review and testimony, procurement
guidance, reporting, data-sharing, PASSPort support, interagency working groups, and
trainings. MOCS also engages external stakeholders, including nonprofit and community-
based providers, human service organizations, M/WBEs, construction firms, small and local
vendors and prospective vendors, through the MOCS Service Desk, PASSPort resources,
public notices and comments, capacity-building trainings, targeted virtual and in-person
presentations, community-based tabling, MOCS in the Streets, vendor outreach,
newsletters, and other communications. These engagements help strengthen contracting
readiness and procurement capacity while recognizing that equitable procurement
outcomes depend on coordinated action by agencies, vendors, oversight bodies, elected
officials, and other partners across the contracting lifecycle.
This work aligns with MOCS’ broader equity commitments by supporting fairer access to
information, improving vendor readiness among M/WBEs and small local businesses, and
ensuring that procurement systems are more navigable for communities that have
historically faced structural barriers to participation in City contracting. During fiscal year
2025, MOCS’ Learning and Development (L&D) team has conducted and/or participated in
over 40 events reaching over 500 M/WBE certified vendors.
MOCS recognizes that advancing
equity in City contracting requires leadership effort,
collaboration with equity practitioners, and a demonstrated willingness to challenge and
transform outdated systems and practices. MOCS strives to create a fair and equitable
procurement environment by acknowledging persistent challenges, including payment
delays affecting small community-based organizations and vendors led by people of color,
and by committing to concrete actions that reduce barriers, improve accountability, and
strengthen access to City contracting opportunities.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Prioritize engaging underutilized businesses based on agency disparity analysis
to reach vendors who may not currently do business with the City
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, increase outreach campaigns, trainings, and
tabling at events that focus on increasing awareness for underutilized businesses
by 10%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand tabling events in Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE)
neighborhoods and encourage training attendance
•
Develop targeted outreach campaigns to NYC Mayoral Agencies,
umbrella groups such as Human Services Council and Homeless Services
United
•
Increase impact by engaging agencies and partners to help spread
awareness of training opportunities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of underutilized and disadvantaged vendors, including M/WBEs
(disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity), responding to
solicitations annually
•
Percentage of contracts awarded to underutilized vendors
•
Percentage of solicitation responses received from underutilized vendors
•
Number of procurement opportunities targeted to industries with identified
racial disparities
•
Number of awards for first time contract recipients
•
Vendor event attendance
2.
Goal:
Expand and standardize the use of plain language across NYC contracting and
PASSPort learning resources so that vendors can more easily understand how to do
business with New York City and identify opportunities that align with the goods or
services they provide
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2027, optimize all vendor-facing learning resources to meet
plain language requirements. The focus will be on new PASSPort vendor
onboarding materials and contracting guidance that help vendors understand
agency needs, identify contracting opportunities, and navigate City procurement
processes.
b.
Strategies:
•
Deepen Plain Language Knowledge Among MOCS Staff:
Build on the
strong foundation that already exists by providing training opportunities for
relevant staff to develop their plain language skills, especially the teams
involved in developing learning resources for the general public and
vendors.
•
Enhance Vendor Contracting Roadmap & Resource Library:
Enhance
the existing Contracting Roadmap for vendors by incorporating more
plain-language content and regularly updating resources to help vendors
understand how City contracting works, what agencies purchase, and how
to identify contracting and subcontracting opportunities.
•
Pilot Vendor Onboarding Campaign:
Implement a structured
onboarding experience for new users to the City’s Procurement System,
including welcome communications, instructional videos, next-step
guidance, and timely resources that help vendors become procurement-
ready.
•
Expand Regular Dedicated Vendor Communications:
Provide regular
communications and learning resources related to vendor onboarding,
budget readiness, procurement timelines and other topics that support
vendor participation in City contracting.
c.
Indicators:
•
Vendor satisfaction with plain language resources (survey feedback)
•
Number of plain language materials accessed or downloaded by vendors
•
Targeted in
-person interviews with new/specific vendors with frequent
ticket inquiries to access understanding and plain language success
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Pursue a human-centered design
1
approach to City’s Procurement System to
make user experience more accessible and user-friendly for prospective small,
disadvantaged, and M/WBE vendors by reducing barriers throughout the application
process
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, improve the accessibility and usability of City’s Procurement
System for small, disadvantaged, and M/WBE vendors by implementing changes
informed by vendor feedback and reducing barriers throughout the procurement
process.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Engage vendors through 1:1 discussions and focus groups to identify
challenges and ensure changes to City’s Procurement System that
address their experiences
•
Provide transparency on system updates through e-newsletters and other
forms of communication such as notifying vendors about changes based
on their feedback, and sharing out resolved issues, updated resources,
and new issues for vendor awareness
•
Activate feedback loops to notify vendors about changes based on their
input
•
Equip City contracting staff with resources and education needed to
reduce cycle times
•
Identify vendor challenges trends (Service Desk tickets) and apply
feedback to MOCS’ training and materials offerings proactively; update
relevant guides, add training guidance based on this increased inflow of
tickets in a specific challenge area
c.
Indicators
:
•
Reduction in the number of incomplete or returned vendor enrollment
submissions due to errors
•
Decrease in City’s Procurement System enrollment cycle time
•
Decrease in City’s Procurement System account enrollment cycle time
•
Increase in vendors subscribed to MOCS newsletters and
communications
•
Increase in Open and Click rates for MOCS vendor communications
1
Human-centered design is a problem-solving approach which prioritizes people, their context, and their experience to
ensure developed solutions work for them.
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Support more transparent vendor payments by working with City agencies to
reduce payment cycle times and pending payments and identify opportunities to
address delays across the procurement and payment lifecycle
a.
Outcome
: By 2036, support citywide efforts to reduce the number of invoices
pending more than 30 days from the prompt payment date and develop
financial indicators to monitor Agencies’ progress, including invoice aging and
pending invoice count. MOCS will support agency procurement staff by
providing guidance, information, and technical assistance needed to identify
payment delays and improve invoice processing timelines.
b.
Strategies:
•
In partnership with the New York City Council and City Hall, identify
and address existing barriers to advance more equitable access to
resources and contracting opportunities, including by reducing
administrative burdens
•
Lead on key initiatives such as the Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits
Paid on Time and the NYC Capital Process Reform Task Force. These
initiatives focus on bringing down cycle times, untangling the regulatory
web, and getting bureaucracy out of the way so contractors can do the
work they are hired to do
•
Develop Citywide payment metrics to understand how quickly vendors
are getting paid and where payment delays may be growing across the
system. Capturing volume, dollar value, and invoice aging metrics in
one snapshot
•
Provide agency by agency support (i.e. office hours) to identify and
resolve specific budget and invoice issues to help expedite budget and
invoice submissions, shorten resolution time and reduce the burden on
providers to repeatedly escalate issues across different points of
contact
c.
Indicators:
•
Total Pending Count of Invoices
•
Total Pending Value (Dollars)
•
Average Pending Invoice Cycle Time (Days)
•
Count of Invoices Pending over 30 Days
•
Value or Invoices Pending over 30 Days
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#5: Check for and remove any formulas and computer processes that may be biased
based on race, ethnicity, or poverty. This will prevent inequities in health care,
housing, policing, criminal justice, employment, social service and more.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
MOCS launched a comprehensive communications and training plan for City’s
Procurement System’s new release, including web guides that are more
accessible.
•
In Fiscal Year 2025 MOCS held a total of 41 trainings (webinars, in-person
workshops and in-person office hours) with 1,472 attendees.
•
For PASSPort New Release (Release 6) there were a total of 12 webinars,
758 M/WBEs attended.
•
Getting Started in PASSPort: 9 webinars, 269 M/WBEs attended.
•
MOCS In Your Neighborhood: 20 in-person events for M/WBEs, 445 attended.
•
MOCS has hosted 27 M/WBE-related outreach events, half of which were in-person,
for nearly 3,000 vendors, including M/WBEs.
Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
Mission and Commitment
To support and strengthen New York City’s creative economy and make it accessible to all.
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is comprised of four divisions:
•
the Film Office, which facilitates film and television production throughout the five boroughs;
•
NYC Media, the City’s official broadcast network and production group;
•
the Press Credentials Office, which issues press cards; and
•
Creative Sector Programs, which advance industry and workforce development across
NYC’s creative sectors.
MOME is committed to addressing the longstanding racial disparities in New York City’s
entertainment and media industries. We recognize the historical underrepresentation of people of
color in both on-screen and behind-the-scenes roles, and we are dedicated to increasing diversity
in the industry. MOME will continue to support initiatives that create equitable access to
opportunities in media, combat harmful stereotypes, and ensure that the entertainment sector
reflects the true diversity of New York City’s residents.
This commitment extends to addressing issues such as the underrepresentation of women of
color in leadership roles and the challenges of the digital divide that limit access to critical
information.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Increase awareness of agency programming in communities of color and immigrant
communities to increase engagement with government-supported creative sector
opportunities
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, aim to target at least a 25% expansion of new
relationships with communities of color and immigrant communities.
b.
Strategies:
•
Aim to target at least 10 percent program marketing spending for ads in
community and ethnic media publications
•
Track the names and numbers of community and ethnic media publications
where we place ads
•
Publish disaggregated data annually of film permits by community districts
and duration, Made in NY grants and designations by recipient demographics,
training program enrollment, completion, and placement, to assess equity
across agency programs
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage of program marketing budget spent on community and ethnic
media publications
•
Number of increased community partners and engaged community
participation disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and neighborhood
2.
Goal
: Improve access to government proceedings and mayoral press events so that lack of
access to broadband does not impede marginalized communities’ opportunity to receive
information and engage in the democratic process
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, MOME’s NYC Media aim to increase coverage and
access by leveraging our new TV channel, NYC Gov 2.
b.
Strategy:
•
Launch a new broadcast channel, NYC Gov 2, that will nearly double live City
Council proceedings and mayoral events offered
•
Obtained a location for the new master control facilities and are in the process
of building out the space and coordinating with city agencies
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of viewers of NYC Gov 2 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
county
3.
Goal
: Facilitate access to training and placement based on real-time labor market shifts
through certificate programs
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, achieve an increase in opportunities for New Yorkers
from diverse and underrepresented communities to be hired to creative industry jobs
in NYC based on agency disparity analysis.
b.
Strategy:
•
Engage groups, including but not limited to, Directors Guild of America
members, the Black TV and Film Collective, and the Ghetto Film School to
source candidates for training programs
•
Launch the “Made in NY” Media Academy program
•
Engage priority populations including NYCHA residents, people with
disabilities, veterans and justice-involved youth to source candidates for
training programs
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of New Yorkers disaggregated by age, ethnicity, gender identity, and
race, that have enrolled, completed, and placed through the new “Made in
NY” Media Academy program and all other training programs supported by
MOME
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Invest agency programmatic spending in historically underserved New Yorkers
through initiatives and programs that seek to increase access and opportunity to quality
careers in the entertainment industry
a.
Outcome:
By 2028:
•
Aim to invest at least 50% of spending for workforce development and
education in programs that work to increase access to entertainment
careers for historically underserved communities based on disparity
analysis.
•
Increase access to entertainment careers and reduce disparate barriers for
historically underserved communities based on disparity analysis.
b.
Strategies:
•
Provide funding to CUNY Brooklyn College to launch the first public music
business BA program in NYC in FY2026
•
Implement networking events to introduce graduates to some of our
workforce programs and to entertainment companies that are hiring
•
Collect lessons learned about access to good jobs from providers and
participants in MOME-funded programs
•
Analyze published disaggregated data of film permits by community districts
and duration, Made in NY grants and designations by recipient demographics,
training program enrollment, completion, and placement to identify
concentrated production burdens, designation disparities, and hiring/retention
rates
•
Advocate for, in partnership with DCLA, a Portable Benefits Program for
freelance workers in the creative sector
c.
Indicators:
•
Dollars allocated to entertainment workforce development and educational
programs that predominantly enroll members of underserved communities
•
Number of actionable recommendations provided by community members
•
Number of applicants placed disaggregated by neighborhood
•
Number of alumni with at least one-year position retention rate by
neighborhood
2.
Goal:
Conduct outreach to attract diverse candidates for openings in the agency’s
production/editing team and continue to help ensure that the programs broadcast on NYC
Life represent NYC’s diverse population
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, achieve an increase in qualified underrepresented applicants
for the positions, subject to OTI’s hiring practices, policies and approval processes.
b.
Strategies:
•
Expand the websites and organizations where job postings are listed to
attract more underrepresented candidates based on agency disparity analysis
•
Implement a structured interview technique to reduce any instances of bias in
hiring
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of diverse job boards where positions are posted
•
Demographics of workforce, new hires, and applicants
26
•
Demographics of applicants and staff hired for open positions
27
3.
Goal
: Analyze salary stratification
28
and compensation structures across the MOME
workforce to identify trends and inform equitable compensation, classification, and
workforce practices
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, complete a comprehensive pay and workforce assessment that
examines the following to develop recommendations that advance equitable
workforce practices:
29
•
Compensation patterns, workforce trends, and any potential disparities across
classifications, pay bands, and demographic groups.
•
Alignment with the NYC True Cost of Living (TCOL) threshold for a single
adult.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Begin salary stratification analysis to examine patterns across pay bands, job
classifications, demographic groups, including race and ethnicity, to
understand workforce composition and compensation trends
•
Review title assignment, promotion, and discretionary raise patterns and
disaggregate by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
•
In 2026, review all full-time salaries against the single-adult TCOL threshold,
identify all full-time positions or salary levels not meeting the threshold, and
establish as a baseline
•
Review salaries against the threshold with annual updates of TCOL
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of full-time salaries meeting or above the NYC True Cost of Living
single-adult threshold (see MOERJ threshold table) disaggregated by
race/ethnicity and title series, reviewed annually
•
Percent of approved full-time job postings with a minimum salary that meets
or exceeds the NYC True Cost of Living threshold for a single adult, reviewed
annually
26
For informational and communication purposes only.
27
MOME may be limited with the data that it can collect because demographics are voluntary for the applicants to
provide. For informational and communication purposes only.
28
Salary stratification analysis may include examining patterns across pay bands, job classifications, demographic
groups, including race and ethnicity, to understand workforce composition and compensation trends, inform
recommendations, and support equitable practices. Analysis does not determine individual compensation decisions.
29
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
•
Median full-time salary disaggregated by job classification, race, ethnicity, and
gender identity, including representation among the highest and lowest salary
quartiles,
30
reviewed annually
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Assess whether disparities exist in denials of press cards based on the race and
ethnicity of the applicant and/or for ethnic newsgathering organizations, the prevalence of
any such disparities found, and address any such disparities
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, identify any racial disparities in denials of press cards that may
exist among ethnic newsgathering organizations and determine how many
disparities found could be addressed by additional training, rule changes, and other
strategies.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collect and analyze data from press card applicants to determine if applicants
who are people of color and/or speak a language other than English, and
community and ethnic newsgathering organizations, are more likely to be
denied
•
Collect data through emailed invitation to complete an online survey
31
on a
platform such as “SurveyMonkey” or “Qualtrics”
•
In conjunction with the survey responses MOME can also assess disparities
by tracking denial rates of applicants that provide media submissions in
foreign languages
a.
Indicators:
•
Press card denial rate disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Ethnic newsgathering denial rate
2.
Goal:
Implement and sustain equitable compensation and classification practices informed
by the workforce assessment to address any identified salary disparities
32
and support
competitive, livable wages
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, compensation practices promote equitable pay across agency,
any identified salary disparities are being addressed where appropriate, and any
identified gap between minimum full-time permanent salary and the NYC True Cost
of Living threshold for a single adult has narrowed.
33
b.
Strategies:
30
For informational and communication purposes only.
31
The survey will depend on the response rate and may not be a complete representation of all applicants.
32
Salary disparities refer to differences in compensation identified through workforce assessment for review and
evaluation.
33
Subject to OMB policies. Additionally, implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of equity
goals related to salary adjustments highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations.
See p. 424 for further information.
•
Share assessment findings and recommendations with internal stakeholders
for action planning
•
Implement priority recommendations from the workforce assessment
•
Evaluate existing compensation and workforce data collection practices for
effectiveness
•
Establish ongoing process to monitor compensation equity and workforce
trends
c.
Indicators:
•
Number and percentage of salary disparities from assessment
•
Number and percentage of salary disparities from assessment reviewed, and
where appropriate, addressed
•
Percent of full-time salaries at or above the NYC True Cost of Living single-
adult threshold (see MOERJ threshold table), disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and title series, reviewed annually
•
Percent of approved full-time job postings with a minimum salary that meets
or exceeds the NYC True Cost of Living threshold for a single adult, reviewed
annually
Community Equity Priority Referenced
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
Workforce:
By partnering with CUNY, SBS, and training providers on several workforce
training programs in the media and entertainment industry, MOME has been able to
increase diversity in employment by training over 2,639 and placing 1,980 New Yorkers
from underrepresented backgrounds in jobs and internships throughout the entertainment
industry. For example:
o
The Made in NY
34
Production Assistant (PA) Training Program by Brooklyn
Workforce Innovations has provided people of color with training and placement
support for jobs on film and television sets throughout New York City. From 2006 to
2024, the PA Training Program trained 1,208 New Yorkers and placed 1,044 (86
percent) in jobs.
o
The Made in NY Stagecraft Bootcamp, part of the Theatrical Workforce
Development Program (TWDP) by the Roundabout Theater Company, has provided
people of color with training and backstage jobs in theatre. From September 1, 2017,
to June 30, 2024, TWDP has trained 152 New Yorkers and placed 127 (84 percent)
in jobs in the entertainment industry.
34
“Made in NY” or “Made in New York” is the name of a trademarked MOME program.
o
The Made in NY Animation Project by The Animation Project (TAP) has provided
people with training in 3D animation. From 2017 to 2024, TAP has trained over
10,000 14- to 24-year-old New Yorkers and placed 108 in jobs.
o
The MediaMKRS Program by Reel Works and CUNY has provided people of color
with training for technical and administrative jobs in media & entertainment. From
2019 to 2024, MediaMKRS trained 650 New Yorkers and placed 415 in internships.
o
The Sound Thinking NYC Program by CUNY Creative Arts has provided people of
color with training for technical jobs in the music industry. From 2018 to 2024,
Sound Thinking trained 372 New Yorkers and placed 104 in internships.
•
Digital Gaming:
The 2021 International Game Developers Association survey indicated
that only 5 percent of game developers identified as Black, while the majority were white.
To increase exposure to the field amongst diverse audiences, MOME currently supports
the establishment of Gaming Pathways, a new program offering a bachelor's degree in
digital game design at the CUNY City College of New York. Also, MOME currently supports
the Game Devs of Color Expo by providing a “Made in NY” Grant each year to a game
developer selected by that group. Recently, the competitive process resulted in MOME
providing grants to two Black developers in New York City to support development and
promotion of their games.
•
Spanish-Language TV Content:
In 2022, NYC Media began televising eight hours of non-
commercial Spanish-language programming per day, and NYC Media is continuing to work
with diverse local producers to air their programs on NYC Media’s lifestyle channel, NYC
Life. From July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, this Spanish-language programming reached
44,601 households and each household tuned into the programming 42.5 times on
average.
Housing
and
Preservation
Housing and Preservation
New York City’s housing landscape is deeply influenced by a long history of laws,
policies, and customs, which for generations deprived communities of color and other
marginalized communities of access to safe, affordable, and quality housing.
Discriminatory Housing Policies and Practices
Like most major cities, New York City experienced a period of “Jim Crow,” where
discriminatory laws, which were not limited to the South, regulated where residents
could live, the jobs they could hold, and even the pools in which they could swim.
Government, at all levels, owned or financed segregated housing developments
beginning in the early 20
th
century, entrenching segregation.
Access to capital has also shaped our housing market, with a mortgage-lending process
that came to be known as “redlining”, contributing to long-standing patterns of
segregation across New York and other metropolitan areas. In the 1930s, the federal
government, through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), developed color-
coded maps, referred to as redlining maps, to guide the issuance of loans to potential
home buyers across all cities in the United States.
38
The maps categorized
neighborhoods as “Best”, “Still Desirable”, “Definitely Declining”, and “Hazardous”, with
race and ethnicity being central determinants of rankings. Areas with higher
percentages of Black, Jewish, or immigrant populations were treated as less desirable,
reinforcing the racist perception among some New Yorkers that the mere presence of
Black residents and other racial and ethnic minorities was enough to depreciate
property values. The practice of redlining created the belief that there was a risk in
issuing mortgages in neighborhoods with Black populations greater than 5 percent. This
restricted financial resources and investment into redlined neighborhoods, hindering the
ability of residents to purchase homes, invest in properties, and start businesses. This
practice subsequently suppressed land values and limited economic opportunities,
creating a cycle of disinvestment in communities of color and low-income communities.
Simultaneously, “white flight” from inner cities and the expansion of segregated
suburban developments also pushed government officials to take drastic steps to alter
some of the city’s central neighborhoods deemed blighted through massive
redevelopment projects, often displacing people of color from their homes. The
combined influence of redlining, segregated housing developments, and evidence of
discrimination in the employment and education fields concentrated low-income people
Condition of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to live where they would like to live and thrive with:
Safe,
secure, and affordable housing
of color in small geographic areas, leading to significant disparities in the housing
options and neighborhood amenities.
Affordable Housing and Property Maintenance
In the 1960s community development corporations emerged in New York City and
across other major cities as part of a larger community-led social justice and anti-
poverty movement. These community-led efforts also responded to longstanding
disinvestment and inadequate housing conditions in many neighborhoods. As
neighborhoods lacked investment and resources over decades, many buildings
developed maintenance issues, which also contributed to health, safety, and quality of
life. These stark contrasts in maintenance deficiencies fall along racial lines, with
households headed by Black Non-Hispanic and Hispanic New Yorkers having three
times the rate of deficiencies when compared to those headed by white or Asian New
Yorkers (20-21 percent compared to 7-8 percent).
39
While enforcing the City’s Construction and Housing Codes, it remains important to
analyze the context of how these historical harms and current day disparities affect
marginalized communities’ ability to live, work and thrive in safe, quality buildings, and
the impact the issuance of violations and associated penalties can have on owners of
small properties particularly in marginalized communities. Disparities in awareness of
regulatory processes further emphasize the importance of educating New Yorkers,
whether they own or rent, so they understand the regulatory framework with which
owners must comply and ensuring that outreach efforts are tailored to communities.
Limited Access to Homeownership Opportunities and Generating
Wealth
Homeownership is a core asset-building tool for most Americans; however past
practices have negatively impacted the ability of residents of color to own homes, obtain
financing, and have equal asset value.
Our country has a history of racially restrictive covenants written into property deeds by
those within the real estate industry. These covenants included legally binding language
that prevented people of color from buying, renting or living in certain neighborhoods.
Examples of this language read:
“….
no part of said property nor any portion thereof shall be, for said term
of fifty-years, occupied by any person not of the Caucasian race
…”
40
; or
“….
said lots nor any portion thereof shall ever be lived upon or occupied by
any person other than the Caucasian in Race; provided, however that if
persons not of the Caucasian Race be kept thereon by a Caucasian strictly
in the capacity of servants or employees
….”
In addition, predatory loans to communities of color often lead to foreclosure, loss of
homes, and compound disparities in the racial wealth gap. According to the Census’
American Community Survey, 67 percent of white households own their homes,
compared to only 34 percent of households of color. New York City suffers from
substantial racial and ethnic homeownership gaps to this day: In 2023, 41 percent of
non-Hispanic white households owned homes, compared to 26 percent of Black and 18
percent of Hispanic households.
On top of that, in recent years, research has shown that appraisers disproportionately
undervalue the homes of Black and Hispanic homeowners. Studies have shown that the
valuation of homes in majority-Black neighborhoods is 23 percent less than in
neighborhoods with few or no Black residents.
41
In New York City, the median Black
New York City homeowner’s home value of $500,000 is significantly lower than that of
the median white New York City homeowner’s, valued at $700,000.
42
Addressing racial
bias in home appraisals is key to tackling the racial wealth gap and making the benefits
of homeownership more equitable. In the U.S., the median white family possesses
approximately eight times the wealth of a typical Black family and five times the wealth
of a typical Hispanic family. The differences in home-ownership rates and home values
both contribute to this gap.
Under-Resourced Public Housing
These historical and ongoing inequities have also dramatically contributed to public
housing having a high concentration of Black and Hispanic residents. As of January
2024, the City’s public housing developments are home to 312,422 residents with
approximately 90 percent Black or Hispanic, and in comparison, 52 percent of the
population in NYC are Black or Hispanic. Federal law and regulations impose income
limits for admission to public housing to ensure this affordable resource is available to
those who need it. The median public housing household income is $16,980 and 54
percent are below poverty threshold compared to the overall NYC median household
income which is $74,694 and only 18 percent are below the poverty threshold.
43
Over the past few decades, Congress has not provided the resources necessary to
properly maintain aging public housing infrastructure across the country. Today, this
generational funding deficiency has led to an $80 billion capital need and growing
operational needs, that are essential in addressing racial equity and improving living
conditions for residents.
44
Disparities in Historic Preservation
As these inequities have shaped housing access, they have also influenced the field of
historic preservation, which has struggled to equitably represent the nation’s diverse
cultural heritage. Early efforts, by organizations such as the Mount Vernon Ladies’
Association, focused on preserving sites tied to early American history and the
Founding Fathers, a practice that neglected the history and contributions of
underrecognized and marginalized communities to American history. In the 1960s,
rising social consciousness, concerns about the loss of the urban historic built
environment, and opposition to Urban Renewal programs, which displaced communities
and destroyed historic neighborhoods, led to the formalization of the field through the
1966 National Historic Preservation Act and the adoption of local landmark laws across
the country. However, preservation practices often favored high-style, architecturally
distinguished sites, making it difficult for communities to advocate for culturally
important, yet less architecturally prominent sites.
While the City has a long history of formally recognizing historic resources with strong
social and cultural associations to underrecognized and marginalized communities,
significant work remains. Designations over 59 years have not always adequately
reflected the diversity of New York City, nor did the historic narratives, which interpret
past events, adequately include information on the systemic inequities, discrimination,
racial segregation, economic disparities, and other forms of injustices that were
experienced by marginalized groups. Preservation efforts must not only protect
resources but also empower communities.
Further compounding this disparity, the lack of diversity among preservation
professionals limits the field’s ability to identify sites significant to a wide range of
communities. Furthermore, disparities in outreach for regulatory work did not always
adequately address people in lower-income communities, nor individuals with other
language preferences, which led to an uneven level of knowledge about regulatory
processes and the resources available to help property owners and expedite permits.
Ensuring fairness, transparency, and efficiency in regulation helps create a level playing
field for all applicants but is particularly important for those property owners who may
not have equal access to paid consultants.
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section recognize the importance in addressing these entrenched
inequities to create an environment in which all New Yorkers have access to affordable
housing, economic opportunity, and equitable representation in preservation.
Department of Buildings
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) is to ensure the safe and lawful use of
buildings, properties, and construction sites across the five boroughs by enforcing the City’s
Building Code, Zoning Resolution, Multiple Dwelling Law, and New York State Labor Law, with a
focus on facilitating compliant development, and worker and public safety, all to make our City a
safer place to build, work, and live.
In this racial equity plan, we aim to address various disparities and issues to advance racial equity
both internally and in relation to our role as a regulatory agency.
DOB acknowledges structural racism has indirectly and directly impacted the lives of people in
marginalized communities in numerous ways, including with respect to the built environment. Over
time, certain government policies and practices, such as redlining, have impacted Black,
Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities’ access to safe, affordable, and quality
housing.
In the 1930s, the Federal Government, through the Homeowners Lending Corporation (HOLC)
developed color-coded maps, referred to as redlining maps, to guide how loans were issued to
potential home buyers across all cities in the United States. The maps were divided into four (4)
categories: Best, Still Desirable, Definitely Declining, and Hazardous. The latter was
predominantly assigned to neighborhoods that were home to communities of color. Redlining
designated predominantly minority neighborhoods as risky for mortgage lending. It systematically
denied public and private resources to people of color while simultaneously investing in
predominantly white suburban communities.
Throughout the 20th century, redlined neighborhoods deteriorated as they were deprived of
investment and resources, causing many buildings to develop maintenance issues, which could
also contribute to health hazards. Although redlining is now illegal, it remains a significant factor in
the disparities that still exist with respect to the availability and quality of housing options in
marginalized communities.
As an agency whose mission is to ensure public safety while fostering development throughout
the city and enforcing compliance with the Construction Codes, we recognize these historical
harms and current-day disparities that affect marginalized communities’ ability to live, work and
thrive in safe, quality buildings. The Department is the regulatory authority charged with enforcing
the Construction Codes. It ensures buildings, construction sites, and other properties around the
city are safe. When property owners, contractors, licensees, and registered design professionals
fail to comply with applicable laws and rules, the agency will issue summonses and violations.
These summonses and violations have associated penalties. While the Department does not have
a direct role in addressing disparities in access to housing, it recognizes the impact the issuance
of violations and associated penalties can have on owners of small properties particularly in
marginalized communities.
The Department also recognizes that some owners may be unaware of certain requirements
including those pertaining to various periodic inspections. As an agency charged with public
safety, the Department has a role in educating New Yorkers, whether they own or rent, so they
have an understanding of the regulatory framework with which owners must comply. To that end,
the Department believes outreach and community engagement is a critical tool in educating
owners and tenants. The Department is committed to evaluating its outreach efforts to determine
whether and how such efforts can be expanded or modified to more effectively engage with
marginalized communities to address disparities that may exist in various boroughs as a result of
historical harms.
We also recognize that, internally, there are various disparities to address including with respect to
employee salaries, promotions, and professional development opportunities. The pay disparity
and lack of professional development opportunities particularly impact employees of color,
especially women of color (who represent the highest percentage of administrative roles in the
agency) and BIPOC employees. In this racial equity plan, we aim to address these various issues
in order to advance racial equity both internally and in relation to our role as a regulatory agency.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Assess and improve outreach strategies to increase engagement with homeowners
and small businesses in marginalized communities to ensure awareness regarding available
DOB resources and applicable DOB regulatory requirements to improve compliance and
avoid potential enforcement action
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, develop metrics to track community engagement
comprehensively, and increase engagement activities in marginalized communities
by 20% by the end of 2027.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Review existing metrics to determine baseline engagement statistics
•
Utilizing the baseline data, tailor metrics to improve tracking of engagement
and to identify gaps in engagement
•
Employ surveys/questionnaires to identify the specific issues/concerns
relevant to particular communities to develop targeted engagement strategies
and materials
•
Partner with community-based organizations to reach target audiences with
the goal of educating communities regarding prevalent violations that are
specific to their respective zip codes/community boards
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of community events in marginalized communities
•
Number of borough-specific outreach and community engagement plans
•
Number of active partnerships with community-based organizations
•
Number of property owners who, based on completed surveys, report
increased awareness and understanding of the regulatory requirements and
available DOB resources
•
Number of small business owners who, based on completed surveys, report
increased awareness and understanding of the regulatory requirements and
available DOB resources
2.
Goal
: Identify and address pay disparity at all levels of the agency by ethnicity, gender, and
race
a.
Outcome:
By end of calendar year 2027, ensure that the agency has established a
transparent pay structure, which includes periodic pay equity reviews, and
developed a framework and procedure for implementing salary adjustments for
impacted employees.
35
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct a salary analysis for all employees to identify any pay disparities with
respect to ethnicity, gender, and race
•
Develop and implement a transparent and equitable process that includes
clear criteria for employee promotions and salary increases
•
Track percent change in salary disparity over time using 2027 salary data as
the baseline
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of titles that have been assessed in the disparity analysis in relation
to the total universe of titles used at the agency
•
Percent of employees found to have been impacted by salary disparity
•
Percent of employees found to have been impacted by salary disparity who
have received a salary adjustment
35
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of the equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
•
Percent change in salary disparity over time across ethnicity, race, and
gender identity
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Address underrepresentation of staff in certain titles based on available data from
oversight agency through equitable recruitment and hiring practices for all vacancies
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, implement inclusive workforce practices that attract diverse
applicants and monitor workforce trends (e.g. hiring, promotion, retention, and
workforce composition) on a quarterly and annual basis to reduce
underrepresentation in identified titles.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Create a recruitment pipeline for Inspector, Plan Examiner, Architect, and
Engineer positions by partnering with local high schools, colleges and
universities
•
Establish a recruitment committee/working group comprised of Human
Resources and supervisors from various units across the agency
•
Require all supervisors to undergo supervisory training that addresses
diversity and inclusion concerns such as managing a multi-generational
workforce
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of partnerships established with local educational institutions and
HBCU’s
•
Demographics of applicants agencywide, in technical titles (e.g. Plan
Examiner), and in supervisory, managerial, and leadership positions
36
•
Percent change in workforce composition in identified titles over a 5-year, 10-
year and 20-year period
2.
Goal:
Build upon equity and inclusion in the workplace through ensuring equitable access
to mental health, stress management, wellness, and conflict resolution across all levels
a.
Outcome
: By end of calendar year 2028, establish an internal committee that
includes health and wellness liaisons to conduct outreach to ensure all employees
are aware of the available resources and provide assistance in connecting with
those resources, where necessary.
b.
Strategies:
36
For informational and communication purposes.
•
Establish a committee to identify specific concerns as well as potential
strategies and resources in developing the program
•
Conduct employee engagement possibly through an anonymous survey to
ascertain specific areas of need
•
Develop training for staff to serve as liaisons in each borough, focusing on
topics such as mediation and peer support
•
Partner with the City’s Employee Assistance Program to conduct workshops
and streamline process for accessing available resources
c.
Indicators:
•
Total number of employees who participate in onsite workshops
•
Percent of employees participating in the internal program disaggregated by
ethnicity, race, gender, etc.
•
Total number of employees trained and serving as liaisons
•
Percent of employees reporting satisfaction with wellness programs based on
completed survey results
3.
Goal
: Establish regulatory requirements and training to improve the working conditions of
individuals employed in the construction trades industry
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2028, implement policies to improve working conditions for
the construction workforce.
b.
Strategies:
•
Develop course curriculum and mandate training related to mental health
and wellness, suicide risk and prevention, and substance-misuse
•
Identify hidden fees that construction workers are charged in connection
with required site safety training courses and implement corrective
measures
•
Establish requirements and implement a program focused on protecting
workers from extreme weather conditions
•
Evaluate existing regulatory requirements to identify gaps and propose
operational, code, or rule changes to improve construction safety
c.
Indicators:
•
Total number of construction workers who’ve completed the required mental
health and wellness, suicide risk and prevention, and substance-misuse
training
•
Total number of course providers who have eliminated hidden fees
•
Percent of construction workers who, based on completed surveys, report
that they are aware of protocols for working in extreme heat to avoid heat-
related incidents
•
Number of heat-related incidents reported
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Analyze the impact of agency penalties with the goal of reducing penalties for smaller
properties and establishing a scaled penalty structure
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2034, apply an equity lens in evaluating the agency’s
penalty structure and, where feasible, implement changes to address
disproportionate impact.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Analyze and identify any disproportionate patterns in violation issuance and
penalty amounts disaggregated by borough, zip code, community board,
occupancy type, and building size etc.
•
Analyze Homeowner Relief Program (HRP) statistics to determine efficacy of
such program as an alternative mechanism for achieving compliance with
applicable code and rules with respect to owners of smaller properties
•
Develop metrics to determine impact of the HRP program on reduction in
future violations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of owners issued an order for corrective action who correct the
condition within the required timeframe avoiding the issuance of a violation
•
Percent of owners issued a violation after failing to comply with the terms of
the HRP program
•
Percent of penalties reduced for smaller properties
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
pay, promotions, and contracts.
Spotlight Wins
•
Professional Development:
In 2025, the Department launched new Professional
Development trainings in response to staff feedback, through employee engagement
surveys, that highlighted the need for clear career advancement opportunities. The
Department is working to create structured promotion pathways and succession planning
frameworks, enabling equitable professional growth throughout the agency.
•
Pay Equity Analysis:
Commenced a comprehensive pay parity analysis in 2024. This
systemic analysis examines compensation patterns across all titles and levels to identify
and address disparities, ensuring fair and equitable pay practices. The work includes
developing standardized processes for salary adjustments to create lasting institutional
change.
•
Community Engagement Expansion:
The Department is working on expanding its
community presence through strategic outreach to various neighborhoods including those
in marginalized communities. The Community Affairs unit will work to foster partnerships
with local organizations by attending resource fairs and other community-focused events.
•
Homeowner Relief Program (HRP):
Understanding that summonses/violations and
associated penalties may have a disproportionate impact on small homeowners, the
Department implemented the Homeowner Relief Program as an alternative to penalties. It
provides owners of one- and two-family homes in all boroughs (who have not received a
DOB-issued violation in the past five years) and new owners who recently purchased a
one- or two-family home the opportunity to avoid penalties if the violating conditions are
corrected within a specified timeframe. The Department’s ultimate goal is compliance, and
it recognizes that issuing violations to owners of these smaller properties, who likely have
limited resources, is not necessarily the best path to compliance in all cases.
Department of City Planning
Mission and Commitment
The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the future of New York City, working to create
thriving and dynamic neighborhoods with access to housing and jobs, resilient infrastructure, and
a vibrant public realm.
DCP is committed to dismantling institutionalized racism within the planning profession by critically
examining its own policies, practices, and assumptions. This includes a thorough evaluation of
how past decisions have shaped present inequities and a resolve to implement more inclusive
practices moving forward. Internally, DCP is also focused on cultivating a workplace culture that
actively rejects racial bias, ensuring that its workforce not only reflects the rich diversity of New
York City but also amplifies and honors the voices of all communities.
The challenge ahead is to develop, implement, and advocate for planning policies that actively
address racial inequities, creating conditions where all New Yorkers can thrive regardless of race
or ethnicity. This commitment extends to ensuring that DCP’s workforce, especially within its
planning divisions and leadership, mirrors the city’s broad diversity.
Advocating for racial equity in city planning is essential to correcting the deep-rooted injustices
that have shaped urban development and perpetuated systemic disparities. By prioritizing equity,
DCP can help dismantle barriers that have disproportionately impacted Black and Brown
communities, ensuring that all residents have fair access to housing, transportation, and public
services. This focus on equity fosters not only a more inclusive and just city but also strengthens
New York’s overall resilience and vitality. Inclusive planning leads to better decision-making by
integrating diverse perspectives, resulting in policies that genuinely reflect the needs and
aspirations of all New Yorkers.
By championing racial equity, DCP can contribute to healing and reconciliation, fostering trust
within communities, and promoting social cohesion—key elements for a thriving city. In this way,
DCP can play a crucial role in creating a just and equitable New York, setting a standard for urban
planning practices nationwide.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Support communities by advocating for community needs and capital investment in
neighborhoods with concentrated poverty and historic segregation
a.
Outcome
: By 2026, achieve 100% of Community Boards participating in the annual
Community District Needs and Budget Request process, to support communities
advocating for their needs and capital investment in neighborhoods with
concentrated poverty and historic segregation.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Focus outreach and support efforts on historically marginalized communities.
•
Coordinate with the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget and other
partner agencies to identify funded projects as having appeared in prior
district needs statements
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of Community Boards that participate in the submission of the annual
Community District Needs Statement
•
Percent of approved requests by Community District, by income quintile, and
by CD racial composition
2.
Goal:
Address any underrepresentation of staff in certain roles within the agency through
equitable hiring and recruitment practices for all vacancies
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, implement inclusive workforce practices that attract diverse
applicants and undergo hiring processes free of unconscious bias.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Broaden our external posting sites, enhance our in-person recruitment efforts
at college fairs, and utilize citywide civil service list to attract diverse staff and
retain staff who are currently with the agency and who took and passed the
exams
•
To inspire students from underrepresented backgrounds to explore careers in
planning, DCP will proactively engage with local schools that have diverse
student communities
•
Through our partnerships with City University of New York (CUNY) and the
Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD), we aim to further diversify
our candidate pool
•
Conduct a quarterly equity review to identify and address any biases in job
descriptions, recruitment methods, and selection criteria
•
Ensure structured interview and unconscious bias training for all hiring
managers involved in the recruitment, hiring, and promotion process
•
Announce senior staff/leadership opportunities internally so that all staff are
aware of advancement opportunities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of new workforce practices
•
Demographics of applicants and new staff
37
2.
Goal:
Implement the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan to replace outdated zoning
laws with equitable policies that promote affordable housing, particularly in neighborhoods
that have not produced significant new housing, including new affordable housing, in recent
decades
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, implement any additional steps necessary to help the City of
Yes for Housing Opportunity plan achieve its estimated impact of 82,000 new homes
across the city.
b.
Strategies:
•
Educate property owners on how to utilize the City’s new tools to build more
housing, particularly in high income neighborhoods
•
Prepare studies or plans, typically requested by the City Council to deepen
implementation of these reforms
c. Indicators:
•
Number of affordable housing units created in high-income Community
Districts
•
Number of new housing units created through City Planning Commission
actions
4.
Goal
: Advance fair housing growth by implementing the 2025 Charter Revision
Commission amendments
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure that voter-approved charter amendments are supported
by rules and processes that permit the creation of affordable housing in community
districts that historically excluded New Yorkers who have experienced economic or
racial marginalization
38
.
37
For informational and communication purposes only.
38
Systemic barriers to housing, economic opportunity, or full participation in community due to economic
circumstance, race, ethnicity, or an intersection of these factors.
b.
Strategies:
•
Promulgate rules to ensure that applications with affordable housing can
clearly and efficiently access commission-created fast tracks, such as
ELURP and AHAB
•
Develop internal processes by which the agency will expedite the review of
applications utilizing these tools
•
Educate prospective builders and landowners about the benefits of using
these tools and how they can advance fair housing and racial equity by
doing so
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of new units created using these tools
•
Number of new affordable housing units built in community districts that
have historically underdeveloped affordable housing
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Equip all agency staff, including Commissioners and executive leadership, with an
understanding of the discriminatory history of urban planning, its lasting impacts on New
York City's communities, and the agency's role in advancing more equitable planning
practices. This knowledge will be integrated into everyday decision-making, community
engagement, and policy development
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2028, 100% of DCP staff, leadership, and Commissioners
will complete training on anti-racism, the discriminatory history of urban planning and
demonstrate the ability to apply racial equity principles in their work through ongoing
learning, discussion, and accountability measures.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with DCAS, MOERJ, other city agencies, our ERGS/employee
groups, and subject matter experts to develop a training curriculum that
addresses anti-racism, examines the history of discriminatory planning
practices, and creates a forum for the ongoing discussion of best practices in
community engagement and agency operations. Institutionalize the training
as part of onboarding, leadership development, and continuing professional
education for all employees, with bi-annual refresher training
•
Facilitate division-level discussions and learning sessions that encourage
staff to reflect on how historical inequities relate to current planning projects,
policies, and community engagement practices
•
Evaluate the effectiveness of the training regularly and revise the curriculum
based on participant feedback, emerging best practices, and lessons learned
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of DCP staff trained
•
Percentage of participants demonstrating increased knowledge through pre-
and post-training assessments
•
Participant feedback on the relevance, quality, and usefulness of the training.
•
Percentage of divisions documenting how racial equity principles were
incorporated into internal team discussion/communication, projects, or
community engagement efforts
2.
Goal:
Through the work of DCP’s Community Planning and Engagement (CPE), continue
to build relationships, to increase trust and transparency, and to facilitate stronger
partnerships with the communities we serve and our stakeholders to create avenues for
shared decision-making
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, demonstrate progress towards achieving at least 50% of all exit
surveys from DCP events indicating that participants feel they understood the
information that was shared, felt their voices were heard, and knew the next steps.
b. Strategies:
•
Train staff on active listening and trauma-informed techniques to ensure
community voices are genuinely heard and valued during engagements
•
Develop easy-to-understand resources that explain land use planning
concepts and the role of DCP, tailored to different community demographics
•
Share regular updates on community feedback, engagement efforts, and how
input has influenced planning initiatives through newsletters and public
meetings
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of surveys with positive responses “N=total responses”
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Identify and address any racial, gender, gender identity, age, and disability gaps in
DCP positions and ensure pay equity for all
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, strengthen the agency’s commitment to diversity by ensuring
equitable outreach to recruit for all vacancies in staff and leadership positions and
ensuring all promotions at DCP are considered fairly, equitably, and inclusively, in
alignment with City best practices and applicable employment laws.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Leverage equity-focused budgeting to address staff pay equity by
systematically reviewing and adjusting compensation structures to ensure
fairness and inclusivity
39
•
Conduct an annual review of pay scales to identify disparities based on
gender, race, and other demographic factors
•
By reallocating resources and prioritizing budget adjustments, the agency will
address any inequities found, ensuring that all staff are compensated fairly for
their roles and contributions
•
Additionally, implementing transparent salary bands and providing clear
criteria for pay increases will help sustain equitable compensation practices
c.
Indicators:
•
Demographic composition of staff (e.g., race, gender, etc.) at various levels of
the agency
40
•
Rates at which diverse staff members are promoted compared to their peers
•
Turnover rates of different demographic groups to identify any disparities
2.
Goal:
Strengthen equity, transparency, and public trust by incorporating racial equity
considerations into DCP's planning, policy development, and agency operations. Through
collaboration with staff, community members, and agency partners, DCP will examine how
planning decisions affect different communities, identify opportunities to reduce inequities,
and continuously improve planning practices
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, DCP will update the neighborhood planning playbook to
incorporate equity considerations into each phase of the planning process for
neighborhoods and citywide initiatives. This will include strategies for disaggregating
data, engaging communities, and developing shared narratives about the role of
planning in achieving more fair and equitable outcomes.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Integrate equity into planning by periodically reviewing selected planning
initiatives, policies, and operational practices through an equity lens and
using the findings to inform future planning and decision-making
39
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of the equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
40
For informational and communication purposes only.
•
Promote cross-divisional collaboration by engaging divisions across DCP to
share expertise, identify opportunities to improve planning practices, and
incorporate equity considerations into projects and agency operations
•
Strengthen community partnerships by engaging residents, community
boards, community-based organizations, advocacy groups, and agency
partners early and throughout the planning process to better understand
community priorities and incorporate feedback into policy development
•
Increase transparency by clearly communicating planning processes,
decision-making considerations, and opportunities for public participation,
while periodically sharing how community feedback informed planning
recommendations and agency decisions
•
Support continuous improvement by documenting lessons learned,
identifying opportunities to improve planning practices, and developing
practical recommendations that divisions can implement and monitor over
time
c. Indicators:
•
Number of cross-divisional collaborations or working groups established to
support equitable planning practices
•
Number of community engagement activities conducted and diversity of
stakeholders engaged during planning initiatives
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
Spotlight Wins
•
Since 2021, equity staffing initiatives at DCP have significantly diversified the workforce, a
notable shift from four years ago. This diversity enriches the agency with new perspectives,
enabling it to better serve New York City’s communities.
•
DCP provides equity training, and the Housing and Preservation Division provides training
on equity and racism in housing to new employees through the “Land Use Academy”.
•
DCP has also enhanced hiring processes by implementing structured interviews and
unconscious bias training for hiring managers, promoting fair candidate evaluations and
mitigating biases. Employee resource groups (ERGs) further support staff with shared
experiences, fostering community, advocacy, and feedback channels for leadership.
•
To broaden recruitment efforts, DCP partners with CUNY and other local schools, creating
pathways for professionals from underrepresented backgrounds to enter the planning field.
•
The recent adoption of the
City of Yes for Housing Opportunity
amendment marks a
transformative step in addressing racial inequities in housing. This initiative revises zoning
regulations and streamlines approvals to promote affordable housing in high-opportunity
neighborhoods historically inaccessible to low-income families. By dismantling restrictive
zoning laws and discriminatory practices, the amendment encourages economic mobility
and access to better schools, healthcare, and job opportunities. This initiative is a crucial
part of DCP’s strategy to combat inequality in housing policy, fostering more inclusive
communities and equitable access to housing. Ultimately, the
City of Yes
initiative aims to
build a more just and resilient city for all New Yorkers.
Department of Finance
Mission and Commitment
The Department of Finance (DOF) administers the tax and revenue laws of the city fairly,
efficiently, and transparently to instill public confidence and encourage compliance while
providing exceptional customer service. DOF collects the revenues that make every city
service possible, including public education, police and fire protection, hospitals and
healthcare facilities, and parks and recreation centers.
DOF advances racial equity by ensuring fair and equitable administration of the city’s
property tax system, expanding access to tax relief programs, and improving customer
services. The agency protects renters and homeowners through education, outreach, and
property activity notification, as well as by providing investigative support through the
Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention. Through its policies, programs, and services,
DOF supports historically disadvantaged communities by reducing barriers to accessing
benefits, services, and tax relief programs while addressing racial disparities and advancing
equitable outcomes.
Under the Mayor’s leadership, DOF is committed to advancing property tax reform to
reduce systemic inequities while maintaining and enforcing equitable property assessment
and appraisal policies and practices to allow all New Yorkers equal opportunity to rent and
own homes.
Additionally, in response to the ongoing threat of theft and fraud, the Mayor announced the
Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention in April of 2026. This office, housed within DOF,
will work to reach homeowners who have been or are at risk of being victimized by deed
theft. The Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention will liaise across agencies and
stakeholders to detect, investigate, and respond to deed theft and advocate for future
enhancements to protect vulnerable New Yorkers.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Identify and address barriers to accessing DOF services, particularly in
historically underserved communities, to improve equitable access to benefits, services,
and support
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, expand customer access to DOF services,
benefits, and resources by reducing identified barriers and increasing awareness
and utilization in historically underserved communities.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Implement “Information Equity” for all available DOF services and notices
•
Notices and written materials are drafted, designed, and disseminated with
various underserved populations and subgroups in mind
•
Expansion of technology designed for New Yorkers that thoughtfully
addresses language barriers, cultural awareness, disability, and ease-of-use,
rather than imposing tools on New Yorkers
•
Expand physical customer service locations in all five boroughs
•
Deploy staff to community events, subway stops, senior centers, and
community spaces
•
Foster a service culture of going to where New Yorkers need DOF the most
and providing services that meet the needs of those who seek assistance
•
Simplify forms, notices, and online applications using plain language
•
Increase targeted outreach regarding property tax exemptions and deed theft
prevention
•
Ongoing assessment and reassessment of services to determine ways to
improve customer service in all forms
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage and neighborhood affiliation of customers who successfully
receive DOF benefits and services
•
Customer inquiry trends across all service points
2.
Goal
: Protect the licensed retail cannabis industry by continuing enforcement against
unlicensed sellers to the benefit of communities historically impacted by criminalization
a.
Outcome
: Reduce the number of unlicensed sellers in all five boroughs, thereby
supporting legally licensed retail sellers of cannabis products.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continued enforcement, product seizure, and closure of unlicensed retail
locations in underserved communities throughout the five boroughs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of inspections conducted
•
Number of violations issued
•
Number of sealings of unlicensed retail locations
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
DOF has a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local
law
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, sustain M/WBE participation through ongoing outreach,
equitable procurement practices, and continuous evaluation of contracting
opportunities.
b.
Strategies:
•
Continue to advertise all upcoming M/WBE procurement opportunities on the
agency’s website and other outreach channels
•
Attend and participate in citywide M/WBE networking and procurement events
to expand the pool of qualified vendors
•
Maintain procurement practices that have historically supported M/WBE
utilization
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage of all contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
•
Number of certified M/WBEs participating in procurements
•
Number of M/WBE contracts awarded by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
2. Goal:
Expand outreach efforts citywide, prioritizing historically underserved
neighborhoods based on disparity analysis, to increase awareness of and participation
in property tax exemptions and the Rent Freeze Program, payment plan options for
property taxes and other city debt, and deed theft prevention efforts
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, increase awareness and utilization of DOF programs, benefits,
and services throughout New York City through expanded outreach and education
efforts.
b.
Strategies:
•
Provide clear and targeted information and guidance regarding property tax
exemptions, the Rent Freeze Program, and other programs and services
provided by DOF
•
Partner with community-based organizations to increase awareness of
available programs, benefits, and services
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption (SCHE) and Disabled
Homeowners’ Exemption (DHE) recipients
•
Number of Rent Freeze Program (SCRIE & DRIE) participants
•
Number of in-person outreach events
3.
Goal:
Through the newly formed Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention, decrease
incidents of deed theft and fraud
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, increase the percentage of property owners registered for
the Notice of Recorded Document Program by 25% or more in all city
neighborhoods, particularly those identified as historically underserved. This will
protect property owners from deed theft by alerting them to potentially
unauthorized changes or transactions regarding their property’s deed.
b.
Strategies:
•
During outreach events, conducted in all five boroughs, DOF will encourage
property owners to register for the Notice of Recorded Document Program
•
Encourage homeowners from all city neighborhoods, including those
identified as underserved, to check and review their property’s deed using the
Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS)
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage increase in use of ACRIS
•
Percentage increase in number of registrations for the Notice of Recorded
Document Program
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Address workforce disparities and advance representation through equitable
recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention practices
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, strengthen the agency’s commitment to diversity by ensuring
equitable outreach to recruit staff for 100% of vacancies in staff and leadership
positions and ensure that candidates for all promotions are considered fairly,
equitably, and inclusively, in alignment with city best practices and applicable
employment laws.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct targeted recruitment and participate in diverse hiring pools
throughout the five boroughs
•
Continue to work with OMB and DCAS to receive budget and civil service
support and approval to fill vacancies
•
Monitor applicant, hiring, promotion, and retention trends by demographic
group
1
•
Expand professional development and advancement opportunities for
underrepresented staff
c.
Indicators
:
•
Workforce demographics by race, ethnicity, gender, and job group
•
Number of vacancies filled to reduce the number of underutilizations
•
Retention rates by demographic group
•
Leadership representation by demographic group
Draft Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language
access services in the city's most spoken languages.
Spotlight Wins
1
For informational and communications purposes only.
•
In June 2026, DOF launched the Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention as a
resource for enforcement and to protect property owners from deed theft and other
deed-related fraud.
•
DOF conducted 232 community outreach events on tax exemptions, the Rent
Freeze Program, payment plans, and other homeowner protections in all 51 Council
districts.
•
DOF partnered with elected officials and community-based organizations.
•
DOF expanded payment options and customer services in all five boroughs.
Housing Preservation and Development
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) mission is
to deliver safe, quality, affordable, and equitable housing in the city’s housing and
neighborhoods.
HPD is committed to addressing disparities in access to safe, affordable, high-quality housing
by creating, preserving, and planning for housing investments that meet the housing needs of
all New Yorkers. Through this work, HPD strives to combat the legacy impacts of inequitable
housing policies and investment practices of decades past, which still shape access to
housing and opportunity for too many New Yorkers today. In addition to our planning and
development work, HPD advances policies and programs to combat discrimination in the
housing market, promote tenant protections, and speed government processing times to
address housing quality issues and respond to needs on the ground.
In addressing these disparities, HPD is committed to promoting a diverse and equitable
workforce, both within the agency and across the entire development sector. HPD is making
efforts to recruit diverse candidates and maintain an inclusive work environment that promotes
retention. In addition, HPD promotes access to economic opportunity by growing affordable
housing development opportunities for Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises
(M/WBEs) and supporting a diverse workforce in the construction and development sectors.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Ensure that the agency's hiring practices are free of bias to promote
equitable opportunities for all
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, ensure that hiring managers are compliant with
any new anti-bias tools and training.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Promote the DCAS “Structured interviewing and Unconscious Bias”
training to all staff involved in the interview, selection and hiring process.
•
Provide standardized interview tools including a question bank and
candidate interview evaluation form
•
Develop tracking mechanisms to monitor completion and ensure compliance
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of hiring managers briefed on updated hiring practices
•
Percent of hiring managers utilizing updated interview evaluation form
•
Percent of hiring managers who have successfully used updated
guidelines in a recent hiring process
2.
Goal
: Publish the Fair Housing Growth Strategy to set housing production targets
and identify obstacles to fair housing
a.
Outcome
: By 2026,
•
All Community Districts will have 5-year targets for housing production.
•
All levels of government involved in the land use process will
understand the obstacles to fair housing in their community and the
strategies necessary to overcome them.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Publish the Fair Housing Growth Strategy in accordance with Local
Law 167 of 2023
•
Encourage all levels of local government involved in the land use
process to incorporate strategies
c.
Indicators
:
•
Completion of the Fair Housing Growth Strategy report and required
updates and progress reports
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Strengthen staff awareness, knowledge and commitment to addressing racism
and unconscious bias in order to foster a more inclusive, equitable and culturally
competent workforce
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure that all staff complete any available citywide anti-
racism and unconscious bias training.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Align the agency's efforts with any citywide anti-racism training
requirements and related initiatives established by DCAS Integrate
anti-racism, unconscious bias, and microaggression training into the
agency's new employee onboarding process by requiring all newly
hired staff to complete any available citywide or agency-approved
training as part of their onboarding curriculum
•
Establish ongoing employee engagement opportunities, including
working/focus groups and agency-wide climate surveys to assess and
strengthen workplace culture, and identify areas for improvement
across the agency
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of staff trained quarterly
•
Review of climate survey responses quarterly
2.
Goal
: Examine the housing lottery system to identify and address whether there are
disparities in outcomes for participants or barriers in the process
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, assess whether disparities in outcomes for participants in
the housing lottery system exist, what the root causes of those disparities might
be, and strategies to mitigate those causes.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Use existing data to understand whether different racial and ethnic groups
experience differences in participation and outcomes in the lottery system
•
Consider the real vs. perceived impact of criminal background checks, credit
checks and judgments, and other potential barriers to the lottery process
•
Find ways to implement anti-marginalization elements such as reducing
barriers to using the housing lottery system
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of lottery applications submitted, and subsequent leases signed—
broken into categories to identify potential racial disparities
3.
Goal
: Expand new homeownership opportunities in underserved communities,
particularly communities of color, and provide support for existing homeowners
in those communities to ensure homeownership retention and preservation of
generational assets
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase equitable access to homeownership
opportunities, assistance, and stabilization resources for eligible residents
in historically underserved communities.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Launch the
Our Home
program, a new affordable housing program
to facilitate the conversion of rental buildings into resident-controlled
cooperatives
•
Expand the
Open Door
program, which promotes access to
homeownership by funding the construction of cooperative buildings
and 1-4 family homes affordable to low-, moderate-, and middle-
income families
•
Grow the
Home First
downpayment assistance program, which
allows low- and moderate-income families to receive up to $100,000
in City support toward the purchase of a home
•
Launch the
Mortgage Assistance Program
(MAP), will provide
repayable, no-interest loans to help low-income homeowners
resolve mortgage arrears, bring their payments current, and avoid
foreclosure
•
Expand the
HomeFix
program, so homeowners can address critical
repair needs in aging 1-to-4 family homes
•
Expand the number of Section 8 recipients (including NYCHA
residents) who are converting their rental subsidy to homeownership
vouchers
c.
Indicator
:
•
Number of new affordable homeownership opportunities created
annually
•
Number of people who receive new homeownership opportunities,
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and neighborhood of residence at
program entry and at home purchase, where sample sizes permit,
with appropriate privacy restrictions
•
Number of existing homeowners who receive homeownership
retention assistance annually, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
neighborhood, where sample sizes permit, with appropriate privacy
restrictions
4.
Goal
: Ensure all New Yorkers have access to safe housing by reducing
disparities in housing code enforcement
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, develop strategies to re-align criteria for proactive
enforcement such that it addresses any disparities in housing code
enforcement.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Assess whether proactive enforcement of the housing code is
appropriately targeted such that neighborhoods experiencing housing
quality issues receive appropriate focus and, if not, develop strategies to
re-align criteria for proactive enforcement
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of properties in each neighborhood in which HPD currently conducts
proactive enforcement activities
•
Percent of properties that should be targeted by proactive enforcement
activity based on indicators of distressed housing
•
Difference between the above two indicators
5.
Goal
: Ensure all New Yorkers, regardless of background, have access to the
economic opportunities available in the housing sector
a.
Outcomes
: By 2028,
•
Continue to support participation of Minority- and Women-owned
Enterprise (M/WBE) businesses in agency contracting opportunities,
such as the utilization of M/WBEs on affordable housing construction
projects and procurement opportunities provided by HPD
•
Continue to execute our Section 3 obligations, with a target of at least 25%
of labor hours on Section 3 projects being performed by low-income New
Yorkers who meet Section 3 requirements
b.
Strategies:
•
Maintain an inclusive procurement environment through outreach,
collaboration, technical assistance, and creating pathways for M/WBEs
through a variety of HPD programs such as M/WBE Build-up, Community
Hiring, Jobs Outreach Plans, and Housing Pathways to Opportunity
•
Continue to support and develop new workforce training programs to create
a pipeline for a diverse workforce to enter the housing field
•
Monitor Section 3 requirements for developers and contractors working on h
ousing projects in HPD’s portfolio
c.
Indicators
•
M/WBE program participation
•
Labor hours performed by low-income New Yorkers who meet Section 3
requirements
6.
Goal
: Conditional on federal resources being available, ensure federal Section 8 housing
voucher holders have access to neighborhoods that best suit their needs
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, Section 8 voucher holders will have a choice to live in a
diverse array of New York City neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Prioritize programs that empower Section 8 voucher holders to access new
neighborhoods
•
Continue to operate and evolve the Section 8 Mobility Program and seek
federal funding to provide Housing search support services for the Section 8
population
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Section 8 voucher holders offered financial and other support in
their housing search to successfully use their vouchers
•
Dollars secured to fund search support services
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Increase share of affordable homes financed in Limited Affordability Areas (LAAs)
in alignment with the goals of Where We Live NYC, relative to total new construction
housing production
a.
Outcome
: By 2034,
•
Prioritize affordable housing financing projects that combat segregation and
foster inclusive communities
•
Increase the availability of affordable housing in areas with few affordable
homes gives low-income New Yorkers more neighborhood choice
b.
Strategies
:
•
Evaluate barriers and create incentives for developing new
construction affordable housing in LAAs
•
Expand awareness of LAAs and the Fair Housing goals behind
increasing affordable housing in those areas
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of new affordable homes financed in LAAs
•
Increased share of affordable homes financed in LAAs, relative to total new
construction housing production
2.
Goal
: Increase the equitable distribution of city investments through coordinated,
community-involved neighborhood planning for housing, infrastructure and services in
neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment and discrimination
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, make neighborhood investments guided by HPD’s
neighborhood plans. Investments will contribute to increasing racial, economic
and environmental justice in areas impacted by historic disinvestment.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to conduct and implement neighborhood-wide planning efforts in
collaboration with community partners in areas that have experienced
disinvestment and structural barriers to opportunity
c.
Indicators
:
•
Dollars of investment and planned investment in neighborhood planning
areas
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity
and social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#13: Increase access and lower the cost to basic needs such as quality food,
transportation, medical, and housing.
•
#15: Remove barriers and increase access for people harmed by racial and social
injustice to learn about buy and keep ownership of property.
Spotlight Wins
•
HPD launched its Structured Interview Training initiative as part of the agency's ongoing
commitment to reducing bias and promoting consistency, fairness, and equity in the hiring
process. All staff involved in interviewing, selecting, or hiring candidates were scheduled to
complete this training. The training examines the impact of unconscious bias on the
interview and selection process and provides participants with the foundational skills
needed to conduct effective structured interviews. It also reinforces applicable best
practices to support objective and equitable hiring decisions. To align with citywide training
efforts and avoid duplicative instruction, HPD has paused its internal scheduling of this
training to allow staff to register for and complete the "Structured Interviewing and
Unconscious Bias" course now offered through DCAS.
•
In 2021, HPD increased the maximum HomeFirst down payment assistance loan amount
from $40,000 to $100,000, helping more lower-income New Yorkers become homeowners
in a greater variety of neighborhoods city-wide. In 2025, the City added $41 million, for a
total of $82 million, in City funding over five years, to increase income eligibility from 80%
AMI to 120% AMI and to allow the program to serve up to 300 first-time homebuyers
annually.
•
As part of its commitment to increasing contracting opportunities for diverse businesses
and reducing barriers to participation in publicly financed development, HPD:
o
Monitored over 250 active affordable housing construction projects with M/WBE
participation targets, resulting in over $250 million going to M/WBE firms since the
inception of the Build-up program.
o
Expanded access to HPD opportunities by conducting seven outreach events, within
Fiscal Year 2026, that connected more than 300 potential M/WBE vendors with
agency contracting opportunities.
•
In 2021, HPD and the Center for New York City Neighborhoods launched a pilot
Homeowner Help Desk to provide direct assistance to homeowners in Southeast Queens,
East New York, and the Northern Bronx, with a focus on supporting homeowners at risk of
displacement due to foreclosures scams, municipal tax liens, rising operating and
maintenance costs, or lack of real estate planning. The Homeowner Help Desk has been
expanded citywide and launched at the end of 2024. The agency has successfully
launched a public awareness campaign, a new website, and a Handbook for homeowners.
The Help Desk has tailored its outreach and services to the most at-risk communities of
color, focusing on the specific need to disrupt patterns of fraud, speculation, displacement,
and protect home equity built over decades.
•
Successfully piloted from 2019 to 2021 and now expanded across much of the City,
Partners in Preservation (PiP) supports tenants in combating harassment and displacement
by fostering greater coordination and collaboration between government agencies,
community-based organizations, and legal service providers. Focused specifically on rent-
stabilized housing—an essential resource for many New Yorkers—PiP empowers
community organizations by offering both technical and financial assistance from HPD,
helping them strengthen efforts in tenant outreach, education, and organizing. PiP funds
tenant organizers at 20 trusted tenant organizing groups in 39 community districts who
engage residents to form tenant associations and take collective action to hold landlords
accountable and protect their rights. During the first two years of the program, the tenant
organizers and HPD have achieved the following (as of July 2026):
o
Canvassed 782 buildings
o
Formed 128 new tenant associations
o
Hosted 692 trainings and workshops
o
Conducted 1,401 one-on-one leadership training with tenants
Landmarks Preservation Commission
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is responsible for protecting New
York City's architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting
them landmark or historic district status and regulating them after designation to safeguard the
buildings and places that represent New York City's cultural, social, economic, political, and
architectural history.
LPC is a charter-mandated New York City commission. The Commission was created in 1965
through groundbreaking legislation signed by the late Mayor Robert F. Wagner in response to the
losses of historically significant buildings in New York City.
LPC is committed to fostering a more inclusive preservation practice ensuring equitable
representation in landmark designations, so the benefits of preservation are shared across all
communities. By promoting diversity among preservation professionals and inclusive research,
LPC aims to center equity in its work and ensure that the stories of all New Yorkers are told.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Improve property owner understanding and experience of LPC's permit process to
ensure fairness and transparency
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, assess LPC's permit process and outreach efforts, using
applicant feedback to identify potential ways to reduce barriers and enhance
applicant experience.
b.
Strategies
:
•
By 2027, send the inaugural survey on LPC’s permitting process and
outreach efforts to 100% of applicants, monitoring and encouraging
participation
•
Analyze survey results, including optional demographic data to inform
policies, practices, and outreach, and create baseline metrics
•
Assess current baseline educational outreach events on low interest loan and
grant opportunities, and the permit application process and increase by 25%
•
Begin work on phase two of our permitting portal, Portico, to provide even
greater efficiency to the process
•
Identify any variation in applicant processing time across neighborhoods and
applicant groups
•
Implement process improvements, where possible, based on survey findings
to reduce identified barriers
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of applicants reporting understanding of the permitting process
•
Percent of applicants reporting barriers to access in LPC permitting and
regulatory processes
•
Percent of applicants reporting ease in navigating the LPC permitting and
regulatory process
•
Percent of property owners participating in permit process survey
•
Percent of survey participants reporting demographic data
•
Percent increase in outreach educational events in
underserved/underrecognized neighborhoods
2.
Goal
: Tell the stories of all New Yorkers, particularly in communities and neighborhoods
that have been historically underrepresented by landmark designation
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, enhance public programs, resources, and/or
outreach focused on communities and neighborhoods that have been
underrepresented by landmark designation.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Create a methodology for including a history of past harms and racial
injustices that were endured on the landmark or historic district site and begin
including them in every new designation report
•
When new designations are primarily associated with specific communities,
develop targeted promotional events and initiatives to highlight their
significance, ensuring that these important stories are shared widely and
celebrated
•
Create new educational tools to share the diverse history of New York City, to
ensure we are telling the story of all New Yorkers through a variety of media,
including story maps and social media campaigns
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of new educational tools related to designations publicly launched
•
Percent of new designation reports that include a history of past harms and
racial injustices
3.
Goal:
Ensure equitable representation in landmark designations by increasing the number
of historic resource surveys in underrecognized communities in New York City
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2027, achieve a 20% increase in LPC historic resource
surveys located in historically underserved neighborhoods and/or underrepresented
communities and examine existing cultural assumptions in interpretation of
designation criteria.
b.
Strategies:
•
Analyze existing landmark designations and historic resource surveys, to
inform areas for future surveys undertaken by LPC research department
staff
•
Evaluate the agency’s framework for determining value of cultural
characteristics
•
Seek grant funding to hire consultants for specialized surveys and historic
context statements related to New York City’s Latino and Asian American
communities
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent increase in geographic and/or thematic surveys identifying buildings
and sites in underrecognized communities
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Grow LPC’s
Historic Preservation Grant Program (HPGP)
to assist income-eligible
property owners and not-for-profit organizations in restoration work, particularly in
underserved neighborhoods. Established in 1977 with federal Community Development
Block Grant funds, HPGP provides grants of $10,000 to $35,000 for façade restorations
41
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, increase LPC’s budget for grants it provides to income-eligible
New Yorkers and not-for-profit organizations in underserved areas by 20%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct targeted outreach in underserved neighborhoods to increase HPGP
grant awareness and applications
•
Develop an online form for grant applications to facilitate the submittal of
complete applications and to enhance the customer experience
41
The program supports not-for-profit organizations serving low- and moderate-income communities, as well as
eligible low-to-moderate income owners of buildings in historic districts or designated as landmarks. To date, the
program has awarded over $5.7 million, assisting 177 homeowners and 147 not- for-profits citywide. This is LPC’s
only capital expenditure program.
•
Build and implement a funding strategy for the grant program to meet the
needs in underserved communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent increase in HPGF grants in underserved areas
•
Total dollar amount of HPGP funding allocated annually
2.
Goal:
LPC has had 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local
law
a.
Outcome:
By 2029, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for
M/WBE utilization, while expanding engagement with underrepresented contractor
groups.
b.
Strategies:
•
Work with NGO and agency partners to identify opportunities and
challenges in building a larger pool of M/WBE contractors with historic
preservation expertise, particularly Black M/WBE contractors who have had
the greatest underutilization
42
•
Increase LPC participation in outreach events, conventions, and
trade
shows to connect with qualified contractors
•
Develop and execute a plan to host preservation-specific outreach events to
contractors to build supply of M/WBE contractors through encouraging
certification
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of agency awarded contracts to M/WBEs, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Number of outreach events, conventions, and trade shows attended
•
Number of contractors encouraged to apply for M/WBE certification
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Address any underrepresentation of staff in roles within the agency through equitable
hiring and recruitment practices for all vacancies
a.
Outcome
: By 2035, develop a workforce pipeline for the field of historic preservation
through targeted recruitment.
b.
Strategies
:
42
LPC will continue to review data on an ongoing basis and adjust strategy accordingly.
•
Continue utilizing The NYC Department of Youth and Community
Development (DYCD) Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) interns
and seek to increase LPC’s participation in the program
•
Seek creative opportunities for internships that will attract a diverse pool of
applicants
•
Grow LPC’s outreach and educational programs in New York City High
Schools to explain to students what a career in historic preservation entails,
and develop new ways to reach local students to explain the profession
•
Increase outreach for the Landmarks Preservationist civil service exam to
encourage more diverse candidates
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent increase in SYEP interns
•
Number of events at NYC high schools
•
Number of events related to LPC’s civil service exams for Landmark
Preservationist positions
•
Change in workforce composition by role and demographic characteristics
over time
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#5: Check for and remove any formulas and computer processes that may be biased based
on race, ethnicity, or poverty. This will prevent inequities in health care, housing, policing,
criminal justice, employment, social service and more.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
LPC launched an initiative in January 2021 to guide agency priorities into the future. This
includes prioritizing designations that represent New York City’s diversity, with a particular
focus on preserving historic places associated with underrepresented communities; robust
outreach and public dialogue with the city’s diverse communities; and fairness,
transparency, and efficiency in regulation so that all property owners have equal access to
resources, technical assistance, and expertise.
•
LPC has focused designations on places that broaden the representation of the City’s
diverse history and communities. LPC’s ongoing commitment to telling the complete story
of New York City’s Black history through landmark designations was advanced through
several designations, including the (Former) Colored School No. 4, the only known
surviving building in Manhattan that exclusively served Black Americans during mandated
racial segregation in New York City public schools. LPC also designated performance
venues and residences associated with famous Black jazz musicians, including “Dizzy”
Gillespie’s house in Corona, Queens, and Harlem’s Hotel Cecil & Minton’s Playhouse
Building. In addition, LPC designations also included two buildings with significance to
LGBTQ+ history, Julius’ Bar Building in Manhattan and the Lesbian Herstory Archives. LPC
also advanced its goal of increasing designations in areas less represented by landmarks,
particularly in the Bronx, with six new designations in the Bronx, including the borough’s
first scenic landmark, Old Croton Aqueduct Walk and the Bronx Opera House.
•
LPC has taken actionable steps to streamline rules and processes to allow for more
efficient permitting, furthering equity to enhance transparency, accessibility, and efficiency
in our permitting process. In March 2024
,
LPC launched
Portico
, a new web-based permit
application portal that provides a user-friendly customer experience for owners of landmark
buildings applying for permits to do work on their designated properties.
•
In 2024, LPC launched "
More Than a Brook: Brooklyn Abolitionist Heritage Walk
," an
interactive audio tour that explores Brooklyn’s history as a critical neighborhood for the
National Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad.
NYC Housing Authority
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) mission is to provide quality housing for New Yorkers that
is sustainable and safe, while fostering opportunities for economic mobility.
As a public housing agency (PHA), NYCHA acknowledges its role and responsibility to Provide
Safe and Affordable Housing: Fulfilling its core mission to provide quality, affordable housing that
is sustainable and safe for low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. As of
January 2026, 90% of NYCHA’s public housing program participants are Black or Hispanic and
19% of the population self-report a disability. NYCHA works hard to comply with all federal, state,
and local regulations, including lead-based paint regulations and inspection standards, to ensure
the health and safety of our residents. NYCHA is uniquely situated to support developing and
implementing additional programs that foster opportunities for economic mobility among residents,
including in its implementation of grants connecting residents to employment and educational
services as well as the federal Section 3 Program.
NYCHA is also committed to transparent operations and decision-making processes, building on
the trust NYCHA is creating with residents and the broader community. NYCHA is actively
engaging residents in its decision-making and policy development processes and in fostering a
sense of community ownership. Separately, NYCHA is addressing environmental health concerns
in its developments, recognizing the historical impact poor environmental conditions can have on
low-income communities.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Educate supervisors and managers on their roles and responsibilities concerning
employees or residents with disabilities. As of January 2026, 19% of NYCHA’s residents
self-reported they experience a disability
a.
Outcome
: By November 2026, achieve expanded knowledge and awareness of
current applicable reasonable accommodation processes and laws, as well as
accessibility requirements pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act and
broader Fair Housing regulations.
b.
Strategies:
•
Targeted training to NYCHA supervisors and managers on employee
reasonable accommodation processes and resident services for ASL
interpretations. As of January 2026, about 1 percent (3,646) of NYCHA’s
public housing residents self-reported they are hard of hearing or deaf
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of supervisors and managers completing the training
2.
Goal:
Enhance current processes in place to provide on-demand video remote
interpretation for deaf or hard of hearing residents who require American Sign Language
(ASL) interpretation, thereby supporting NYCHA efforts to ensure all low-income New
Yorkers can fully participate in NYCHA services and support programs. Black and Hispanic
individuals make up about 90% of NYCHA’s population and 45% of the City’s population of
New Yorkers with a hearing difficulty
a.
Outcome:
By November 2026, implement enhanced processes and technical
support for NYCHA staff communicating with residents or housing applicants who
require ASL interpretation to effectively communicate.
b.
Strategies:
•
Onboard vendor who provides on-demand video remote interpretation
services and train applicable NYCHA staff who regularly interface with
residents on how to request such services on these residents’ behalf
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of ASL on-demand requests made; number of ASL on-demand
requests successfully completed; number of staff trained
3.
Goal
: Improve access to and effectiveness of services and support available to Public
Housing residents struggling with remaining current on necessary rental payments to
enable them to maintain housing stability
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, meet or exceed 10 resident inquiries for each HRA
benefits enrollment event, target communication related to rent arrears payment
options and connect residents with administrative hearings and housing court with
legal professionals.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with HRA to continue HRA Enrollment events hosted on
NYCHA campuses, targeting benefit enrollment efforts at developments with
the highest rent delinquency rates
•
Launch targeted communication efforts to residents with persistent arrears
through direct email, phones, flyers, door knocking, and one on one office
meetings to raise awareness of available payment options
•
Connect residents to Right-to-Counsel services by referring them to
nonprofit legal services organizations for free legal representation and
advice during administrative and Housing Court proceedings
•
Refer potentially-eligible residents with rental arrears to apply to HRA for
emergency assistance both before and during legal proceedings, as well as
in the 30 days after winning nonpayment cases so that residents can avoid
eviction
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of HRA enrollment events in 2026
•
Number of residents applying for HRA assistance through enrollment events
in 2026
•
Number of appointments per enrollment event in 2026
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Provide safe and healthy housing to underserved communities through expanding
timely response to lead based paint, mold, and pests, improving environmental health in a
city in which asthma disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic children and individuals
residing in high poverty neighborhoods
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, remedy deficient physical conditions in NYCHA properties by
making physical and operational improvements to deliver results for residents across
the city.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Address issues of pests at developments through Integrated Pest
Management (IPM), which is focused on prevention and directs resources to
address the root causes of infestations, including ensuring that NYCHA timely
collects and properly stores and disposes of waste, limiting the use of toxic
pesticides to the minimum necessary to achieve pest control, and requiring
NYCHA maintenance staff to prevent pests from harboring in NYCHA’s
buildings
•
Continue the Mold and Leaks Restore and Renew (“MLRR”) program, which
provides skilled trades and administrative resources to select high-need
developments with a high volume of aged, open mold and leak work orders.
This focused approach aims to address deficiencies and reduce the mold and
leaks work order backlog
•
Continue Operation Mold Clean Up (OMC) to prioritize and reduce the
backlog of open Caretaker X and Painter mold removal work orders and
outstanding mold resistant paint work orders, to ultimately prevent second
verified mold complaints in the same unit or same common area room or
hallway within a 12-month period
•
Abate all lead-based paint in apartment units that contain lead-based paint
and interior common areas that contain lead-based paint in the same building
as those units by 2039
•
Continue commitments for over 100 new waste yards at 83 developments
and nearly 1,200 interior compactors at 92 developments, targeted for
completion by end of 2028
•
Launch the Critical Repairs Initiative (CRI), modeled after the successful
Ombudsperson Call Center for mold and leak complaints, that will provide
enhanced communication and case management for residents who are
experiencing critical, long-standing conditions in their homes that impact
habitability, including open walls, missing or unusable fixtures or cabinetry,
significant floor or ceiling damage, or other serious deficiencies identified
through inspection
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent rat complaints responded within 5 days
•
Percent other pest complaints responded within 10 days
•
Percent mold cases with recurrence
•
Number of apartments abated for lead
2.
Goal:
Expand resident connection to high-quality employment and educational services by
leveraging federal grant, city, and partner resources to increase opportunities for
underserved low-income, primarily Black and Brown communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, launch and complete five (5) funded no-cost economic
opportunity initiatives for low-income New Yorkers.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue implementation of U.S. DOL funding for the NYCHA YouthBuild
program to provide job training, educational services, occupational skills
training, leadership development, and high-quality post-program placement
services for at risk young adults from Brownsville, Brooklyn. As of 2024,
Brownsville’s population is roughly 68% Black and 21% Hispanic, and its
unemployment rate of 14% exceeds the citywide rate
•
Continue implementation of received HUD funding for the Coney Island Jobs-
Plus program which provides customized employment services, financial
counseling, rent-based incentives, and peer to peer support to working age
residents in targeted NYCHA Developments Coney Island Houses I, Surfside
Gardens, and Coney Island Houses I (Site 4 & 5). As of January 2026, 75%
of the residents in the targeted developments on Coney Island are Black or
Hispanic
•
Collaborate with the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice (MOERJ) on
the Bronx Expansion programs which include: NYCHA’s Family Self
Sufficiency (FSS) program, the NYCHA Resident Training Academy (NRTA)
construction track, and Food Business Pathways Meal Expansion programs
through the funding cycle ending on June 30, 2027. As of January 2026, 97%
of the public housing residents in the Bronx are Black or Hispanic
•
Expand the Childcare Business Pathways Program, a 10-week training and
technical assistance program that equips NYCHA residents and Section 8
voucher holders to launch home-based childcare businesses
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Youth Build enrollees
•
Number of Youth Build enrollees placed in employment/education
•
Number of residents enrolled in Coney Island Jobs-Plus
•
Number of Coney Island Jobs-Plus members assessed
•
Number of Coney Island Jobs-Plus members who become employed
•
Number of NYCHA FSS enrollees
•
Average FSS escrow amount (enrollees)
•
Number of NYCHA FSS graduates
•
Number of residents enrolled in NRTA- Bronx Expansion
•
Number of residents who complete NRTA- Bronx Expansion
•
Number of NRTA- Bronx Expansion graduates placed in employment or union
apprenticeship
•
Number of NYCHA residents who completed the Childcare Business
Pathways program
3.
Goal:
Continue to expand language access to NYCHA residents, Section 8 participants,
and members of the public who participate or are exploring participation in NYCHA’s
affordable housing
a.
Outcome
: By end of 2028, release an updated Language Access Implementation Plan
as well as implement necessary improvements and enhancements to NYCHA’s
provision of language access services.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Utilize self-reporting data submitted by residents and applicants to determine
current language access needs
•
Review requests for interpretation and translation to determine current language
access needs
•
Ensure necessary awareness, including via signage and notifications, exists so
that those who would like to utilize such services understand that such services
are available and how they may be accessed
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of requests for language services
•
Number of complaints for failure to provide services
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Through a resident-engagement focused process, address historical infrastructural
challenges in underserved communities by prioritizing rehabilitation or redevelopment in the
highest need NYCHA housing units
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, transition up to 100,000 units to Project-Based Section 8 under
the PACT or Trust programs to leverage additional funding for rehabilitation or
redevelopment.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Transfer up to 25,000 apartments to the New York City Public Housing
Preservation Trust (the Trust) to improve residents’ quality of life through
comprehensive building renovations while preserving all their rights and
protections including permanently affordable rent. As of January 2026, 84% of
the residents in the four Trust sites (Bronx River Addition, Coney Island Site
1B (Unity Tower), Hylan and Nostrand) are Black or Hispanic
•
Continue to implement the Comprehensive Modernization (Comp Mod)
Program to integrate comprehensive renovations spanning multiple building
systems, interiors and exteriors, and grounds improvements at several
developments including Todt Hill, Saint Nicholas Houses, Gowanus Houses,
and Wyckoff Gardens. As of January 2026, over 90% of the residents in the
Comp Mod developments are Black or Hispanic
•
Continue to prioritize resident engagement and communication in the
renovation processes through on-site engagement offices, meetings, flyers,
and canvassing
•
Continue rehabilitation and redevelopment through the Permanent
Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) model to reinvest in, restore and
rebuild publicly controlled affordable housing in a way that reflects the
priorities of the communities we serve. As of January 2026, over 93% of the
residents in developments converted to PACT are Black or Hispanic
•
Strengthen the PACT program by launching “Post-Conversion Resident
Partnership Meetings,” delivering expanded outreach at PACT developments
through resident meetings and devoted resources from the Mayor’s Office to
Protect Tenants
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of apartments preserved or rebuilt as low-income, rent-restricted
housing
•
Number of apartments rehabbed or rebuilt (Trust, PACT, Comp Mod)
2.
Goal:
Promote economic mobility and job opportunities for low-income residents and
equitable access to agency contracting opportunities by meeting required commitments to
Section 3 and other resident hiring goals. Only 3.5 percent of NYC businesses are owned
by Black entrepreneurs, even though Black New Yorkers make up 22 percent of the City’s
population
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, continue to make best efforts to achieve Federal Section 3
benchmarks.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue adhering to the Section 3 federal regulation and ensuring the
compliance of contractors to increase employment opportunities among
NYCHA residents
•
Update the interim standard procedure to incorporate key changes to Section
3 and work on training materials for NYCHA
•
Ensure consistency with federal, state, and local law through the continued
implementation and evaluation of goals
•
Continue providing no-cost employment-linked training opportunities to new
cohorts through the NYCHA Resident Training Academy and explore private
and agency partnerships to provide supportive services and resources to
participants to improve retention
•
Support NYCHA Entrepreneurs (“NYCHAPreneurs”) by expanding
participation in NYCHA’s free business accelerator programs that empower
residents and Section 8 voucher holders to start and grow profitable food and
home-based childcare businesses
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of residents enrolled in NRTA
•
Number of residents who complete NRTA
•
Number of NRTA graduates placed in employment or union apprenticeship
•
Total Number of residents who complete NYCHA Food or Childcare Business
Pathways Programs
•
Total number of new NYCHA resident Food/Childcare business registered
and/or licensed
•
Total number of Section 3 Hires / Labor Hours
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#7: Expand access to safe, stable housing for those at risk of homelessness, eviction, and
deed theft without delay. Access should be available to individuals and families.
•
#8: Evaluate and remove fines and fees to reduce the impact on low-income people of all
ages.
Spotlight Wins
•
NYCHA has made significant progress in addressing mold and leak issues in NYCHA
Public Housing Apartments:
Approximately 92% decline in the median days to inspect for mold from 24.6 days in
March 2022 to 1.8 days in July 2026
Approximately 79% reduction in the number of open Ombudsperson Call Center
cases managed by MRU from over 2,000 open cases in March 2022 (at its highest)
to ~425 cases as of July 2026
Approximately 81% decline in the average number of mold inspections created per
week from ~508 WOs in 2020 to ~ 97 WOs in July 2026
•
In the 2025-2026 heat season, NYCHA resolved its heat outages on average in 7.2 hours.
99% of outages (644 out of 652) were resolved within 24 hours.
•
As of June 1, 2026, NYCHA has converted 32,151 apartments to the Project-Based
Section 8 program through PACT. 119 developments have converted through PACT.
Of those apartments, 16,965 have completed repair work, representing over $ 3.7
billion in capital investment.
The remaining 15,186 apartments are under construction, representing $6.4 billion in
repairs.
In addition to the converted projects, there are currently 13,588 apartments in some
phase of planning and engagement work. This represents $ 6.6 B in capital repairs.
Overall, there are over 45,000 units in NYCHA’s PACT pipeline, representing over
$16.9 billion in capital repairs for NYCHA residents
•
NYCHA is also actively taking steps to fully implement the New York City Public Housing
Preservation Trust (Trust) model, providing further ability to fully modernize NYCHA
developments through this new public entity.
Since 2023, resident votes have taken place at several developments following
extensive engagement periods that include outreach, education, and opportunities
for residents to ask questions and provide feedback.
Residents from Nostrand Houses, Bronx River Addition, Unity Towers (also known
as Coney Island (Site 1B)), and Hylan Houses each voted to join the Trust following
this process, representing the first cohort of developments to select the Trust model
for comprehensive renovation.
Following Trust selection, the developments have advanced into procurement for
selection of design-build partners, after which projects move into design and
construction, alongside implementation of the Section 8 lease conversion process.
▪
Nostrand Houses
At Nostrand Houses, a design-build partner was selected in July 2025, and
the project is advancing through the design phase in coordination with
residents, the Trust, and NYCHA. The Section 8 lease signing process began
in January 2026, following a Draft Trust Lease public comment period held in
July–August 2025. Construction is anticipated to begin in Fall 2026 through a
phased approach.
▪
Bronx River Addition
At Bronx River Addition, a design-build partner was selected in September
2025, and the project is progressing through design. Construction is
anticipated to start in late 2026. Additionally, a draft Trust Lease public
comment period was held in July - August 2025, and the Trust and NYCHA
are starting the Section 8 lease signing process in June 2026.
▪
Unity Towers (
also known as Coney Island I (Site 1B))
At Unity Towers, shortlisted firms were issued an RFP in October 2025, and
proposals were due in March 2026. The Trust selected a design-build partner
in June 2026. The design-build team partner will start design and resident
engagement in Summer 2026.
▪
Hylan Houses
At Hylan Houses, shortlisted firms were issued an RFP in February 2026, and
proposals were due in April. The Trust selected a design-build partner in May
2026. This project will be the first to use a progressive design-build (PDB)
delivery approach, one of the delivery mechanisms available to the Trust to
support efficient project delivery and early collaboration during design. The
design-build team partner will start design and resident engagement in
Summer 2026.
Infrastructure and
Environment
Infrastructure and Environment
Physical and digital infrastructure play a key role in determining how New Yorkers can
access resources, services, and opportunities, as well as protection against
environmental risks. However, inequities in design, construction, transportation, and
connectivity have caused significant disparities, particularly for communities of color.
Recognizing the decade’s worth of discriminatory policies and practices is critical to
creating an equitable path forward.
Inequitable Infrastructure Development
Despite good faith efforts to advance equity, systemic racism and long-standing
disparities continue to impact the design and construction industry. Historical land use,
zoning, and redlining practices have consistently disadvantaged communities of color
and low-income neighborhoods. These inequities have manifested themselves in
neighborhoods lacking critical infrastructure development, including roadways, civic
facilities, playgrounds, and open spaces, leaving communities vulnerable to
environmental risks and health inequities.
In parallel, there are various challenges to access within the construction industry itself,
especially in terms of access to opportunities. People of color and in particular Black
and Latino individuals remain underrepresented in higher-paid, higher-skilled trades, as
well as supervisory and management positions. This also extends to registered
apprenticeship programs, which are vital pathways to employment in the construction
industry.
Conditions of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to thrive with:
A safe, healthy, and sustainable living
environment; A resilient neighborhood served by quality and accessible
infrastructure and services as well as a robust local economy; Vibrant and
welcoming public spaces throughout New York City, where everyone belongs and
can move freely.
Spotlight:
Parks
New York City’s 30,000 acres of parkland serve as vital resources for the City’s diverse
population, providing spaces for recreation, relaxation, and community connection
across the five boroughs. Parks are essential to improving the health, well-being, safety
and resilience of the City.
However, given the nation’s discriminatory approach to development throughout
multiple eras, equity was not always a driving force in the development and operation of
NYC’s parks. In 1858, Central Park was opened to the public, having been developed
through eminent domain, resulting in the displacement of Seneca Village, a thriving
Black community, and its churches, schools, and homes - dismantling Black property
ownership among its 225 residents.
45
Systemic racism in our nation also enabled the
discriminatory practice of redlining, which began in the 1930s, preventing Black persons
and other minorities from accessing insured loans for home ownership, hindering
stability, economic growth, and reinforcing disinvestment in communities of color,
including the siting of polluting land uses.
The effects of this historical inequity persist today. One of the most visible forms of
these inequities is the uneven access to open space. Despite scoring highly on equity
metrics in the Trust for Public Land’s 2024 ParkScore analysis—where New York City
earned 99 out of 100 points for people of color and low-income households living within
a 10-minute walk of a park—there are still significant disparities in park access and
quality. In poorer neighborhoods, the average park size is 6.4 acres, compared to 14
acres in wealthier neighborhoods. In predominantly Black neighborhoods, the average
park size is just 7.9 acres, compared to 29.8 acres in predominantly white
neighborhoods.
46
As noted in the City Council’s Park Equity & COVID-19 hearing, this
disparity was particularly challenging during the COVID pandemic, where residents in
low-income neighborhoods without access to private open spaces or abundant parkland
for physical activity and social connection were more likely to experience severe mental
health and wellness deterioration, and communities of color ultimately fared worse.
Disparities in Transportation
Any effort to build an equitable transportation environment must be rooted in the
understanding that past planning practices have disproportionately impacted people of
color and low-income communities, often leading to division, displacement, and
disinvestment.
Although New York City does not operate New York City’s transit system, it is important
to recognize the racial history of transit and transportation in the City. In the 1830s, as
New York City expanded and early iterations of public transportation emerged, streetcar
lines were segregated. Streetcars that allowed African Americans were labeled "Colored
Persons Allowed" and operated less frequently than those for white passengers.
47
Segregated transportation facilities, such as streetcar stations and restrooms, often
exposed African Americans to violence. The desegregation of public transit in New York
City began in 1854 when Elizabeth Jennings, a 24-year-old African American teacher,
sued the Third Avenue Rail Company after being violently removed from a segregated
streetcar.
48
This case, along with the efforts of Black activists, led to the complete
desegregation of the New York City transit system by 1861, before the Civil War and
over 100 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
Throughout the 20th century, transportation and urban planning projects in New York
City, as in much of the United States, were often implemented without care for
communities of color. For example, practices such as redlining forced divestment from
and spatially segregated communities of color. Redlined neighborhoods were denied
public and private investments, leading to deteriorating infrastructure. In response to the
decline, urban renewal policies were introduced, which often targeted communities of
color under the guise of improving "slums". These policies, coupled with the rise of
automobile use, shaped city streets to prioritize vehicles over pedestrians and cyclists,
further marginalizing low-income residents and communities of color who relied on
walking and public transportation. Additionally, interstate infrastructure projects like the
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Cross-Bronx Expressway physically divided
neighborhoods, displacing residents and disrupting community life, and
disproportionately affecting communities of color.
49
Concurrently, white families fled their working-class neighborhoods in the City for the
suburbs. Many people of color, low-income households, and immigrant families sought
affordable housing options in these neighborhoods, which were sometimes farther from
the pricier city center.
These historical injustices continue to limit access to quality jobs, health care,
education, and recreation, particularly for New Yorkers of color. For example, in 2019,
the average commute time for white New Yorkers was 37.4 minutes, compared to 48.2
minutes for Black New Yorkers and 42.6 minutes for Hispanic New Yorkers.
50
Additionally, people of color in New York City face higher rates of unemployment and
poverty. According to the Transit Center Equity Dashboard, "White people, who
disproportionately live in or near Manhattan, have the best transit access to potential
jobs of any group but are the least likely to ride. The average Black New York City
resident can reach about half as many jobs by transit as the average white person."
51
The lack of safe, affordable, and efficient transportation options is most acute in low-
income communities of color, acting as a significant barrier to essential resources.
Spotlight:
Disparities in For-Hire Transportation
Furthermore, disparities are also traceable in the for-hire transportation service industry.
Transportation is a fundamental right for all New Yorkers and visitors, especially when
provided by drivers professionally licensed by our City. Licensed Drivers are truly
among NYC’s essential workers. Driving often serves as a vital entry point for many
immigrants seeking economic opportunity. However, this workforce is disproportionately
composed of people of color who frequently face challenges such as inadequate access
to health insurance and inadequate safety protections and are also subjected to
Pollution and Environmental Hazards
Communities of color and low-income residents throughout New York State historically
bear the disproportionate burden of pollution from industrial facilities and areas, such as
power plants, sewage treatment plants, landfills, and highways or transportation hubs
located within or near these communities. These critical pieces of infrastructure that we
all rely on are nearly impossible to relocate. Nearby residential areas are thereby
exposed to multiple sources of pollution in these communities contributing to a host of
adverse health outcomes and disparities “such as asthma, lung, and heart disease,
increased birth defects, and learning impairments.”
53
For example, 13 out of 14 of the City’s wastewater resource recovery facilities are
located within or adjacent to Environmental Justice (EJ) neighborhoods. As a result,
those residents are disproportionately exposed both to any odor or air pollution
emissions from those sites, and emissions from commercial vehicles that travel to these
sites. In fact, in the 1960s, the City’s North River Wastewater Resource Recovery
Facility (WRRF) was intentionally located in West Harlem rather than in Midtown or the
Upper West Side because it was perceived to be a less desirable area for future
development.
54
discrimination. Bias and bigotry resulting in service refusal cuts to the very heart of New
York City’s welcoming embrace of all kinds of people.
Moreover, most applicant and current licensed driver interactions with the City are
conducted online. Nationwide, 92 percent of the jobs in the U.S. require digital skills,
52
which is also applicable to City licensed drivers. However, the digital divide reinforces
inequity based on race and ethnicity.
There is also the troubling reality of racial discrimination within the taxi and for-hire
vehicle industry, where many individuals experience unfair treatment based on their
race or ethnicity. This discrimination not only undermines the values of equality and
respect but also perpetuates systemic biases that affect the lives of countless
passengers. We are committed to addressing these issues through education, outreach
and accountability.
Taxis and ride-share vehicles can also have significant negative impacts on
communities of color, exacerbating existing environmental and health disparities.
Increased pollution has been linked to respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases,
and other health problems. These conditions can be more severe in communities
already facing health disparities. The cumulative impact of emissions from taxis and
ride-share vehicles can exacerbate these environmental burdens.
Moreover, environmental justice neighborhoods are disproportionately exposed to
flooding due to climate change: while 49 percent of the City’s population resides within
EJ neighborhoods, these neighborhoods account for 54 percent of New Yorkers at risk
of stormwater flooding; 57 percent of those living in the 100-year coastal flood plain as
of 2100; and 69 percent of New Yorkers who will be subject to tidal flooding in 2100.
55
In
addition, residents of EJ neighborhoods experience far more health impacts related to
air pollution than other New Yorkers; in fact, all of the top ten neighborhoods for air
pollution-related emergency room visits are in EJ areas.
Low-income communities, many of which are communities of color, disproportionately
experience the inability to pay their water bills due to the rising cost of access to clean
water.
56
The cost of water and wastewater services in New York City is projected to
increase potentially by nearly 28 percent over the next three years.
57
Because New
Yorkers of color are disproportionately lower income, these rising costs
disproportionately affect them.
Disparities in Cleanliness and Environmental Safety
While the City continues to address cleanliness and quality of life inequities for all
communities, particularly historically underserved communities, our service delivery
faces challenges in reporting of cleanliness conditions. For example, the data source
that the City uses to measure the responsiveness to the concerns and needs of NYC
residents relies on 311 service requests, which are limited by New Yorkers’ choice to
report. Using 311 data only tells a partial story of conditions in the City and does not
help us adequately address the potential disparities by neighborhood.
Additionally, our waste collection system has historically produced uneven cleanliness
outcomes across neighborhoods. All neighborhoods are negatively impacted by un-
containerized trash and, in the past, have had limited access to organics disposal,
which, in part, drove disparities in diversion rates. It is integral that all communities
benefit from recent innovations in cleanliness and sanitation, including containerization
of residential waste and universal citywide curbside composting.
Moreover, illegal dumping, including of toxic substances, needles and vehicles
abandoned in neighborhoods, disproportionately impacts historically marginalized
communities. Illegal dumping is an abuse of our communities and our streets and is
often done by bad actors who come from outside the community. Illegal dumpers
generally look for places they perceive as out-of-the-way to dispose of items, and
unfortunately, vacant lots in poorly lighted areas in outer boroughs often fit the bill.
Waste processing is another area with historical disparities. Much of the City’s waste—
both commercial and residential—moves through transfer stations, many of which are
located in historically underserved neighborhoods that experience associated heavy-
duty vehicle traffic and other environmental concerns. Although work through the Solid
Waste Management Plan has helped with environmental and safety issues at the
transfer stations, more work can be done in reducing the amount of waste generated
citywide and studying the utilization of all transfer stations helping to spread the burden
through the City more equitably.
New York City’s commercial waste is collected by private carting companies. The
commercial carting industry has historically been plagued by safety issues, both for
people working in the industry, who are majority people of color, and for the City at-
large. The City is actively addressing this issue through the implementation of Local
Law 199 of 2019 (LL199), which overhauled this industry. Prior to LL199, New York
City’s commercial waste collection system was marked by inefficiency, safety risks, and
a lack of transparency. Private carters operated on overlapping, lengthy, and
uncoordinated routes—with as many as a dozen carters servicing a single block in one
night. Many commercial customers, ranging from standalone retailers to large office
buildings, negotiated rates without clear protections; more than half of all agreements
were estimated to be verbal agreements, lacking written or signed contracts. Industry
safety standards varied widely with trucks often missing basic safety equipment and
inconsistent training for employees.
These issues have negatively impacted public safety, consumer protection, fair
competition, and environmental justice, resulting in the harshest effects on residents
and business owners in marginalized or overburdened communities.
Digital Inequities
Digital equity means that individuals and communities, especially those most in need,
can fully participate in our digital society and economy. Achieving digital equity requires
addressing long-standing, structural inequities, and putting marginalized communities at
the center of our efforts. Access to broadband devices, and digital skills are key to
achieving digital equity, yet 30 percent of New York City households or 2.5 million New
Yorkers, mostly in underserved neighborhoods, lack both a mobile connection and a
home broadband connection. This figure is even more stark when overlayed with race
as nearly 38 percent of African American and 34 percent of Hispanic New Yorkers lack
both a mobile and home broadband connection compared to 21 percent of white New
Yorkers.
58
Disparities continue to disproportionately affect low-income New Yorkers, older adults,
people with disabilities, and communities of color – populations that often overlap and
experience compounded harms. Digital inequality is most pronounced in Black,
Hispanic, and Native American underserved communities. Over 40 percent of
households in the Bronx lack a combination of mobile and home broadband compared
to 30 percent citywide.
59
Additionally, almost 10 percent of households, or nearly
800,000 city residents, lack a computer at home citywide, compared to over 30 percent
for the Bronx.
60
Disparities in device access largely mirror those in broadband
subscriptions, disproportionately impacting low-income residents, older adults, and
people with disabilities.
16
New Yorkers’ needs are constantly evolving as technologies and society move forward.
Broadband access is critical to modern applications in education, banking, employment,
and other services. Digital inequity is often cyclical with income and wealth inequality
limiting access to connectivity. According to a 2023 survey conducted by the New York
State ConnectALL office, 44 percent of the state’s urban respondents and 57 percent of
racial and ethnic minorities indicated difficulty paying for internet.
17
Historic
disinvestment in communities of color and non-English speaking communities has made
affordability a large barrier to broadband access in these communities, who consistently
reported high service costs and lack of choice at the state level.
18
While the Affordable
Broadband Act went into effect in 2025, outreach, awareness and enrollment in low-cost
broadband plans are essential to ensure New Yorkers benefit equitably.
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section recognize the importance of embedding equity into the
availability, design, construction, and maintenance of physical and digital infrastructure
so that all New Yorkers have quality and accessible infrastructure and services.
16
F
or full results of this survey, see
https://broadband.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2023/09/nys-bead-
5-year-action-plan.pdf
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid
Business Integrity Commission
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the Business Integrity Commission (BIC) is to protect New York City
consumers through regulation of the “trade waste” (or commercial waste) industry and New
York City’s public wholesale markets to ensure that regulated industries remain free of
organized crime and other forms of corruption, including the violence, fraud, rackets, and
threats that once plagued them.
BIC’s mission to ensure fair competition in the regulated industries and remove unfair
burdens placed on business owners directly supports New York City’s goal to ensure that
every resident of New York City can thrive. BIC’s racial equity goals will focus on ensuring
that the agency’s policies, initiatives, and decisions incorporate equity and strive to utilize
its resources to promote equal opportunities for businesses. The agency is committed to
supporting regulated companies in their compliance by improving the processes for
disseminating information and increasing access to programs related to waste equity and
workers’ rights.
In addition, BIC aims to improve language access and translation services and introduce a
new system for adjudicating violations that will prioritize compliance, efficiency,
transparency and equitable dispositions of violations and penalties. BIC is also committed
to continuing its support of environmental justice initiatives through its partnerships with
New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Department of
Sanitation (DSNY). This work advances New York City’s vehicle emissions, zero waste,
sustainability and waste equity goals to improve the quality of life of all New York City
residents.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Connect trade waste companies with City resources or programs related to
environmental justice, waste equity, and worker rights
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, connect 100% of trade waste companies with
equity-focused programming of selected partner agencies.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Leverage existing interagency partnerships to identify programs/initiatives
that promote environmental justice, waste equity, and worker rights
•
Collaborate with partner agencies to develop informational notices to be
sent via the existing BIC notifications portal and promote
programs/initiatives during outreach events throughout New York City and
on social media
•
Analyze participation data for the programs/initiatives to assess success
and improve outreach efforts across the five boroughs
•
Identify a new program or initiative to promote annually, creating avenues
for agencies and small businesses to connect and advance equity goals
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of trade waste companies referred to or educated on the
designated equity-focused program
•
Number of trade waste companies, if made aware through partner
agencies, who received funding or direct assistance through the
designated equity-focused program
•
Percent of trade waste companies made aware of trainings related to
human rights or other equity-focused laws
•
Number of trade waste companies who attend a training in the last two
years related to human/workers’ rights or other designated equity-focused
initiative
2.
Goal:
Increase investment in translation and interpretation services to promote
language accessibility and ensure that agency information is accessible to New Yorkers
with diverse language needs
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, increase spending on translation and
interpretation services by 10%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify public-facing communications, materials and content that require
translation to comply with Local Law 30 in collaboration with the Mayor’s
Office of Immigrant Affairs
•
Prioritize increased spending on communications, materials and content in
top used languages by trade waste companies
c.
Indicators
:
•
Dollars spent on translation and interpretation services
•
Percent change in translation and interpretation services expenditure from
the previous fiscal year
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure that BIC’s website is fully accessible in plain language and includes
reference materials for new applicants, licensees and registrants, and the public to
eliminate information deficits to ensure information is accessible for New Yorkers of
varied language abilities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, 100% of applicable website pages are updated to reflect
plain language and new reference materials are added.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Introduce a new vehicle compliance page that consolidates several
existing pages into a more streamlined and helpful resource
•
Add a new FAQ section in plain language to address the most commonly
received questions from applicants and the public
•
Create a reference document for new applicants to increase access to
information and maximize opportunity for entry into the trade waste and
public wholesale food industries
•
Restructure the forms and fees sections for clarity and easier navigation
•
Survey trade waste companies on what they would like to see included on
the website and updated into plain language
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of new materials that promote information access added to BIC’s
website
•
Number of website pages updated with new plain language content
•
Number of trade waste companies submitting feedback
2.
Goal
: Increase agency efforts to ensure compliance with Local Law 56 of 2019 (Local
Law 56), which requires trade waste companies to directly provide and post specific
wage and workers’ rights information for employees
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, confirm total compliance with Local Law 56 workers’ rights
posting requirements during BIC garage and facility inspections, and issue
administrative violations for instances of non-compliance.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Incorporate compliance checks into routine garage and facility inspections
to ensure companies are providing workers, as required, with information
regarding workers’ rights, safety, labor complaints, and wages. Agency
investigators will note whether required workers’ rights information was
available to employees as part of every post-facility inspection report for
supervisor review
•
Organize refresher trainings for agency investigators and other relevant
staff regarding the Local Law 56 requirements for companies
•
BIC Violations Unit will issue violations for noncompliance and work with
regulated companies to achieve compliance
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of violations issued to private waste companies for Local Law 56
noncompliance
•
Percent of facility inspections that include a Local Law 56 compliance
check
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
BIC has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local
law
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for
M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review current BIC M/WBE utilization to understand past spending trends
and identify opportunities to include M/WBE vendors in future purchasing,
continuing to evaluate goals and disparity data
•
Continue to re-evaluate agency purchasing needs and collaborate with all
internal stakeholders across relevant units to ensure we are in compliance
with M/WBE utilization requirements as mandated per local law as new
initiatives or needs arise
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of agency utilization from M/WBEs
•
Percent of M/WBE utilization disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender
2.
Goal:
Assess the impact of adverse Commission determinations
43
on workers and
employment stability at licensed trade waste companies
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2034, complete assessment and analysis and establish
recommended policies for implementation.
b.
Strategies:
•
Develop informational flyers to distribute to affected workers at organized
outreach events in collaboration with partner agencies. Flyers are
translated to meet languages most spoken by community members
•
Analyze participation data from outreach events to assess success and
inform on how the agency can improve future outreach efforts
•
Collaborate with industry stakeholders to identify industry opportunities to
promote during organized outreach events
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of employees employed by regulated company at time of adverse
determination
•
Number of employees who attended organized outreach events
•
Number of hours in contact with affected employees
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
43
New York City Administrative Code Section 16-509 gives BIC authority to deny licensure or registration to
companies/individuals that are adjudged, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, to lack “good character, honesty
and integrity.” The company/individual whose license or registration is denied by the Commission may challenge that
determination in court by filing a summary proceeding known as an “Article 78.”
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#15: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
BIC has achieved substantial industry compliance with New York City’s vehicle
emissions law. Local Law 145 of 2013, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, seeks
to reduce the pollutants emitted by heavy duty trade waste vehicles (diesel-fuel
powered vehicles with a gross weight of over 16,000 pounds). Implementation of the
vehicle emissions law was a collaborative effort between BIC and DEP to lower the air
pollution and other environmental harm caused by the emissions from trade waste
vehicles, which disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of
color in New York City. Through a combination of outreach and enforcement, using
digital compliance and data tracking, BIC achieved nearly total compliance. Now that
the law is in effect, licensed and registered trade waste companies are not issued waste
conveyance plates from BIC for any vehicles not in compliance with the emission
standards.
•
BIC has initiated a progressive violations process that incentivizes compliance and
mitigates penalties for licenses and registrants. BIC’s improved violation process
protects New Yorkers through enforcement of safety, recycling and quality of life rules.
By 2026, BIC achieved full transition of all violations to the Office of Administrative Trials
and Hearings (OATH) Hearings Division as the primary tribunal for BIC administrative
violations, which has significantly improved the implementation of BIC’s progressive
penalty schedule and early settlement program
,
and its ability to utilize digital workflows
to automate and streamline calendaring of new violations. This has strengthened BIC’s
capacity to enforce rules that improve quality of life for all New York City residents and
have a positive impact on equity issues, such as cleanliness, noise, odor nuisances
from trade waste vehicles, and traffic and vehicle safety on New York City streets.
Department of Design and Construction
Mission and Commitment
The Department of Design and Construction (DDC) is committed to delivering best-in-class
infrastructure and public buildings for the City of New York, on time and on budget. Our design
and construction professionals strive to improve project delivery, advance quality design, and
ensure our work meets the highest standards of endurance and resiliency. We build the city.
DDC is committed to advancing change within the design and construction industry. Our approach
is to both provide high-quality infrastructure equitably for all communities and expand our internal
practices to ensure equitable recruitment and hiring practices as well as access to vendor
resources and opportunities
.
At DDC, we believe that addressing racial disparities is not only an ethical priority, but also the
collective responsibility that we share with all agencies engaged in building for and serving the
people of our city. Our commitment to racial equity is reflected in our core values: building,
supporting, and empowering a diverse workforce; promoting safe, sustainable construction;
providing clear and transparent information on the projects we manage across the City and
communicating directly with stakeholders; and creating solutions that improve project delivery.
Through leveraging these values, we strive to ensure that our work benefits all communities
equitably.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Prioritize maintaining an inclusive workforce and workplace through staff
development, engagement, and mentoring efforts
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, increase our employee retention rate for our overall
staff by at least 5%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Increase staff development offerings related to cultural competencies
•
Enhance our engagement initiatives and the number of our agency Employee
Resource Groups (ERGs)
•
Leverage our Business Improvement Committee to gather staff feedback on
agency culture
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of employees participating in agency engagement activities and
groups
•
Retention rate
•
Employee satisfaction
2.
Goal:
Ensure equitable access to agency-distributed public information on construction
projects through expanding language access and plain language updates
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, train 100% of Community Construction Liaisons
(CCLs) on language access measures and updated field protocols for interacting
with New Yorkers with non-English language preference.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Increased door to door outreach with business owners and residents with
non-English language preference
•
Increased information and advisory dissemination about our language access
offerings
•
Training of CCLs on how to recognize and respond to non-English preference
needs
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent use of telephonic translation on DDC projects by CCLs
•
Percent of favorable feedback on post construction community surveys
•
Percent increase in reported interaction with New Yorkers with non-English
language preference
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Optimize the workforce by enhancing recruitment and improving the retention of
diverse candidates and employees
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase the number of applicants of color in our technical titles
and those applying for managerial level roles.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Build our partnerships with HBCUs with architect and engineering programs
and DYCD partnerships
•
Provide leadership training for our emerging leaders
•
Conduct regular workforce trend analysis including auditing hiring practices
for underutilized job groups
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent increase in number of partnerships with HBCUs with architect or
engineering programs
•
Percent increase in number of partnerships with DYCD
•
Demographics, including race and ethnicity, of department workforce and new
staff across technical job groups and managers, for solely informational
purposes
2.
Goal:
Enhance hiring processes across divisions to ensure equity is built into the
structure of interviews and selection to reduce disparities in workforce
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure that 100% of hiring managers have implemented
equitable hiring practices.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Ensure Interview Panels are drawn from groups that are representative by
race, ethnicity, gender, age, reporting structure and other equity measures
•
Ensure that 100% of hiring managers have completed Structured interview
training
•
Ensure that new or newly promoted managers receive Structured Interview
training withing the first quarter in their position
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of interview panels that are diverse
•
Percent of hiring managers trained in structured interview strategies
3.
Goal:
Collaborate with agency partners and external stakeholders on outreach and
inclusion of diverse artist proposers for the Percent for Art program on DDC projects
across the five boroughs
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure all DDC-led Percent for Art opportunities factor in
language needs of responsive communities, address opportunities for local artist
participation in the submission process, and attempt to identify any cultural
considerations for the impacted communities
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify any language needs for any materials shared with artists, including
possible live translation of public sessions
•
Collaborate with community boards/external stakeholders/elected officials to
understand the needs of impacted communities
•
Increase staff development offerings related to cultural competencies
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of projects implemented with new strategies
•
Artist panelist satisfaction with outreach efforts to the pool of artists
4.
Goal:
Increase DDC efforts around school engagement through the Neighborhood
Infrastructure Curbside Education (NICE) program across the five boroughs
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, increase school visits (elementary through graduate school)
across the DDC portfolio and City to engage diverse student populations in careers
in engineering and architecture and provide explanations of DDC's infrastructure
work.
b.
Strategies:
•
Assign a dedicated staff person to assist with school outreach and event
planning logistics
•
Conduct outreach through community boards/external stakeholders/elected
officials about education opportunities
•
Create an internal DDC working group to identify appropriate projects to include
in the program
•
Establish metrics and means for tracking student-participant trajectory
c. Indicators
•
Percent increase in school visits
•
Percent increase in student participation
•
Percent of student participants reporting impact and satisfaction.
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Integrate an analysis of disparities into our Advanced Capital Planning (ACP)
program discussions to better advise sponsor agencies on the frequency of project delivery
requests within neighborhoods with social economic disparities, which will promote
transparency and encourage sponsor agencies to prioritize improvements and resource
allocation in those communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, assess and inform 100% of sponsor agencies' portfolios of
project delivery requests in the identified neighborhoods, while institutionalizing the
practice for ongoing years.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand the Advance Capital planning (ACP) program to work with sponsor
agencies to assess their entire portfolio of public buildings and develop
efficient, forward-looking strategies to manage their capital needs
•
Focus on identifying and informing sponsor agencies of the historic frequency
and costs of their project delivery requests in communities with high
percentages of socioeconomic disparities to encourage resource prioritization
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of sponsor agencies whose portfolio DDC has analyzed
•
Number of sponsor agencies who have been provided recommendation by
DDC
•
Number of sponsor agencies who have incorporated DDC recommendations
in planning since launching this initiative
•
Percent of capital project delivery requests, from sponsor agencies, for
neighborhoods identified with high socioeconomic disparities
2.
Goal:
DDC has a 30% aspirational goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to
implement and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal,
state, and local law.
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for M/WBE
utilization.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Leverage existing tools like the M/WBE Small Purchase award method and
M/WBE PQLs
•
Strengthen industry partnerships and increase understanding of contracting
roadmap
•
Hold prime vendors accountable for meeting M/WBE goals
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of all contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
•
Number of M/WBE contracts awarded disaggregated by race and ethnicity
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#14: Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
Spotlight Wins
•
Starting in FY23 through FY25, DDC saw an increased percentage utilization in contract
awards to businesses, which have historically been underutilized in citywide contracting.
•
The ACE mentor program is a free after-school program that works with a variety of
organizations that mentor high school students who are interested in careers in
Architecture, Construction, and Engineering. Founded in 1994 by a group of leading
architects, contractors and engineers in New York City, the program has served more than
77,000 students nationwide and over 17,000 students in New York alone. Today, more
than 13,000 students and 4,100 mentors participate in ACE each year and the program
serves as one of the premier pipelines for diverse emerging talent in the design and
construction industries. In 2024, DDC and the New York School Construction Authority
(SCA) teamed up to provide mentoring to high school students across all five boroughs. We
prepared a year end project and entered the National Construction Industry Round Table
(CIRT) competition. Our project design won First Place in the National CIRT Project
Category of Olympic Stadium design and Second Place across all National CIRT Project
categories. DDC has and will continue to proudly serve as a mentoring Firm for the ACE
Mentoring Program of Greater NY in order to invest in NYC students, influence young
professionals and to create opportunities in the Design and Construction industry within the
city we call home.
Department of Environmental Protection
Mission and Commitment
The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) mission is to protect public health and
the environment by supplying the highest-quality drinking water; treating and recovering
valuable resources from wastewater to protect New York City’s waterways; minimizing
exposure to air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution; and constructing dependable
infrastructure to foster a more resilient New York City for generations to come.
DEP remains committed to fostering a safe and resilient New York City by actively listening
to historically marginalized voices and disadvantaged populations, and by addressing
legacies of discrimination and systemic inequities. Our agency’s racial equity plan focuses
on our core business to identify concrete actions and measures for ensuring fair and
equitable outcomes for all communities.
For these reasons, we must ensure government’s responsibility – our accountability – for
environmental justice and a safe environment for all New Yorkers by implementing
strategies for reducing the burdens and eliminating the harms on the most distressed
communities. We must ensure that our investments directly benefit these communities, and
that our workforce reflects these communities. We will accomplish these objectives by
focusing on three (3) core areas of our work: budgeting, service delivery, and staffing.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Collaborate with advocates and community partners to address the
disproportionate impacts of water and wastewater rates on low-income communities of
color and other vulnerable communities
a.
Outcome:
By 2028 or earlier, work with advocacy partners to achieve
reauthorization of the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program
(LIHWAP) or similar assistance program and market these benefits to all DEP
customers to ensure as high a take-up rate as possible.
b.
Strategies:
•
Brief local elected officials and work with advocacy and
community organizations to advocate for greater federal and state funding
to assist low-income New Yorkers
•
Advocate for the reinstatement of LIHWAP and other affordability
programs
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of letters, meetings, or other formal advocacy efforts supported by
DEP with the goal of obtaining additional federal funding for low-income
New Yorkers
•
Number of DEP customers who receive financial assistance from LIHWAP
or other federally funded affordability programs, by future fiscal year
(pending federal funding)
•
Number of DEP customers that receive other state or federal
financial assistance, by future fiscal year (pending federal funding)
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Improve air quality associated with warehousing activity (warehouses are
disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color)
through an indirect source rule to be enacted by the City Council
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, following enactment of local law and an indirect source rule,
warehouses are to take action to reduce pollutants associated with trucks that
drive to and from and idle at these warehouses.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with agency partners, including the Mayor’s Office of Climate
and Environmental Justice and the Department of Transportation, to draft
legislation to regulate indirect sources of air pollution in connection with
warehousing activities
•
Collaborate with the City Council on introduction of bill
•
Analyze bill for environmental impacts
c.
Indicators
:
•
Successful passage of indirect source rule
•
Number of warehouse owners/operators subject to rule that have
registered with DEP, if rule is passed
•
If rule is passed, once improvements are in place by warehouse
operators: Comparison of air quality before and after rule implementation
in neighborhoods with significant number of warehouses in scope of
indirect source rule; for example, change in particulate matter and NOx
pollutant levels per the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s New
York City Community Air Survey
2.
Goal
: Attract diverse talent to join DEP’s workforce
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, build an entry-level workforce that more closely reflects the
pool of qualified candidates in the counties in which DEP operates.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand DEP’s apprenticeship program to include 50% more agency entry-
level job titles, as well as expand existing apprenticeship programs to
include more participants
•
Increase recruitment partnerships with CUNY, DCAS, unions, and outside
organizations to cover the cost of civil service exams and test prep
courses for eligible job candidates, particularly women and
underrepresented communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of entry-level job titles with a formal apprenticeship program
•
Number of people who have received financial assistance to take a civil
service exam or to take a test prep course
3.
Goal
:
Facilitate the replacement of lead service lines throughout the city, with an
emphasis on implementing a no-cost replacement initiative for privately owned water
service lines in environmental justice communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, make full use of all state and federal funds for replacing lead
service lines in environmental justice neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct community meetings, door knocking campaigns, workshops, and
informational sessions to educate residents about the dangers of lead in
drinking water and the benefits of line replacement and provide materials
in multiple languages to ensure accessibility for all residents. DEP will
collaborate with community-partners including but not limited to
environmental advocacy groups, elected officials, youth-serving
organizations, immigrant serving organizations, and faith groups to
engage with hard to reach or historically underserved communities
•
Apply for federal, state, and local grants to fund the replacement initiative
•
Advocate for legislation aimed at requiring replacement of lead service
lines throughout the city, with emphasis on implementing no-cost
replacements for privately owned water service lines in underserved
communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of community outreach events held, and the number of residents
reached through these events/Number of events held in languages other
than English
•
Dollar amount of funding secured from grants, and other sources to
support the replacement initiative
•
Number of lead service lines replaced annually in total
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
DEP has a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local
law
a.
Outcome:
From fiscal years 2026 to 2034, continue DEP’s efforts in M/WBE
utilization so as to become a partner of choice among city vendors.
b.
Strategies:
•
Participate in new city-wide mentorship programs and execute DEP
M/WBEs pre-qualified lists
•
For construction management and design contracts three months or more
behind in payment, update internal processes to allow bi-weekly instead of
monthly to expedite payments and support M/WBEs to partner with the
agency
•
Analyze the particular characteristics of the DEP procurement portfolio to
strategically identify areas of greatest opportunity, identify quick wins and
create a long-term utilization road map consistent with federal, state and
local law
c. Indicators:
•
Dollar value and number of contracts and subcontracts awarded to
M/WBE vendors
•
Number of M/WBE contracts awarded, disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
and gender
2.
Goal
: Prioritize agency investment into resilience projects for communities
disproportionately impacted by flooding to better protect them from becoming more
vulnerable to climate change
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, pending funding, construct up to ten Cloudburst hubs, and
initiate capital projects for preventing flooding in neighborhoods with chronic
flooding issues.
b.
Strategies:
•
Conduct community meetings in planned Cloudburst hub communities to
inform design and increase community awareness. DEP will collaborate
with environmental advocacy groups, youth-serving organizations,
immigrant serving organizations, elected officials, and more to engage
with historically underserved communities. DEP will ensure that language
access is prioritized, and all materials and presentations are translated in
languages other than English, representing community needs
•
Work with partner agencies to integrate other capital work into cloudburst
hubs to enhance public realm improvements while incorporating
stormwater resiliency
•
Apply for state and federal funds to advance the implementation of
Cloudburst hub – large-scale, stormwater management systems designed
to protect areas from flooding during sudden or intense rain events when a
lot of rain falls in a short period of time
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Cloudburst community outreach events held/Number of events
held with translation services provided
•
Dollar amount of funding secured from grants
•
Number of new Cloudburst hubs constructed in neighborhoods that
experience chronic flooding
•
Dollars of agency capital registered for Cloudburst hubs
3.
Goal
: Be a good neighbor in communities that host DEP facilities, with a focus on
environmental justice communities, by abating odor and noise impacts and enhancing
educational programming
a.
Outcome
: By 2040 or earlier, achieve a reduction of odor and noise complaints
at locations adjacent to DEP facilities and eliminate detectable noise and odors
at the fence line – the physical boundary between DEP’s facilities and adjacent
properties.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Update design guidance for air, odor, and noise emissions from DEP
wastewater treatment facilities
•
Seek funding for additional state-of-good-repair work
•
Complete repair work to address fugitive emissions at
Wastewater
Resource Recovery Facilities (
WRRFs)
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of WRRFs in compliance with updated design guidance
•
Number of facilities with critical components addressed within set
timelines
•
Percent reduction in fugitive emissions
•
Percent reduction in odor and noise complaints from surrounding
community (311) or direct complaints made to DEP (email, social media,
or other channels of communication)
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
# 2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
•
# 6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
# 13: Increase access and lower the cost to basic needs such as quality food,
transportation, medical, and housing.
•
# 14: Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
•
# 17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
Established Watershed Maintainer apprentice program upstate to create a viable
candidate pool of diverse talent in a historically underutilized job title.
•
DEP has commenced its program for the replacement of lead service lines.
Department of Parks and Recreation
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation’s (NYC Parks) mission is to grow, maintain
and program a world-class park system prioritizing equity, access, safety and nature.
In June 2024, NYC Parks launched
Vital Parks for All: Investing in NYC’s Living
Infrastructure
, a new initiative aimed at ensuring equity remains a driving force in park
development and programming so that the communities most in need receive the health,
environment and community building benefits of parks and green spaces.
This initiative builds on the successes of the Community Parks Initiative by targeting
resources to areas with the greatest needs, expanding access through park acquisitions,
making upgrades in aging infrastructure, building new swimming pools, enhancing park
maintenance, and expanding tree planting in the most heat-vulnerable communities, which
also disproportionately impacts communities of color. Through the Vital Parks Explorer tool,
NYC Parks is also empowering marginalized communities with information about their level
of access to park facilities and opportunities for stewardship and enrichment, and how that
compares to communities across the city, increasing transparency. By continuing to
prioritize equity in its decisions and actions, NYC Parks is working to create a more just and
inclusive park system that benefits all New Yorkers.
Providing employment opportunities and centering equity principles within NYC Parks is
also a key area of focus. Although Civil Service lists control most staffing titles, NYC Parks
is committed to outreach to recruit diverse candidates for roles across the agency. In
addition, NYC Parks is also working to improve the employability of young adults by
providing job opportunities through the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), with
over 900 participants in 2024 alone. Additionally, programs like the Climber/Pruner Training
Program and the new Gardener Training are designed to help staff acquire new skills and
advance into higher-paying positions.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Parks has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement
and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and
local law
a.
Outcome:
In 2027,
Parks will continue to be an agency leader in overall M/WBE
contracting by meeting city goals and maintain consistent implementation and
assessment for M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
Continue the use of pre-qualified vendor lists (PQL) and recruitment of
M/WBEs for pre-qualification. Currently, NYC Parks has four pre-qualified
lists and 62% of vendors on NYC Parks’ pre-qualified lists are M/WBEs.
•
Continue deploying the M/WBE Small Purchase method for eligible new
purchases up to the $1.5M threshold in accordance with local law. Since
2018, $72.8M in 314 contract awards using this procurement method have
been registered to M/WBEs
•
Continue working with Office of M/WBE to support the Citywide Small
Business Construction Mentorship Program
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent and spending of contracts awarded to M/WBE firms (both prime
and subcontractors)
•
Percent and spending of all M/WBE contracts disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender
•
Percent of construction contracts awarded to M/WBE prime contractors
2.
Goal:
Building on our value of engaging communities in our public input processes,
empower historically underserved communities by centering their priorities in the capital
design process of the Community Parks Initiative (CPI) and other capital projects to
improve community well-being
a.
Outcome:
By end of 2026, all ten CPI FY26 projects will have had their
Community Input Meetings. CPI sites are parks that have not received capital
investment in over two decades, and are located in high density, low-income
communities of need.
b.
Strategies:
•
Take a multi-pronged digital approach to outreach including online public
scoping meeting listings, web calendar listings, and social media outreach
by NYC Parks and its partners
•
Collaborate with partners in target areas including civic and community
organizations, youth-serving organizations, Partnership for Parks groups,
and elected official offices
•
Conduct flyering in the parks slated for improvement, and in multiple
languages to create greater access for Limited English Proficient (LEP)
communities
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of community input meetings held
•
Number of local partner stakeholder groups invited to Public Input Meetings
•
Number of participants at Public Input meetings in underserved
communities
•
Number of responses to online feedback portal
3.
Goal:
Connect New Yorkers in need with NYC Parks’ public programs to learn new
skills, grow capacity, and to build social connections for improved health and well-being
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, ensure 68%
44
of the population in underserved
areas have ready access (a short walk to) NYC Parks’ public programs.
b.
Strategies:
•
Concentrate public programs including nature exploration, sports and
fitness programs, and cultural and skill building workshops in NY State
Disadvantaged Communities (DACs)
•
Strengthen efforts to share existing resources, processes, and pathways
to become a Parks partner and continue efforts to register “Friends of”
groups and other community-based organizations activating park spaces
through the Vital Parks system to better connect New Yorkers with
existing programs in their neighborhoods. NYC Parks will collaborate with
open space organizations to encourage all partner groups to submit to be
included in the Volunteer Directory/Vital Parks Explorer, so that through
neighborhood-based groups, more New Yorkers can be connected to
programs in their communities.
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of population in DACs within a short walk to NYC Parks’ public
programs
•
Number of “friends of” groups and community-based organizations
subscribed to NYC Parks’ Volunteer Directory, and therefore visible in the
Vital Parks Explorer mapping tool
4.
Goal:
Empower New Yorkers with opportunities to engage with the care of their parks,
to improve their own health and that of their parks, with a focus on neighborhoods in
need
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, ensure over 2 million New Yorkers are connected
to opportunities to help steward their park, shaping its present and future, with an
emphasis on parks in DACs.
b.
Strategies:
•
The Strategic Community Engagement division will lead
Let’s Green
NYC,
a component of
Vital Parks for All,
connecting more New Yorkers to
nature and one another, improving their physical and mental health, and
helping keep their parks clean, safe and environmentally resilient. This
initiative has already been launched, and NYC Parks is looking to sustain
the communities and volunteer partners served through the years
c.
Indicators:
44
Currently, NYC Parks’ Vital Parks Explorer indicates that citywide, 61% of the population has access to a park
program within a 10-minute walk
Vital Parks Explorer
NYC Parks aims to direct programming to disadvantaged
communities and beat the citywide average with 68% of the population in DACs being served by a program within a
10-minute walk.
•
Number of New Yorkers engaged
•
Percent of NYC Parks’ volunteer hours that are based in parks within DAC
communities
•
Number of projects/volunteer events in DACs and Taskforce on Racial
Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) communities
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Establish human capital practices that support and accelerate equitable hiring
and staffing in close collaboration with senior leadership
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, Parks will complete its review of disaggregated data on
100% of workforce by demographics, including race and gender identity, to
identify and implement measures to address any staffing disparities across
positions and level, pay levels, promotion, etc.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Lead strategic planning, and generate accountability for results, provide
governance and oversight on diversity efforts, and promote
communication on progress
•
Continue efforts to recruit more diverse candidates for non-competitive
and managerial titles, prioritizing areas of disparity, as well as internal
advancement through the Parks training academy and other training
programs. The first class of the Gardener Training Program is underway.
City Parks Workers who successfully complete this training will become
NYC Parks gardeners. Continue to enlist a diverse group of interns from
CUNY to facilitate technical skill-building and field-based experience that
will enable graduates to network and qualify for entry level jobs within the
nature-based jobs industry, and specifically for civil service titles that are
frequently used by NYC Parks' Environment and Planning Division.
•
Build on the NOAA/USDA Forest Service grant to sustain the Natural
Resource Group Apprenticeship Program in collaboration with Department
of Youth and Community Development, CUNY, and the Natural Areas
Conservancy; helping equip more youth to gain green job skills for
increased employability.
•
Sustain the Climber & Pruner Training Program begun in July 2023 with
the goal of building a pipeline of local, diverse talent for this difficult to
recruit title. The training program uses in-house expertise to train capable
and passionate NYC Parks employees for career advancement
opportunities in Forestry.
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of total staff lines reviewed
•
Demographics of workforce including race and gender in non-competitive
and managerial titles
•
Retention and promotion rate of staff, disaggregated by title and
demographics
•
Demographics of participants in internship programs
•
Number and demographics of employees participating in training
programs
•
Number and demographics of employees retained, measured by length of
stay at NYC Parks
•
The following demographic indicators are used for informational or
communication purposes, only:
a. Number and demographics of applicants
b. Number and demographics of new staff hired for open positions
c. Number and demographics of staff promoted
2.
Goal:
Support existing and cultivate new park partner groups through building capacity
and providing technical assistance and resources to foster sustained civic engagement
in parks within underserved communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure 88% of the population
45
within Disadvantaged
Communities have ready access to a park partner group to shape their parks’
present and future.
b.
Strategies
:
•
In collaboration with the City Parks Foundation (CPF), lead the
Citywide
Parks Network
initiative to raise $30 million for the NYC Green Fund
•
Create a network spanning grass roots organizations, “Friends Of”
Groups, to larger conservancies, facilitating information sharing and
synergies
•
Build capacity of existing partners and grow new partners in underserved
communities to ensure parks are supported by engaged New Yorkers
•
CPF to distribute Green Fund grants to partner groups to advance their
priority projects for their sites
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of partner groups in DACs and Environmental Justice (EJ) areas
receiving Green Fund grants
•
Number of partner groups in DACs served by a CPF Catalyst Coordinator
to help build their capacity as stakeholders
3.
Goal:
Invest $100M in capital to 20 Community Park Initiative sites, building on an
equity driven investment program that prioritizes funding to transform and renovate
underinvested greenspaces in underserved communities
45
NYC parks’ vital parks explorer shows that currently 78% of the population within DAC areas are within a 10-
minute walk of a park that has had recent capital investment. With planned capital investments, Parks wants to grow
to 88% of the population within ready access to upgraded /capitally reconstructed parks.
a.
Outcome:
By end of calendar year 2028, select, announce, and initiate capital
projects for the next 20 CPI sites (FY27 and FY28).
b.
Strategies
:
•
Empower area residents to be a part of the public decision-making
process for the sites’ redesign to ensure park redevelopment reflects the
priorities of the residents they serve
•
Prioritize the assignment of staffing and procurement to ensure these
priority projects advance to deliver their benefits to communities in need
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of community input meetings
•
Number of sites in procurement (or initiated)
•
Number of participants at Public Input meetings in underserved
communities
•
Number of responses to online feedback portal
•
Number of partner stakeholder groups invited to Public Input meetings
4.
Goal:
Advance
Vital Parks for All
initial investment projects of $3.2B, targeting capital
investments in
neighborhoods most in need to ensure their parks serve as resources for
strengthening health, environment and communities, with a focus on DACs, EJ, TRIE
and areas with high levels of gun violence
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, ensure more than 80% of the population
46
within NY State
Disadvantaged Communities (DACs) have access to new or recently renovated
park amenities.
b.
Strategies:
•
The
Stronger Parks, Safer Communities
initiative will invest $400M in
playground and facility upgrades in areas with high levels of gun violence.
These park upgrades and amenities will be complemented by over 1,000
outdoor public programs to activate parks and build safer communities.
•
Lead the
Let’s Swim NYC
initiative by investing $1B in restoring aging
swim infrastructure and building 3 new pools: in the Rockaways at Arverne
East, Queens, at Roy Wilkins Park in Southeastern Queens, in Nostrand
Playground (Shirley Chisholm) in East Flatbush, as well as 1 brand new
replacement pool in Brownsville, Brooklyn to expand swim equity.
Continue to identify more funding opportunities to expand pool access,
increase swim instruction and further support a lifeguard pipeline. The new
and replacement pools are in areas that fall within the NYC State
Disadvantage Communities designation, areas of historic disinvestment.
•
The
Better Bathrooms
initiative will invest over $150M in protecting aging
bathroom facilities, and creatively and efficiently expanding bathroom
46
NYC parks’ vital parks explorer shows that currently 78% of the population within DAC areas are within a 10-
minute walk of a park that has had recent capital investment. With planned capital investments, Parks wants to grow
to 88% of the population within ready access to upgraded /capitally reconstructed parks.
access to ensure extended use for play, fitness, work and community
gatherings, improving community safety. It will reconstruct 40 restrooms
and add 50 new bathrooms, more than half of which are located in
neighborhoods that fall within the NY State Disadvantaged Communities
designation.
•
The
Growing Greenways
initiative will invest more than $1B to meet the
growing demand for biking and walking connections that link parks to one
another and to business districts, improving livability, health and the
environment in underserved communities across the five boroughs
•
The
Growing Greenspaces
initiative will invest $80M to acquire
properties in underserved neighborhoods, expand access to greenspace
and improve environmental resiliency
•
The
Growing Wetlands, Gaining Resiliency
initiative will invest $100M
to advance 19 wetland restorations projects in Environmental Justice
neighborhoods by the end of 2028
•
The
Expanding Tree Canopy
initiative will invest $136M in planting street
trees in the most heat vulnerable communities in NYC providing shade,
reducing temperatures, improving air quality, and protecting health and
premature deaths
•
The
Let’s Play NYC
initiative will invest $471M to protect and restore
existing recreation centers as safe havens and over $500M to build 6 new
centers in TRIE communities. These facilities and their surrounding
communities will also benefit from extended programming hours and
expansive outdoor programming
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of capital budget going to DACs and TRIE
•
Number of capital projects that are in DACs or TRIE communities
•
Percent of the population with access to new and/or recently renovated
park amenities
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Leverage the principle of equity in the assessment of outstanding needs for
restoring aging facilities so that any remaining sites of historic disinvestment within
underserved communities are prioritized
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, pending increased staffing, 100% of NYC Parks’ 60 asset
classes (bathrooms, pools, recreation centers, sports fields, retaining walls,
pathways, etc.) will have their condition assessed for funding prioritization.
b.
Strategies:
•
The Capital division will develop a Capital Needs Assessment rubric that
centers equity as a condition in assessing outstanding needs for new
facilities and repair
•
Prioritize limited State of Good Repair capital funding to sites that need it
the most, considering environmental justice, equity, condition, as well as
energy efficiency
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of sites assessed in DACs/TRIE/EJ communities
•
Percent of sites receiving State of Good Repair capital funding located in
DACs/TRIE/EJ communities
•
Number of asset classes assessed
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity
and social justice.
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
Spotlight Wins
•
In February 2026,
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of the brand-new
Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush with NYC Parks Commissioner
Tricia Shimamura. The new center is the first new Parks recreation center in over a
decade, the first ever in Central Brooklyn, and the largest recreation center in the whole
borough. Located in the heart of Little Haiti, the center is expected to serve residents of
East Flatbush and Midwood, with over 41,000 New Yorkers living within a 15-minute
walk or transit ride of the new center. The approximately 74,000-square-foot recreation
center provides space for swimming, team sports, exercise, educational programming,
and even A/V production in a media lab. Like all Parks recreation centers, discounts are
available for New Yorkers of all ages, and membership is entirely free for people 24
years and younger. “The Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center will soon be alive with
possibility — kids learning to swim, cook, and grow their own food; friends coming
together on the court; neighbors of every generation creating and connecting, from the
gym to the podcast studio. This will be a space where the city meets itself, built to serve
the people who call it home,” said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. “Shirley Chisholm
believed that politics should be accountable to everyday people. In that spirit, this center
will stand as a living tribute to her legacy — proving that when we invest in truly
affordable, accessible public spaces, we can build a city that works for all of us.”
•
Over the past decade, NYC Parks has advanced the Community Parks Initiative, (CPI)
targeting capital improvement projects to community parks in underserved communities
that have not received capital investment in over 20 years. In March 2026, Mayor
Mamdani and NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura announced $50 million in
new capital investments in 10 parks through the Community Parks Initiative (CPI) for
Fiscal Year 2027. The investments will improve parks allowing 100,000 New Yorkers in
all five boroughs to experience a healthier, cleaner and more accessible city. The
announcement coincides with new studies from the City University of New York (CUNY)
highlighting the mental health and social benefits of improved park space for New
Yorkers. Through CPI, local parks are reconstructed through a community-driven design
process that upgrades sites, adds new play equipment and recreation amenities for all
ages and enhances green space.
•
In June 2020, NYC Parks pledged to demonstrate solidarity with the Black community
regarding the under-representation in park names. Since then, the agency has named
28 parks spaces to acknowledge the legacies of Black Americans, encouraged
discourse about their contributions, and worked to make the park system more diverse
and reflective of the people it serves. The newly named park spaces feature some of
the most recognizable names in African American history, as well as local community
leaders and pioneers in the arts, culture, education, sports and more. As a next phase
of the initiative, NYC Parks will prioritize renaming for other historically
underrepresented communities.
•
Continue deploying the M/WBE Small Purchase method for eligible new purchases up
to the $1.5M threshold in accordance with local law. Since 2018, $72.8M in 314 contract
awards using this procurement method have been registered to M/WBEs
Department of Sanitation
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) keeps New York City clean, safe, and healthy
by collecting trash, compost, and recyclable materials; cleaning streets, highways, vacant
lots, and bike lanes; removing graffiti; and by clearing snow and ice. DSNY is also at-the-
ready to help New York City address emergency situations.
DSNY acknowledges that our operations are deeply intertwined with historical, structural
issues affecting New Yorkers. DSNY’s mission extends beyond keeping New York City
clean. It includes a responsibility to remain vigilant in understanding and addressing all
disparities in collections or cleanliness. As we work to strengthen our efforts, we are
committed to ensuring that our residential and commercial sanitation services and
programs promote equity and serve all New Yorkers, especially those in historically
underserved
47
communities.
DSNY is committed to continuously improving programs and service delivery to New
Yorkers through ongoing evaluation of data analytics, stakeholder feedback, and
operational enhancements responsive to community needs. In the coming years, DSNY will
advance core initiatives, which will revolutionize the way all New Yorkers interact with
waste. Three of DSNY’s core initiatives will be highlighted in this report: (1) increasing
commercial and residential diversion rates (2) containerizing 100% of NYC’s commercial
and residential waste and (3) transforming the commercial waste industry. DSNY will
continue to leverage neighborhood-level data and strengthen community-based
partnerships around core initiatives. For these three highlighted initiatives, DSNY will direct
community improvements in underserved neighborhoods, to ensure all New Yorkers are
served equitably and see improved outcomes related to health, public safety, and the
environment.
Internally, DSNY values diversity throughout our workforce,
whether uniformed or civilian,
entry level or senior management. We strive to recruit our workforce from diverse
communities across the city, and we see room for improvement for more inclusive hiring
practices and to address the limitations posed by civil service examinations.
47
Underserved neighborhoods and communities, as discussed in this plan, will be further defined in DSNY’s progress
report. DSNY will utilize designations as defined by the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice, Environmental
Justice (EJ) Areas, the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) and / or Disadvantaged Communities (DAC)
as identified by the State of New York.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal: [DATA]
Collect and analyze data through an equity lens related to DSNY's
highlighted initiatives — diversion, containerization, and commercial waste reform — to
better understand impacts across neighborhoods, identify disparities in historically
underserved communities, and facilitate community-centered responses
a.
Outcome:
By 2028 or earlier, establish baseline data sets for diversion,
containerization, and commercial waste reform to measure progress over time
and better understand impacts on residents, particularly in historically
underserved neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies:
•
Develop, maintain, and make public data sets that will include diversion rates
(commercial and residential), rat sightings (for containerization efforts),
vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) by commercial waste vehicles, and other
indicators identified in consultation with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Equity &
Racial Justice (MOERJ) and other government and community partners
•
Evaluate participation, service delivery, and performance data across
historically underserved communities around the three highlighted initiatives
to assess equitable access, measure outcomes, and support data-driven
decision making
•
Identify and document existing and anticipated challenges and participation
gaps associated with DSNY’s highlighted initiatives; use findings to inform
program improvements and resource allocation
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of neighborhoods for which initiative-specific data is collected and
analyzed
•
Diversion rates (commercial and residential)
•
Reported rat sightings (for containerization efforts)
•
Vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) for commercial waste
2.
Goal: [COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP]
Continue to strengthen partnerships and
track/measure engagement within historically underserved communities to ensure
residents have meaningful opportunities to inform, participate in, and benefit from DSNY
programs and services
a.
Outcome:
By 2028 or earlier,
improve engagement with residents in historically
underserved neighborhoods through language access, targeted outreach, and
new opportunities for community participation, resulting in more inclusive and
community-informed program implementation.
b.
Strategies:
•
Encourage utilization of existing tools, including 311, to better understand
neighborhood needs and concerns
•
Continue to engage and partner with the Sanitation Foundation, Mayor’s
Office of Mass Engagement, borough Solid Waste Advisory Boards,
Business Improvement Districts, City Council, Borough Presidents,
community boards, CUNY, Civic Engagement Commission along with and
City agencies, including but not limited to the Mayor’s Office of Climate
and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ), Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
(MOIA), Business Integrity Commission (BIC), NYC Department of
Transportation (DOT), NYC Department for the Aging, NYC Department of
Education (DOE), Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, and all agencies/offices
that are focused on climate and resiliency, to inform policy, increase
participation, and promote outreach efforts
•
Collaborate with community partners and leaders including parent and
youth-serving organizations, faith-based organizations, environmental
groups, community-based organizations, and organizations serving
immigrant and multilingual communities to share information about
policies and programs
•
Prioritize language access in all educational materials, 311 service
requests, community meetings and presentations to ensure residents are
aware of DSNY programs
•
Use data to inform culturally competent, localized outreach efforts based
on community needs to increase participation
c.
Indicators
•
Number of community partnerships/collaboration meetings with partners
and community led organizations
•
Number of outreach efforts for the three highlighted initiatives such as
meetings, mailers, and canvassing focused on historically underserved
communities
3.
Goal: [RESIDENTIAL DIVERSION]
Expand and promote use of DSNY diversion
programs to encourage citywide participation
a.
Outcome
: By 2028 or earlier, increase equitable access to DSNY organics,
recycling, and other waste diversion programs to simplify the processes for
residents to divert waste from landfills and reduce emissions.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to offer residential curbside composting in every neighborhood
citywide
•
Conduct outreach to inform people about citywide organics, recycling, and
other special waste diversion programs
•
Promote alternative methods for residential composting through
Composting SmartBins and partnerships with local community-based
organizations and community gardens
•
Host compost giveaways for residents and local community organizations
to green their neighborhoods
•
Ensure buildings are participating in organics and recycling programs
•
Encourage buildings to opt-in to e-waste and textile recycling programs
•
Collect data to identify participation gaps and document challenges to
inform program improvements, enforcement, and resource allocation
c.
Indicators
:
•
Organics collected (tons)
•
Recyclable material collected (tons)
•
Residential diversion rates
•
Number of outreach events conducted to promote citywide organics
•
Number of people attending compost giveaways and amount of compost
distributed
4.
Goal: [CONTAINERIZATION]
Containerize all commercial businesses and buildings
with 1-9 residential units citywide to improve neighborhood cleanliness, public health,
and quality of life, especially in underserved neighborhoods
a.
Outcome:
Successful containerization of 70% of trash bags across City streets,
ensuring all buildings with 1-9 residential units and all commercial businesses are
using the official NYC Bin by the end of calendar year 2026.
b.
Strategies:
•
Collect baseline data on containerization use among buildings with 1-9
residential units and commercial businesses to identify gaps in compliance
and target education efforts
•
Check that all eligible building owners enrolled in the STAR or E-STAR tax
benefit program are reimbursed for the cost of an official NYC bin to
remove barriers for participation in the containerization mandate
•
Focus containerization outreach and enforcement on rat mitigation zones
to promote rat reduction
c.
Indicators
:
•
Increase in compliance rates among 1-9 units and all commercial
businesses
•
Number of qualified building owners that received reimbursement for the
official NYC bin
•
Percentage decrease in number of rat sighting service requests in
historically underserved communities and rat mitigation zones
5.
Goal: [COMMERCIAL WASTE REFORM]
Implement Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ)
to regulate the commercial carting system and ensure better public health and safety
outcomes for commercial waste workers, drivers, and community members citywide
a.
Outcome
: Complete implementation of CWZ program by the end of 2027,
establishing baseline data measures to quantify success of the program.
b.
Strategies:
•
Conduct accessible, multilingual outreach to commercial establishments in
each transition zone, in coordination with community partners, to explain
customer rights, obligations, service options, and complaint channels
•
Implement transparent pricing, maximum-rate, billing, customer service,
and continuity-of-service requirements while preserving customer choice
among authorized awardees
•
Roll out commercial organics requirement and provide information to
businesses on discounted rates for recyclables and organics to encourage
compliance and increase diversion rates
•
Create systems to collect initial data to measure tonnage collected,
vehicle miles traveled, customer participation, safety incidents, and
service performance to measure progress
•
Oversee compliance with worker safety training and whistleblower
protections required by Local Law 199, the Commercial Waste Zone rules,
and award agreements
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of Commercial Waste Zones fully implemented
•
Overall share and number of businesses participating in program
•
Amount of waste collected by carters, by stream (tons)
•
Total vehicle miles traveled by commercial carters
•
Number of safety incidents
Medium-Term
1.
Goal: [RESIDENTIAL DIVERSION]
Conduct outreach to neighborhoods with
historically low waste diversion rates and pilot innovative methods as outlined in the
2026 Solid Waste Management Plan to increase participation in recycling and organic
programs and promote an increase in diversion rates
48
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, evaluate the impact of programs/strategies and initiatives
outlined in the 2026 Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP26) on recycling and
waste diversion metrics in pilot neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to analyze community feedback and data to identify reasons for
low participation rates and areas for improvement
•
Advocate for more staff and resources towards educational campaigns to
support increase in waste diversion in areas with historically low diversion
rates
48
Diversion refers to the work done towards keeping recycle and organic materials out landfills, through various waste
management programs.
•
Seek state or federal funding for a marketing campaign that targets proper
separation of compost, recyclables, and electronic waste and promotes
access to resources and giveaways in targeted neighborhoods where
diversion rates are low, as budget allows
•
Establish new and develop ongoing community-based partnerships in
historically underserved communities to share information about diversion
programs
•
Ensure all outreach materials are translated into languages that reflect the
communities being served
•
Work with city agency partners like the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy and
community organizations to promote donation and food rescue and tackle
chronic hunger, food insecurity, and organic waste diversion
c.
Indicators
:
•
Increase in diversion rate in neighborhoods with low waste diversion rates
as compared to baseline
2.
Goal: [CONTAINERIZATION]
Containerize the waste of larger buildings by siting and
installing on-street containers, known as Empire Bins, citywide to improve neighborhood
cleanliness, public health, and quality of life, especially in historically underserved
neighborhoods
a.
Outcome
: Successful citywide containerization of 100% of trash, ensuring all
medium- and high-density properties are using the official NYC bins, Empire Bins
(on-street containers), or other approved containerization method by the end of
2031.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue a district-wide pilot in Manhattan Community District 9 to test and
validate on-street containers strategy
•
Perform extensive community outreach and education with local partners to
focusing on building buy-in and trust, especially historically underserved
communities in rat mitigation zones
•
Roll out on-street containers across eight Community Districts in all five
boroughs by the end of 2027
•
Pilot shared-bin pilot for smaller buildings to expand access to Empire Bin
program
•
Ensure bins and area around the bins are cleaned and cared for equitably
across the city
•
Site and install Empire Bins in all 59 community districts by 2031 to reach
100% containerization citywide
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Empire Bins installed
•
Number of rat sighting service requests in historically underserved
communities and rat mitigation zones
•
Total percentage of residential waste that is containerized
3.
Goal: [COMMERCIAL WASTE & COMMERCIAL DIVERSION]
Use citywide
Commercial Waste Zone oversight to improve commercial diversion of recycling and
organics, worker safety, and customer service outcomes
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, utilize reporting, outreach, and enforcement data to ensure
carters and businesses are in compliance and neighborhoods are experiencing
positive benefits from the program (e.g. less traffic congestion and lower
emissions).
b.
Strategies
•
Analyze diversion, vehicle miles traveled, safety, and customer service data
by zone and relevant neighborhood geography to target oversight and
program improvements
•
Conduct targeted outreach for small businesses and other customer groups
with low participation in recycling or organics collection to promote cost-
savings opportunities
•
Track carters to ensure they are complying with program and limiting their
vehicle miles traveled per week to reduce emissions
•
Enforce applicable requirements under Local Law 199, the Commercial
Waste Zone rules, and award agreements, including customer service,
pricing, recycling and organics, worker safety, and reporting requirements
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of Commercial Waste Zone customers receiving organics
collection service, disaggregated by zone and relevant neighborhood
geography
•
Decrease of vehicle miles traveled through neighborhoods
•
Increased recycling and organics diversion rates for commercial businesses
•
Improved worker and resident safety outcomes
4.
Goal: [WORKFORCE]
Ensure DSNY effectively promotes job opportunities to
candidates from various communities to promote diversity in positions at all levels of the
workforce, including uniformed, civilian, and senior management
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, conduct assessment of employee recruitment, hiring, and
promotion practices to maintain an accessible workplace with a robust EEO
program.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Engage various community-based organizations, attend community events in
the five boroughs, and perform outreach to promote registration and
recruitment for upcoming exam(s), particularly for women and individuals of
underrepresented backgrounds to increase representation in the workforce
•
Leverage partnerships with other City agencies, including New York City
Public Schools, CUNY, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, NYC
Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ (DCAS) Office of Citywide
Recruitment, Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement, Mayor’s Office of
Immigrant Affairs, Civic Engagement Commission, Mayor’s Office of Climate
and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) among others, to promote job
opportunities
•
Continue to promote DSNY vacancies through online and print publications in
compliance with Local Law 30 and place advertisements using the top 150
Community & Ethnic Media print publications as identified by the Mayor’s
Office of Ethnic and Community Media
•
Promote scholarship opportunities for reduced-cost or free civil service exams
and opportunities for reduced-cost or free uniforms to reduce barriers to entry
in the workforce
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of events attended in historically underserved neighborhoods
•
Percentage increase in underrepresented groups applying to take the
sanitation worker exam
•
Percentage increase in underrepresented
49
populations across uniformed,
civilian, and senior management
Long-Term
1.
Goal: [M/WBE]
Reach 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and continue efforts to increase
M/WBE participation in large-scale construction, service-related contracts, and in small
purchase orders, while evaluating goals on an ongoing basis to ensure they are
consistent with federal, state, and local law
a.
Outcome:
Continue consistent implementation and assessment for improving
M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
In accordance with local law, implement the use of M/WBE Small
Purchase Orders and Innovative procurements for all departmental needs
related to small and midsize procurement ranging from $20K to $1.5
million in value
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of contracts awarded to M/WBEs, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Total award amount granted to M/WBEs, disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
and gender identity
49
For workforce goals, underutilized populations will refer to DCAS’ Citywide Equal Employment Database System
(CEEDS) reporting.
2.
Goal: [SWM]
Address historical inequities in waste transfer infrastructure to reduce
disproportionate environmental, safety, and health burdens in underserved communities
and advance equitable waste management citywide
a.
Outcome:
By 2036, embed racial and geographic equity considerations into the
implementation of DSNY’s next 10-year Solid Waste Management Plan.
b.
Strategies:
•
Adjust waste transfer operations through equity-informed planning;
evaluate truck routing and district assignment patterns that leave certain
waste transfer stations underutilized, such as the 91st Street Transfer
Station to promote more equitable distribution of waste transfer and
disposal operations, reducing the concentration in historically underserved
neighborhoods
•
Seek to update and adapt existing solid waste management contracts,
including evaluation of competitive bidding for replacement contracts to
identify potential opportunities to more equitably distribute waste transfer
operations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Change in tonnage year over year at each Transfer Station, as expressed
in the Waste Equity Law report
•
Percentage reduction in waste transferred through facilities in historically
underserved neighborhoods
•
Percentage of citywide waste distributed across transfer stations based on
racial equity-informed planning criteria as outlined in Racial Equity Plan
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1. Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity
and social justice.
•
#3. Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#4. Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#6 Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#14 Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
Spotlight Wins
•
Containerization:
Residential Containerization:
DSNY’s mission is to containerize all waste in New
York City. In 2024, DSNY required all commercial businesses and buildings with 1-9
residential units to put all waste in bins with secure lids, containerizing 70 percent of
the residential waste on the street. In order to containerize the remaining 30 percent,
DSNY has moved forward with siting on-street containers for large properties to
containerize their waste.
After a small-scale assessment in 2024 in Hamilton Heights, a pilot program for
stationary on-street containers, or Empire Bins, launched in all of Manhattan
Community Board 9 in the Spring 2025 for higher-density residential properties.
In April 2026, DSNY announced residential Empire Bin rollout would expand to
Brooklyn Community District 2 and six additional Community Districts across the five
boroughs by the end of 2027. DSNY has committed to full citywide trash
containerization by the end of 2031 to get trash off the sidewalk, reduce pest activity
on the street, and improve quality of life in New York City.
•
Commercial Waste Reform:
Commercial Waste Zones: The Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ) Program, created
by Local Law 199 of 2019 (LL199), directed DSNY to establish geographic zones for
the collection, removal, and disposal of commercial waste and to designate
awardees through a competitive procurement process.
Prior to LL199, New York City’s commercial waste collection system was marked by
inefficiency, safety risks, and a lack of transparency. Private carters operated on
overlapping, lengthy, and uncoordinated routes—with as many as a dozen carters
servicing a single block in one night. Many commercial customers, ranging from
standalone retailers to large office buildings, negotiated rates without clear
protections; more than half of all agreements were estimated to be verbal
agreements, lacking written or signed contracts. Industry safety standards varied
widely with trucks often missing basic safety equipment and inconsistent training for
employees.
The CWZ Program aims to organize and regulate the commercial waste industry,
establishing new safety standards for workers in the commercial carting industry,
improving service for businesses, and reducing harmful emissions from waste
hauling vehicles. As of July 2026, DSNY has successfully launched eight (8)
Commercial Waste Zones: Queens Central, Bronx East, Bronx West, Queens
Northeast, Brooklyn South, Lower Manhattan, Staten Island, and Midtown South.
DSNY is on track to fully implement the program in all 20 zones by end of 2027.
•
Diversion
Residential Organics
: On June 8, 2023, the New York City Council passed Local
Law 85, which required the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to create a
mandatory curbside composting program for all residential properties by October 7,
2024. This law helps DSNY work toward increasing the City’s rate of waste diversion
from disposal and promotes the reuse of organic material for beneficial use.
Commercial Organics:
On June 30, 2026, the New York City Council passed Intro
31, which authorizes DSNY to require all businesses that produce food waste and
other organic waste to separate their food and yard waste for composting. The bill
requires private carters to provide information on the donation of excess edible food
to establishments receiving organic waste collection. Under the Commercial Waste
Zone program, businesses pay less for composting than for trash collection, so this
law will save businesses money while removing confusing and outdated
requirements regarding who is and is not required to comply.
•
Outreach Programs & Training
(supporting all three core initiatives)
:
Training for DSNY outreach and canvassing teams emphasizes cultural
competency. Key aspects of the role-playing and mock site visits are to prepare the
field team for the different scenarios and situations they may encounter, including
scenarios designed to reflect different cultures, languages, and behaviors. In
addition, DSNY has invited the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) to
deliver a Bystander Intervention Training to help the field team identify bias,
discrimination, or harassment while they are canvassing. These measures help the
field team learn verbal and behavioral de-escalation strategies to non-violently
intervene and disrupt hate-violence or hate speech. This outreach strategy applies to
all our public facing initiatives including curbside composting, commercial
containerization, residential containerization, and commercial waste zone
implementation.
•
Waste Transfer Stations and Solid Waste Management Plan:
Local Law 152 of 2018, known as the Waste Equity Law, required DSNY to reduce
the permitted capacity of putrescible and non-putrescible transfer stations in certain
“overburdened” districts, as defined in the law. DSNY annually reports to the City
Council on the implementation of LL 152.
DSNY has addressed the issue of the proliferation of waste transfer stations over
many years through siting rules, operational rules, local laws, and through its long-
term Solid Waste Management Planning. As a result of these efforts, transfer station
capacity was reduced, and the number of transfer stations went from 153 in 1990 to
58 currently. DSNY inspects each transfer station several times per month to ensure
compliance with these regulations. Through the state-mandated Solid Waste
Management Plans (SWMP), DSNY has helped reduce the total waste generation
(tonnage per capita) over the last 20 years, despite a growing population and the
proliferation of disposable/single use products and electronics. DSNY is in the
process of finalizing the 2026 SWMP, which has included opportunities for the public
to comment and provide input.
Department of Transportation
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) provides for the safe, equitable, and
sustainable movement of people and goods, and creates public spaces that strengthen our
communities. NYC DOT's efforts to build an equitable transportation environment are rooted in the
understanding that past planning practices have disproportionately impacted people of color and
low-income communities, often leading to division, displacement, and disinvestment.
NYC DOT has a responsibility to address these racial equity challenges as the government
agency that enhances safety and mobility, and that maintains and improves transportation
infrastructure, for all New Yorkers.
Racial Equity Goals
Medium Term
1.
Goal
: Transportation and Infrastructure - Build a safer city for all New Yorkers, with a focus
on reducing racial disparities in victims of traffic violence
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, reduce racial disparities in traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct a root-cause analysis to understand the racial disparities in traffic
fatalities and serious injuries. The analysis should distinguish immediate
causes, contributing conditions, and broader structural factors, and identify
which findings can be addressed through DOT policy, planning, design,
outreach, operations, or enforcement. Use the findings to inform tailored
approaches to decrease traffic violence
•
Conduct outreach to build awareness of NYC DOT’s mission and goals.
Improve how we message and listen to communities through communication
channels and on-the-ground outreach
•
Center education to help people understand infrastructure investments.
Identify gaps in awareness and perceptions around traffic safety,
infrastructure updates, and ability to request safety improvements, to build
trust in street safety projects
•
Provide on-street and community-based outreach when safety improvements
are first implemented to help build trust and compliance. Later, engage
communities to assess how the community is responding to the changes, and
if more outreach is needed to increase compliance with new infrastructure
•
Build streets that are safe, encourage sustainable mobility, and enhance
neighborhood livability in underserved communities of color
•
Plan and design for riders on motorized, two-wheeled vehicles so that they
can travel safely during work and to/from home, and explore ways to drive
behavior change so that riders respect and abide by the rules of the road and
ride safely
•
Ensure the Vision Zero initiative is inclusive by working with the Vision Zero
Taskforce externally and internally to normalize the consideration of race
throughout Vision Zero, including in the data, impact, and personnel working
on the initiative
c.
Indicators
:
•
Vision Zero indicators including Traffic fatalities by mode
•
Number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) disaggregated by NTA or
Community District
•
Number of KSI by race versus citywide racial breakdown
•
Number of KSI by device type
•
Number of New Yorkers reached through Vision Zero outreach and
campaigns by NTA
•
Increase communication with and support for ERGs and WEGs (Working
Equity Group) from agency leadership and provide guidance to ERGs and
WEGs on improving engagement
2.
Goal
: Transportation and Infrastructure - Review if there are disparities in the quality and
maintenance of transportation infrastructure in underserved communities of color
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, build and implement a comprehensive plan on how NYC DOT
will serve 100% of underserved neighborhoods to achieve equity in transportation
infrastructure.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Review if there are deficits in the maintenance and reliability of infrastructure
under NYC DOT’s purview
•
Examine whether the current decision-making mechanisms appropriately
address the needs of underserved communities of color
•
Improve intra-agency project coordination for maintenance and safety
improvements, including developing checklists that prompt special
considerations or coordination, and syncing project timelines and priorities
•
Improve messaging and communication with the public on infrastructure
maintenance and repairs
•
Review request-driven programs and repairs to determine if there are
neighborhoods that are over- or under-represented in complaints and
responses
•
Provide ongoing internal capacity building around racial equity and data to
socialize assessing transportation infrastructure and NYC DOT programs and
workflows through a racial equity lens
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of maintenance and repair schedules assessed through a racial
equity lens
•
Average response times for 311 complaints disaggregated by NTA
•
311 complaints disaggregated by NTA
•
Types of 311 complaints by NTA
3.
Goal
: Workforce Diversity and Workplace Culture - Improve the workplace culture around
racial equity, inclusion, and belonging
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, reach at least 75% positive sentiment from survey feedback
regarding workplace equity, inclusion, and belonging among employees agency-
wide, particularly employees of color including those with disabilities.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Improve transparency of organizational structure for DOT staff by continuing
to announce division and unit changes, new hires, and promotions
•
Improve transparency for DOT staff about recruitment, hiring, and promotion
process by creating educational resources
•
Produce a comprehensive organizational chart for each division that is easily
accessible to employees, and increase transparency around the role of each
division, unit, and team
•
Create a dashboard for EEO team to better track and process reasonable
accommodations, complaints, and investigations
•
Promote the EEO process to ensure the workforce is well informed of their
rights; increase access to EEO liaisons; post analysis from EEO dashboard to
SharePoint to build transparency about EEO complaints and general EEO
process so employees feel comfortable noting their experiences
•
Strengthen feedback loops by enhancing and promoting the suggestion box
built into the agency’s SharePoint page
•
Develop and regularly deploy a survey that establishes a benchmark for and
tracks changes in sentiment around workplace equity, inclusion, and
belonging among employees agency-wide, particularly employees of color
including those with disabilities
•
Foster a culture of belonging by developing and implementing equity and
inclusion-based training not otherwise mandatory for all agency employees,
considering seasonal employee access to training as well, continuing to
acknowledge holidays and significant cultural events, and planning and
promoting other agency-wide events
•
Increase communication with and support for ERGs and WEGs (Working
Equity Group) from agency leadership and provide guidance to ERGs and
WEGs on improving engagement
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of complaint allegations
•
Number of climate survey respondents
•
Number of suggestion box submissions
•
Number of relevant SharePoint page views and downloads
•
Number of trainings by type completed by employees
•
Number of ERG and Working Equity Group (WEG) members
•
Number of ERG and WEG events and number of employees that attend
4.
Goal
: Community Engagement - Develop a coordinated, agency-wide system for
community engagement that standardizes practices, strengthens relationships, and
continuously improves equitable engagement across NYC DOT
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, NYC DOT has standardized and coordinated community
engagement practices that improve consistency across the agency, strengthen
relationships with communities, and support more equitable participation in
transportation planning and decision-making.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Establish a community engagement team to standardize and track community
outreach by coordinating with all the teams at NYC DOT that do outreach and
engagement to provide guidelines, capacity building, and metrics for inclusive
engagement
•
Establish a centralized platform to track all community engagement
conducted by NYC DOT. Consider whether the platform should be publicly
accessible over time
•
Continuously evaluate community engagement strategies and channels to
ensure comprehensive outreach and proactively address barriers to
engagement, especially for hard-to-reach groups
•
Coordinate NYC DOT’s community engagement processes to center racial
equity through crafting a vision statement and guidelines for community
engagement, regularly evaluating outreach practices to ensure relational
engagement, and ensuring NYC DOT engages with communities in diverse,
culturally sensitive ways
•
Coordinate relationship-building efforts by collaborating with other city
agencies and units engaged in community outreach to share tactics, contacts,
and best practices
•
Establish a standard practice of reporting back to communities after
engagement by communicating what was heard, what actions were taken,
and why certain recommendations were or were not incorporated
•
Assess NYC DOT’s communications and interactions with the public to
identify where the agency can improve its processes and promote more
transparency and accountability
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of NYC DOT teams that have touchpoints with the public participating
in the agency-wide community engagement coordination process
•
Percent of public engagement activities documented in the centralized
engagement platform
•
Percent of major projects documenting how community feedback informed
project decisions
•
Percent of engagement activities that include strategies to reach historically
underrepresented communities
5.
Goal
: Foundation for Equity - Develop an internal structure for centering equity at NYC
DOT and supporting racial equity goals
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, 100% of NYC DOT divisions undergo a racial equity audit
process and meet determined benchmarks for agency-wide accountability.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Create an internal Equity Council comprising employees across NYC DOT to
drive equity efforts, including developing an equity statement and shared
language for incorporation into NYC DOT’s website and Strategic Plan. The
council will work with and advise the Equity Team to engage employees
across the agency and help implement the Racial Equity Plan
•
Establish a team dedicated to leading NYC DOT’s equity efforts internally and
externally. This will include a senior-level equity officer and support staff. This
team will align NYC DOT’s current and future equity approaches with a
cohesive, updated strategy, assess the extent to which agency divisions
integrate racial equity into their work, identify gaps and opportunities for
equity advancement, establish standards for equity targets across the
agency, capacity-build to disseminate resources and tools for operationalizing
equity, and cultivate a shared understanding around equity. They will also
oversee the implementation of current racial equity strategies, report on
progress, and support development of future iterations of the Racial Equity
Plan
•
Create review processes and framework for the annual Racial Equity Plan
progress reports, including a mechanism for each division to report its
progress towards the racial equity goals. Assist teams in identifying barriers,
challenges, and developing action plans to meet racial equity goals
•
Provide resources to support the implementation of the Racial Equity Plan
across the agency, including racial equity training, technical assistance, and
opportunities for cross-divisional learning exchanges. Additionally, learn from
and considering adopting best practices from other leading entities
•
Equity Council and Equity Team will create a mechanism to engage broader
agency employees to learn, discuss, and contribute to racial equity work
learning and doing feedback
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of divisions represented in the Equity Council
•
Percent of targets set out in the rest of the REP being met
•
Percent of divisions reporting progress for annual progress report
•
Percent of divisions actively participating in REP implementation
•
Percent of agency employees that have completed racial equity training
•
Number of divisions aligning divisional strategies with their respective racial
equity plan (REP) goals
•
Percentage of recommendations incorporated into updated work plans
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Workforce Diversity and Workplace Culture - Drive greater workforce diversity by
reducing Titles of Interest
17
and intensifying recruitment, mentorship, and capacity-building
efforts to better serve City residents in compliance with federal, state, and local law
a.
Outcome
: By 2036, decrease Titles of Interest, implement inclusive workforce
practices that retain employees from underrepresented backgrounds and attract
diverse candidates across managerial, supervisory, and executive-level titles
through equitable recruitment, advancement, and retention practices.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Evaluate whether there are racial inequities in representation, promotions,
and pay by utilizing the Workforce Profile Report, ERGs and WEGs, pay and
promotion data, and other data within and across titles, divisions, and teams
•
Bolster recruitment pipelines through increased collaboration with Human
Resources and partnerships with external groups such as CUNY colleges,
community-based organizations that serve New Yorkers underrepresented as
DOT staff such as Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), Historically
Black Colleges and Universities, and the Department of Youth and
Community Development
•
Assess existing mentorship and apprenticeship programs, evaluate program
impact by centering the perspective of what mentees feel they gained from
their participation, and improve existing programs, accordingly
•
Explore opportunities for new mentorship and professional development
opportunities across divisions and for specific positionalities, such as labor
class positions
•
Establish a sponsorship program where NYC DOT senior leaders champion
and advocate for the career advancement of employees, including those from
underrepresented groups
•
Collaborate with other agencies to promote job postings and civil service
examinations using clear language, including highlighting programs like 55-A
•
Identify potential policy changes to match the inclusive practices of other
agencies to hire underrepresented groups and attract talent
•
Advance approaches that close the racial wage gap and offer new hires
livable, competitive pay
•
Pursue structured hiring for all staff involved in hiring and for all eligible
agency positions
c.
Indicators
:
•
Demographics of employees disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender
identity
•
Retention and promotions of employees disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
gender identity
50
•
Number of titles of interest and specific demographics of each title of interest
•
Number of educational partnerships
•
Number of recruitment activities
•
Number and demographics of employees hired through recruitment programs
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity vs. number and
demographics of all employees hired disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
gender identity
•
Percent and demographics of college aide promotions to full-time employees
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
1
•
Percent of hiring managers trained on identifying and mitigating racial bias in
the hiring process
2.
Goal
: Community Engagement - Build meaningful relationships with underserved
communities to be more responsive to local needs while fostering greater trust
a.
Outcome
: By 2036, underserved communities of color report greater trust in NYC
DOT's engagement processes, experience more meaningful opportunities to shape
transportation decisions, and see increased responsiveness to community needs.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand programs that require medium- and long-term partnerships with
community organizations, such as Open Streets and the Plaza Program to
invest in communities quickly, and build effective and meaningful
relationships
•
Provide proper support to community partners including administrative help
navigating the NYC DOT bureaucracy, making programming accessible, and
providing funding
50
For informational and communication purposes only.
•
Expand the amount of blank-slate outreach and area-wide neighborhood
studies that engage communities in developing their transportation needs
assessments
•
Support community-led programming, stewardship, and cultural events that
strengthen relationships between residents and NYC DOT while fostering
neighborhood identity and belonging
•
Develop a sentiment analysis for different types of NYC DOT public
engagement efforts and pilot it across a few units that conduct public
engagement, establishing a baseline of how our interactions with the public
are going to set benchmarks for improvement
•
Expand relationships with community and ethnic media outlets, thereby
securing press coverage about NYC DOT initiatives, raising awareness about
minority and women-owned business contracting opportunities, and placing
advertisements to better inform diverse communities about NYC DOT
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of surveyed community partners and participants who report positive
experiences with NYC DOT engagement
•
Percent of major engagement efforts that publicly report back on community
feedback and resulting agency actions
•
Percent of projects documenting how community feedback informed
decisions or project implementation
•
Number (or percent) of sustained partnerships with community organizations
serving underserved communities of color
•
Annual community engagement sentiment score, disaggregated where
feasible by demographic characteristics
3.
Goal
: Budget and Contracting - Prioritize investment of agency dollars in underserved
communities of color to close race-based disparities in transportation-related outcomes
a.
Outcome
: By 2036, increase investments in underserved communities within NYC
DOT’s Capital Street Reconstruction program.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Understand NYC DOT’s current budget allocations and identify where
investments are going and if there are any existing geographic disparities
•
Define which parts of the NYC DOT’s Capital budget should be analyzed
through a racial equity lens and where there is flexibility to shift spending
•
Research best practices on an equity-focused budget for an infrastructure
agency so that NYC DOT can strike the right balance between regular
maintenance and safety improvements
•
Refresh the Street Reconstruction Prioritization Model in budgeting, focusing
on a racial equity lens, and developing criteria that an equitable budget
should meet
•
Review who makes budgetary and spending decisions at NYC DOT and
identify opportunities to bring in internal groups into the decision-making
process
•
Increase transparency by communicating Participatory Budgeting results and
exploring partnerships, such as with the Civic Engagement Commission, to
increase public awareness and understanding
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of dollars allocated for Street Reconstruction projects by NTA
•
Percent of capital funding allocated by NTA per capital element (e.g., State of
Good Repair, safety, etc.)
•
Number of divisions incorporating diverse internal perspectives into budget-
related decision-making
•
Number of projects and programs incorporating a cross-divisional review
4.
Goal
: Budget and Contracting - DOT has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will
continue to create opportunities for M/WBEs to conduct business with the agency, while
evaluating our goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and
local law
a.
Outcome
: By 2036, maintain consistent implementation and assessment of M/WBE
utilization.
b.
Strategies
:
•
De-bundle large contracts into smaller contracts so that M/WBEs can submit
bids as primes
•
Utilize the M/WBE Small Purchase method for contracts with estimated
values ranging from $20,000 to $1,500,000
•
Host Industry/Outreach Days for large-scale procurements for prime
contractors to meet M/WBEs
•
Advertise the Agency’s procurement opportunities in Ethnic and Community
Media outlets
•
Establish an M/WBE Advisory Committee to meet with the agency quarterly
•
Partner with sister agencies, professional groups, and elected officials to host
“Doing Business with NYC DOT” workshops
•
Attend quarterly meetings with fiscal officers to provide training on searching
for M/WBEs in the SBS directory and sharing best practices
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percent of all contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Percent of M/WBE utilization
•
Number of outreach events and industry events attended to raise awareness
of NYC DOT M/WBE opportunities
•
Number of M/WBE training participants
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on NYC
government plans.
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
Spotlight Wins
•
Investment:
The agency has achieved significant equitable investment wins through
various initiatives aimed at supporting underserved communities. As part of the 2021 NYC
Streets Plan, NYC DOT has since prioritized investments in high-need areas, focusing
resources on underserved neighborhoods based on population density, income, and racial
demographics. The Public Space Equity Program (PSEP) enhances public spaces in
under-resourced neighborhoods by providing maintenance, horticultural care, and technical
assistance to community partners. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has also empowered
NYC DOT to secure over $321 million in awarded federal grants addressing historical 207
maintenance backlogs, planning initiatives, and electric vehicle charging an enhancing
access for communities of color. Notable projects include a $5.6 million grant for the BQE
Corridor Vision study and a $6 million award for improving bus stop accessibility on Jerome
Avenue, both targeting low-income neighborhoods. Additionally, nearly $24 million has
been allocated for Safe Streets for All improvements on Queens Boulevard, making it safer
and more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists.
•
Service Delivery:
NYC DOT has made strides in equitable service delivery, enhancing
safety and accessibility for underserved communities. In the past five years, NYC DOT has
invested $16.12 million in repairing defective sidewalks adjacent to NYCHA developments,
increasing its annual budget for these repairs from $1 million to $4 million. The agency has
also installed over 30,000 bike racks since 2013, using equity indicators like income and
race to guide placements in underserved areas. Additionally, the Donate-A-Bike program
has provided over 200 refurbished bicycles to low-income Staten Islanders, while the e-bike
charging pilot has established safe, accessible charging stations across the city, reducing
reliance on hazardous home charging for delivery workers and enhancing their working
conditions. The e-scooter share program aims to enhance mobility in underserved
neighborhoods, offering discounted memberships to low-income residents to address
transportation inequities. Lastly, the agency is budgeted to resurface 1,150 lane miles
annually, prioritizing streets based on street ratings and community needs, ensuring a
nearly equal percentage of repaving across neighborhoods.
•
Community Engagement:
NYC DOT has advanced equitable community engagement
through several key programs. The new Community Expert Program empowers over 200
NYC DOT employees to leverage their local knowledge in project planning, ensuring that
community needs are prioritized, particularly in areas with fewer safety interventions. The
Commissioner in Your Borough (CIYB) initiative fosters direct engagement between the
Commissioner and residents, integrating community voices early in the planning process to
enhance transportation accessibility and equity. Landmark events like Summer Streets and
Car-Free Earth Day transform city streets into vibrant spaces for social interaction,
education, and cultural celebration, expanding access across all boroughs. Additionally, the
Community Partner Program emphasizes collaboration with local organizations, particularly
those serving underrepresented communities, to enrich the public engagement process in
the Re-imagine Cross Bronx and BQE Corridor Vision studies. Together, these efforts
empower residents to actively shape their neighborhoods, leading to more inclusive and
responsive infrastructure solutions.
•
Staffing:
NYC DOT has made meaningful efforts to provide a hospitable and inclusive
work environment for employees of diverse backgrounds. NYC DOT has partnered with the
NYC Human Resources Administration to connect participants from the Pathway to
Industrial and Construction Careers program— focused on underrepresented
communities—with job openings for Assistant City Highway Repairer positions, actively
diversifying the applicant pool. The agency also secured a Memorandum of Understanding
with the City College of New York—where the majority of students identify as people of
color—to enhance workforce development, introducing the R.O.U.T.E. course, which
engages high school students in transportation research while providing practical skills and
internship opportunities. Together, these initiatives aim to increase representation in the
workforce and foster a diverse pipeline of future transportation professionals.
•
Process:
NYC DOT has advanced equitable processes through multiple notable efforts.
The agency developed the Equity in Asset Management (EAM) Tool to analyze equity gaps
in its asset distribution, promoting transparency and data driven decision-making. This
innovative web application integrates income and racial demographic data into prioritization
processes, fostering meaningful discussions about equitable infrastructure investment.
Additionally, the agency’s 2024 Equity in Motion Summit gathered nearly 400 leaders and
practitioners in transportation and urban planning to share best practices for advancing
transportation equity. This inaugural event highlighted NYC DOT's role as a global leader in
equity and established a tradition of hosting the Summit ahead of Car-Free Earth Day,
allowing for joint participation in activities across all five boroughs. Key themes included
“Access in Transportation,” “Community Engagement,” and “Building Just Futures,” with
over 100 NYC DOT employees contributing to the event’s success. Together, these efforts
reinforce NYC DOT's leadership in advancing equity within urban planning and
transportation.
Office of Technology and Innovation
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) is to enable and shape how modern
government operates, helping New York City deliver better and more equitable services, make
smarter decisions, strengthen public trust, and improve life for New Yorkers through technology.
Under the leadership of Chief Technology Officer Lisa Gelobter, OTI is helping build a
more effective, accountable, and resilient government by translating the Mamdani Administration's
priorities into modern, measurable, and scalable solutions. From expanding digital access and
improving service delivery to strengthening data governance and building the City's technology
workforce, OTI is working to ensure government can meet the needs of New Yorkers today while
preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.
OTI carries out its mission by ensuring that all New Yorkers can access and benefit from the
technologies that increasingly shape opportunity in our city. In the modern world, equitable access
to technology is foundational to accessing services, participating in civic life, and connecting to
educational and economic opportunity. OTI is working to reduce disparities in digital access by
expanding affordable broadband, strengthening digital skills, and building inclusive digital services
that are designed around the needs and experiences of New Yorkers. More recently, Executive
Order 13 of 2026 strengthened privacy protections across agencies in response to New Yorkers'
concerns regarding the security of their information. OTI also provides privacy-preserving data
sharing services that enable agencies to collaborate more effectively while minimizing or avoiding
the disclosure of personal information. These approaches have been particularly valuable in
supporting initiatives that improve access to social services and benefits for low-income New
Yorkers.
Finally, OTI is committed to advancing the fair, transparent, and accountable use of emerging
technologies. In alignment with Local Law 188 of 2025, the Office of Algorithmic Accountability will
help ensure that algorithmic tools used by City government are evaluated for actual or potential
discriminatory impacts, strengthening the City's ability to foster innovation responsibly while
protecting equity and public trust.
Together with OTI's work to expand digital access and improve service delivery, this commitment
reflects our broader goal of ensuring that technology advances opportunity, strengthens public
trust, and delivers measurable and equitable outcomes for all New Yorkers.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Build and sustain a modern, equitable technology workforce that enables
government to deliver better outcomes for New Yorkers
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, continue to ensure all staff involved in the hiring and
selection process complete Structured Interviewing Training while strengthening
OTI's capacity to attract, develop, and retain a technology workforce.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Promote training through the EEO Office and Human Resources to ensure all
eligible staff receive the necessary training regarding the City’s hiring
practices
•
Provide training on a quarterly basis, or as needed, to newly hired staff,
promoted staff in a supervisory capacity, and staff involved in the hiring
process
•
Provide a refresher training for all staff on a 3-year cycle
•
Invest in user research, product management practices, and continuous
improvement efforts that strengthen service delivery and outcome
measurement
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of staff involved in the hiring and selection process who have
completed training
•
Number of staff participating in required hiring trainings
•
Number of investments made to support service delivery and outcomes within
the technology workforce
2.
Goal:
Expand equitable access to technology, digital skills, and digital opportunity for New
Yorkers
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, allocate $2.4M capital funding to Public Computer
Centers across the city to contribute to addressing gaps in resources and
programming.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Promote availability of PCCs throughout the city, concentrating outreach
efforts in neighborhoods with highest rates of digital inequity per census data
•
Launch Get Online NYC (nyc.gov/getonline) as a centralized resource to
connect New Yorkers to Public Computer Centers, digital skills programming,
and technology resources
•
Incorporate tangible digital equity initiatives into the City’s Internet Access and
Adoption Plan
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of digital skill courses offered at PCCs
•
Number of annual visitors to PCCs
•
Number of privacy and online safety trainings offered
3.
Goal
: Draft a comprehensive Internet Access and Adoption Plan that includes concrete
strategies to ensure New Yorkers have access to reliable and affordable Internet, as well
as the tools and skills to confidently get online. Pursuant to Local Law 153 of 2025, the
Plan will address the needs of historically underserved communities
a.
Outcome
: By May 2027 and annually thereafter, publish a citywide Internet Access
and Adoption plan that advances equitable Internet to expand home broadband
access and adoption for public comment.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct focus groups, distribute surveys, and support data analysis to inform
policies and programs affecting broadband adoption
•
Release a citywide plan that integrates insights gathered from agency
feedback and public comment
c.
Indicators:
•
Publish a citywide plan with targeted strategies that effectively address the
needs of digitally unconnected communities
Medium-Term
1. Goal:
Reduce disparities in access to affordable broadband and digital services in historically
underserved communities
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, connect 90% of NYCHA households or more to free home
internet and expand availability and uptake of free and low-cost internet plans for
other affordable housing residents.
b.
Strategies:
•
Partner with NYCHA and to help promote the availability of the Big Apple
Connect program to eligible NYCHA households
•
Partner with city government counterparts to promote the rollout of the
Affordable Broadband Act (ABA) and increase uptake of $15/month internet
plans
•
Partner with the Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) agency to
promote the Neighborhood Internet Program to Section 8 residents in Upper
Manhattan and the Bronx
▪
Promote adoption of Big Apple Connect among eligible NYCHA households
while ensuring technology investments advance access and opportunity
without increasing surveillance or disproportionately impacting historically
marginalized communities
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of eligible NYCHA households enrolled in free Internet programs
•
Number of Section 8 recipients receiving free internet through Liberty Link
pilot
•
Number of eligible New Yorkers enrolled in low-cost Affordable Broadband
Act plans
•
Number of New Yorkers enrolled in Affordable Broadband Act plans
2.
Goal:
Increase the availability and use of privacy-preserving data sharing strategies
available for inter-agency data sharing
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, build greater awareness and opportunities for City agencies to
employ services and strategies that preserve resident privacy.
b.
Strategies:
•
Convene meetings on topics of data governance to develop and share
guidance based on agency experience.
•
Expand use of privacy-enhancing solutions and guidance offered by OTI
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of meetings and resources provided on best practices in data
governance, information sharing and analytics
•
Number of data sharing projects leveraging an OTI privacy-preserving data
service
3.
Goal:
Build a coordinated citywide approach to advancing digital equity
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, complete citywide asset and capacity mapping through
interagency Digital Working Group to better align investments and improve
outcomes for New Yorkers.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Convene Digital Equity Working Group quarterly to promote digital equity
initiatives, support information sharing across city agencies. This will be done
while taking into consideration public feedback centered around collection,
retention, and sharing of data across government agencies and adhering to
local citywide policies and laws that strengthen protections for all New
Yorkers
•
Leverage Digital Equity Working Group to mobilize existing and new
resources to invest in digital equity work
•
Mobilize existing and new resources to advance citywide digital equity
initiatives
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of Digital Equity Working Group convenings
•
Completion of citywide digital equity asset and capacity mapping
•
Number of partnerships with community-based organizations for community
equity outreach
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Secure additional funding to ensure equitable access to broadband and other
technologies for New Yorkers
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, secure additional funds to maximize broadband and digital
equity initiatives.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to track an evolving regulatory landscape and advocate at the state
and federal levels for holistic investments in the city’s broader digital equity
ecosystem
c.
Indicators
:
•
Dollars committed to NYC digital equity initiatives
2.
Goal:
Expand access to 5G wireless capability to all New Yorkers, especially in underserved
neighborhoods, to reduce the digital divide
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, work with LinkNYC franchise CityBridge to meet the franchise
requirement that 90% of Link5G kiosks deployed across the city are concentrated in
the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and above 96th street in Manhattan.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to work with CityBridge to meet minimum Link5G kiosk deployment
requirements in designated equity community districts with consideration given to
public feedback centered around ensuring that technology investments advance
access and opportunity or disproportionately impacting historically marginalized
communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of Link5G kiosks in historically underserved neighborhoods
3.
Goal
: Publish a comprehensive citywide plan for expanding and promoting affordable home
access to broadband internet in communities with fewer options for low-cost broadband,
pursuant to Local Law 153 of 2025
a.
Outcome
: Annually publish a citywide plan to expand home broadband access and
adoption for public comment.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct focus groups, distribute surveys, and support data analysis to inform
policies and programs affecting broadband adoption with consideration given
to public feedback centered around ensuring that technology investments
advance access and opportunity without increasing surveillance or
disproportionately impacting historically marginalized communities
•
Annually publish a citywide plan that integrates insights gathered from agency
feedback and public comment
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of households with home broadband, disaggregated by neighborhood
•
Percent of households with home and mobile broadband, disaggregated by
neighborhood
•
Percent of households with a large-screen device, disaggregated by
neighborhood
•
Number of eligible households enrolled in ABA plan
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on NYC
government plans.
•
#5: Check for and remove any formulas and computer processes that may be biased based
on race, ethnicity, or poverty. This will prevent inequities in health care, housing, policing,
criminal justice, employment, social service and more.
Spotlight Wins
•
Big Apple Connect brings free high-speed internet and basic cable to residents of New
York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments across the city. As of May 2025, more
than 122,000 households across 220 NYCHA sites have enrolled, representing an 80
percent adoption rate among eligible households. In addition, a total of 23 of NYC Aging
Older Adult Centers located within NYCHA developments are outfitted with free public Wi-
Fi. Deployment of common area Wi-Fi hotspots are underway across NYCHA
developments.
•
OTI funds and administers NYC Connected Communities, a long-term, large-scale digital
inclusion initiative that provides digital literacy and employment resources in historically
underserved areas for thousands of New Yorkers every year. In partnership with LinkNYC,
OTI has launched five Gigabit Centers, one in each borough, as part of the City’s
continuing efforts to bridge the digital divide for underserved communities. In Brooklyn,
Brooklyn Digital Girl, Inc. empowers youths to pursue careers in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM) and offers in-person and virtual technology training for older
adults. In Manhattan, Silicon Harlem provides digital literacy training, and workforce
development programs to ensure everyone can access new opportunities. In the Bronx, the
Andrew Freedman Home showcases community artwork, provides digital skill building
programs, and offers public access to audio recording studios. In Queens, the Allen
Community Senior Center enhances Older New Yorkers’ technological proficiency to help
them remain social and confidently access digital services in a supportive environment. In
Staten Island, La Colmena connects immigrant communities with technology workshops
and legal services, employment programs, and English classes.
Taxi and Limousine Commission
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is to enhance the for-
hire transportation system in New York City, work to provide equitable service, empower drivers,
and offer safe and dependable transportation for residents and visitors.
Established in 1971, TLC plays a crucial role in licensing and overseeing various transportation
services within New York City. As a Charter-mandated agency, TLC bears the responsibility for
developing and enhancing for-hire transportation services in New York City. With over 175,000
TLC-licensed drivers facilitating approximately 800,000 trips daily, TLC enforces rules and
regulations while establishing standards for service quality, insurance coverage, driver safety, and
equipment safety and design.
TLC recognizes its responsibility in addressing these issues and commits to actively dismantling
systemic harms that impact drivers and passengers. TLC will continue to advocate for and
implement practices that promote racial equity in the taxi and for-hire vehicle industry.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Research additional ways to expand access to TLC-licensed services in all
communities, particularly communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, while
creating new opportunities for TLC drivers to earn income by serving these underserved
areas
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, TLC will establish partnerships with twenty
community-based organizations in target neighborhoods to identify barriers to
accessing TLC-licensed services in communities of color and low-income
communities, and to better understand the concerns of TLC drivers.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Examine
Taxi and FHV service availability and demand across the city, and
create publicly accessible data visualizations of TLC-licensed trips by
geographic areas of the city
•
Research whether designating drop-off and pick-up areas in underserved
neighborhoods will help increase service
•
Hold listening sessions with TLC drivers in their communities and track
concerns
•
Conduct outreach and develop partnerships with community organizations,
local leaders, and residents in underserved neighborhoods to understand
specific transportation needs and challenges
•
Issue a TLC driver survey quarterly to better understand the perspectives of
our licensed drivers
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of partners engaged
•
Number of licensees engaged at community events
2.
Goal
: Strengthen and increase education for TLC-licensed drivers to reduce discriminatory
service refusal and support drivers in knowing their rights and the resources they need in
their career
a.
Outcome
: By April 1, 2027, ensure 100% of current drivers have taken the new,
enhanced Driver License Renewal Course.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Promote the new renewal course to all drivers, which provides scenario-
based instruction and video simulations that range from driving in difficult
conditions to using gender-neutral language when addressing a passenger
and interacting with a TLC officer during a traffic stop
•
Expand the New TLC Driver Education Course to include additional anti-
discrimination content
•
Conduct outreach to community organizations in areas correlated to the
highest number of complaints alleging discriminatory service refusals
•
Provide community organizations and residents in underserved
neighborhoods with education related to identifying discriminatory and
location-based service refusals, the complaint process, and the importance of
participating with TLC at administrative proceedings
•
Connect drivers with the information and resources they may need in their
driving career such as how to check license status, maintain their license,
know how to replace credentials, when to schedule a TLC appointment,
English Language resources, financial counseling, how to sign up for health
insurance, resources for mental health and emotional well-being, how to
make a complaint against another TLC-licensed entity through the
Owner/Driver Resource Center, and drivers benefits paid for by the Black Car
Fund
•
Help drivers understand their rights as TLC licensees (including the Driver
Pay Calculator, the taxicab driver bill of rights regarding leases and prohibited
charges)
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of drivers who have taken the new Driver License Renewal course
•
Percent of drivers who have completed the New TLC Driver Education course
•
Percent of drivers who are aware of the Passenger Bill of Rights and Driver
Pay Calculator as indicated via driver surveys
•
Reduction in discriminatory service refusal complaints
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Address digital and language access barriers faced by TLC-licensed drivers and the
public in navigating agency services
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, modernize 100% of agency platforms to ensure they are fully
accessible by the public and TLC-licensed drivers.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Ensure effective translation of public-facing materials in top citywide
languages and languages most used by TLC-licensed drivers
•
Evaluate the feasibility of either incorporating a practical course to show TLC-
licensed drivers how to navigate the TLC website, provide drivers with
information for free or low-cost basic computer courses, or create a video that
can be placed on the TLC website which provides step-by-step instructions
on how to navigate the website
•
Partner with the NYC Department of Education and/or the New York Public
Library to publicize their free ESL classes and work with them to sponsor a
course targeted to drivers
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of agency public-facing materials that are in plain language
•
Percent of agency public-facing materials that are available in the top citywide
languages
2.
Goal:
Ensure that the needs and priorities of TLC-licensed drivers inform the design of TLC
Connect so that drivers, especially those of historically marginalized backgrounds,
encounter fewer administrative barriers
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure that 100% of applicants and TLC-licensed drivers can
create and update their TLC profile information which will accelerate the processing
of applications and documents.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Pursue various human-centered design changes including providing users
with a portal for automated application intake and submission, ability to
access and manage profile information, self-service capabilities for
compliance and payment processing, and centralizing electronic
communication between licensees and TLC staff
•
Automate and modernize the enforcement and compliance of TLC rules and
regulations
•
Accelerate the processing of applications, payments, and documents from
licensees and applicants
•
Empower and enable TLC staff to leverage data to build, manage and update
reports
c.
Indicators
:
•
Average time spent by drivers handling applications and paying associated
fees and fines
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Address the role TLC-licensed vehicle emissions play in air pollution to mitigate the
disproportionate impact of climate change on communities of color in NYC
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, achieve a high-volume for-hire vehicles (HVFHV) fleet that is
entirely zero-emissions.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with stakeholders, including other agencies, our licensees, and
EV charging providers, to help develop charging infrastructure in New York
City with a focus on where TLC-licensed drivers live
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of HVFHVs that are zero-emission
2.
Goal:
Ensure the inclusion of all New Yorkers in our services by expanding accessibility in
for-hire vehicle services
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, improve accessibility by ensuring that 50% of taxis are
wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which will provide access to people who have a
disability.
b.
Strategies:
•
Explore programs that will provide passengers using e-hail service to request
a wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV)
•
Continue working with Medallion Owners and Drivers to encourage the
purchase of WAVs
•
Ensure that drivers are knowledgeable about how to treat and secure a
wheelchair through training
•
Meet with the disability community to discuss and identify how we can provide
equitable service
•
Explore and identify methods that will minimize the expenses associated with
obtaining WAVs for TLC licensees
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of taxis that are wheelchair-accessible
•
Percent of taxis that are wheelchair-accessible
•
Number of drivers who received disability etiquette and wheelchair
securement training
•
Number of affordable options available to licensees to purchase a WAV.
•
Number of licensees who use affordable options and programs to purchase a
WAV
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#5: Check for and remove any formulas and computer processes that may be biased based
on race, ethnicity, or poverty. This will prevent inequities in health care, housing, policing,
criminal justice, employment, social service and more.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses
Spotlight Wins
•
Halfway through 2024, TLC-licensed EVs performed more than nine million trips, saving
about 12,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions compared to those trips being performed by
gas-powered vehicles. The disproportionate impact of climate change, emissions, and air
quality on communities of color, and on communities of color in New York City specifically,
is well documented, and TLC sees this initiative as an important element of our equity
mission.
•
In 2019, the TLC held twenty focus groups with drivers from different sectors and cultural
backgrounds to better understand the reasons behind service refusals and the
discrimination and trauma drivers face daily behind the wheel.
•
Starting in 2022, TLC’s Mobile Outreach Team, Van Hailin’, has reached drivers and
members of the public in all five boroughs of New York City. In addition to TLC services for
TLC-licensed drivers, this mobile outreach unit also partners with community organizations
for resource fairs to provide services, information, and resources to New Yorkers in their
own communities.
•
In 2024, new anti-discrimination content for licensees was developed and integrated into
TLC licensure courses. The new training includes video content for drivers to prevent bias
and discrimination, stressing the importance of serving and providing excellent customer
service to all New Yorkers.
•
New outreach material was developed in 2024 educating the riding public on discriminatory
service refusals. The physical literature details what constitutes a discriminatory service
refusal and how to properly file a complaint if refused service.
Health and Wellbeing
Health and Wellbeing
Structural racism has long shaped how resources, opportunities, and services are
distributed across institutions in the United States, including those protecting and
promoting health and well-being. These trends of displacement, enslavement,
segregation, and discrimination are rooted in historic and ongoing systems of injustice
that have structured access to housing, economic opportunity, environmental
conditions, and health care.
New York City sits on the ancestral land of the Lenape, Rockaway, and Canarsie
peoples. This system of exclusion continues to shape living conditions, exposure to risk,
and access to care across communities. Race has no biological basis; it is a social
construct that has shaped the distribution of opportunity and resources. Yet, structural
racism, not race, continues to influence institutions and drive disparities in health
outcomes across New York City.
Disparities in Health Outcomes
In New York City, neighborhoods most impacted by structural racism and uneven
resource allocation experience the greatest health burdens and barriers to wellbeing.
These structural conditions contribute to disparities across many health indicators,
including HIV, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, infant mortality, mental health conditions,
and chronic disease conditions such as asthma and diabetes.
For example, Black pregnant people in New York City are five times more likely to die of
a pregnancy-associated cause than white pregnant people,
61
and infant mortality rates
are more than three times higher among Black infants and twice as high among Puerto
Rican infants compared to white infants.
62
Asthma, the most common chronic condition
among children in New York City, disproportionately affects Black and Latina/o/x
children and those living in high-poverty neighborhoods, and remains a leading cause of
pediatric hospital admissions.
63
Other urgent public health challenges, such as gun violence, are also experienced
inequitably across communities.
Condition of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to thrive with:
Compassionate and culturally
responsive health, trauma, and mental health care.
Discrimination and Inequities in Health Care and Medicolegal
Systems
The medical system is no stranger to structural racism, as people of color, particularly
Black New Yorkers, have experienced a long history of discrimination and mistreatment
at the hands of the American medical system itself. The Commonwealth Fund highlights
“studies have found Black Americans are consistently undertreated for pain relative to
white patients; one revealed half of medical students and residents held one or more
false beliefs about supposed biological differences between Black and white patients,
such as a belief that the former have higher pain tolerance than the latter.”
64
People with additional marginalized identities, including individuals with a non-English
language preference (NELP), LGBTQ+ communities, and people with low incomes who
rely on Medicaid or lack insurance also experience disparities in care. Language
barriers are associated with lower quality of care, poorer clinical outcomes, longer
hospital stays, and higher rates of hospital readmissions. Access to language
assistance services is therefore essential to ensuring that health care is safe, effective,
patient-centered, timely, and accessible for all patients.
In addition, gaps in provider training affect the quality of care experienced by LGBTQ+
patients. Many medical education programs provide limited instruction on LGBTQ+
health beyond HIV-related topics, contributing to a lack of awareness of LGBTQ+
patients’ needs and experiences. As a result, LGBTQ+ individuals — particularly
LGBTQ+ people of color — encounter stigma, inappropriate language, and substandard
care in health care settings. The absence of comprehensive federal protections against
discrimination in health care also creates an inconsistent landscape for patients and
providers across the country.
Disparities are also reflected in medicolegal systems responsible for investigating
deaths and identifying patterns that affect community health. Structural bias in
investigations, interpretation, or death determinations can reinforce inequities. Drug
overdose deaths, for example, disproportionately affect neighborhoods with historically
marginalized populations and often reveal unmet needs among families and
communities. City initiatives such as the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group (DIIG)
program connect impacted families with trained social workers who provide overdose
prevention resources, housing assistance, financial services, and other critical supports.
Challenges to Health Funding
Developing long-term public health strategies is challenging when external constraints
such as funding fluctuations and hiring limitations affect the capacity of public health
institutions. Sustained investment is essential for maintaining the workforce,
infrastructure, and programs needed to prevent diseases, respond to emerging threats,
and address longstanding health inequities.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented funding for public health efforts,
enabling the City to respond quickly and direct resources to communities
disproportionately impacted. However, much of this funding was temporary and was not
sustained at the federal, state, or local level. As a result, maintaining and expanding the
public health infrastructure developed during the pandemic presents ongoing
challenges.
Public health institutions are also operating within a shifting political and policy
environment in which scientific evidence, public health authority, and the role of
government in protecting community health are increasingly contested. The sum of
these factors, legal constraints and diminishing funding weaken the infrastructure
needed to sustain prevention-focused work and respond effectively to emerging health
threats.
Public health systems are most effective when they are supported consistently, and not
only during emergencies. Many of the most significant public health achievements,
including the control of infectious diseases, vaccinations, improved food safety
standards, and reductions in infant mortality were made possible through sustained
investment and prevention-focused strategies. Ensuring that public health institutions
have the resources and flexibility to act proactively is critical to protecting the health and
wellbeing of New Yorkers.
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section recognize that advancing health and wellbeing requires
sustained investment in strong public health, health care, and medicolegal systems that
protect and serve New Yorkers. Addressing these longstanding disparities will require
coordinated action to confront the structural conditions that shape health outcomes and
ensure that every community, regardless of who they are, has an equal opportunity to
thrive.
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health
Department) is to protect and promote the health of all New Yorkers, and its vision is a city
where all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are,
where they are from, or where they live.
In 2016, the NYC Health Department launched Race to Justice to build its capacity to
address structural racism and health inequities and has committed to uprooting white
supremacy and its impact on health and well-being while shifting resources and power to
the communities that bear the greatest burden of marginalization, racism, and health
inequities. Additionally, the NYC Health Department declared racism a public health crisis
on June 8, 2020, and expanded on this declaration through direct actions across the
agency, including the Board of Health resolution declaring racism a public health crisis in
October of 2021.
Because racism is a race-explicit system, anti-racism requires race-explicit strategies.
Additionally, intersectionality, which acknowledges the unique impact and experience of
oppression when a person or community holds multiple marginalized identities, is a critical
strategy to fight the public health crisis of racism. The crisis of racism in this country is long-
standing, and our nation’s response will need to span generations and be enshrined
through deliberate and strategic government action to undo centuries of harm.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Create and implement a structure to report bias (implicit and explicit) and
interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism within the NYC Health Department
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026:
•
Institute a reporting structure and process for staff to report bias and
racism that achieves 80% or more satisfaction with how complaints are
resolved from staff who use it.
•
Reduced differences in satisfaction rates with the reporting structure and
complaint resolution process between staff of color and staff who identify
as white.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with the Office of General Counsel to develop workflow, reporting
mechanisms, and procedures for reporting bias (implicit and explicit) and
interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism
•
Develop and implement training for human resources, administration, and
racial equity staff on reporting process for all staff
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of staff trained on the process for reporting
•
At least 50% of staff report feeling satisfied with the reporting structure
•
Percent of staff who feel knowledgeable on how to report bias and racism
within the NYC Health Department increases from baseline percent,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Percent of staff who feel comfortable with reporting bias and racism within
the NYC Health Department increases from baseline percent,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Percent of staff who report feeling confident in how reporting bias and
racism are resolved increases from baseline, disaggregated by race
2.
Goal
: Identify priority neighborhoods considering current Action Center and Bureau of
Neighborhood Health catchment areas using measures of structural racism,
neighborhood conditions, and disease burden and HealthyNYC priority health
outcomes, to inform focused agency decision-making about investment and
programming to address health inequities and distribute resources where they are most
needed
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, publish the priority neighborhoods as determined
by the NYC Health Department and the criteria used to determine the priority
neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Update the criteria for neighborhood prioritization with attention to race
and ethnicity, income, inequities in disease incidence and prevalence,
health and social resources, and other items, as determined
•
Assess community priorities in the neighborhoods through meaningful
engagement to compare and align with the NYC Health Department’s
strategies and priorities
c.
Indicators:
•
The prioritization list aligns with the Health Department’s commitment to
addressing structural inequity including disinvestment, racism, and poverty
•
Priority neighborhoods are used to inform decision-making related to
agency resource allocation
Medium Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure that equity is embedded in enforcement practices and associated policies
to support dismantling systemic and structural racism and bias
a.
Outcome
:
•
By 2028, 100% of newly proposed changes to the NYC Health Code to
address environmental health issues are assessed using the internal
NYC Department of Health Environmental Health Division Regulatory
Analysis Tool, and all communications regarding compliance with any
such NYC Health Code changes that the Board of Health adopts use the
internal NYC Department of Health Environmental Health
Communications Equity Tool.
•
By 2028, address the top two priorities identified by Environmental Health
Division supervisors in the Community of Practice to enhance equity in
inspections and enforcement and ensure 100% of customer service
training for inspectors and supervisors includes implicit bias training.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Apply the Environmental Health Division Regulatory Analysis Tool to
ensure newly proposed changes to the NYC Health Code to address
environmental health issues considering equity
•
Implement the Environmental Health Communications Equity Tool on
new communications to the regulated community to ensure accessibility
and promote compliance
•
Facilitate spaces for Environmental Health Division community-facing
staff and supervisors to address challenges and improve equity in
inspections
•
Equip all Environmental Health Division community-facing staff and
supervisors with training to enhance equity in their interactions within the
communities they serve
•
Embed equitable and consistent health inspection practices within the
Environmental Health for Equity Strategic Plan to address systemic
disparities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of proposed NYC Health Code changes addressed by the
Environmental Health Division that are assessed using the Environmental
Health Division Regulatory Analysis Tool
•
Percentage of communications projects for the regulated community that
use the Environmental Health Communications Equity Tool
•
Percentage of supervisors with increased knowledge on supervisor
resources after attending the Supervisor Community of Practice
•
Percentage of staff with an increase in knowledge after racial equity
training during Annual Customer Service Training
2.
Goal
: Develop and implement strategies to cultivate strong, trusting relationships with
not-for-profit service providers and vendors, including M/WBEs, as well as identify and
address any barriers to participation in contracting opportunities, consistent with federal,
state, and local law
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure 100% of small business vendor invoices are paid
within 30 days.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Ensure timely payment of small business vendor invoices to build healthy
and strong relationships between vendors and the NYC Health
Department, by strengthening use of data and reporting to signal when
action is needed on invoices, and developing enhanced agency SOPs to
align with new City invoicing and audit standards
•
Support vendors, including M/WBEs, participation in agency solicitations
and contracting opportunities through procurement practices, consistent
with federal, state, and local law
•
Continue implementing and evaluating the agency’s established M/WBE
utilization goals to ensure they remain effective and consistent with
federal, state, and local law
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of invoices paid within 30 days or less
•
Value, number, and percent of contracts awarded to M/WBE firms,
disaggregated by demographic categories
3.
Goal
: Reduce preventable morbidity and mortality in Black birthing people to reduce the
gap with white birthing people
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, a reduction in mortality in Black birthing people will
contribute to the citywide birth equity goal.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Invest in place-based approaches to reduce mortality rates for Black
people to reduce health care segregation and improve access to care
•
Improve the quality of health care for pregnant and postpartum New
Yorkers in partnership with the communities in which they live
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of referrals for Black birthing people with complex chronic
illnesses
•
Number of enrollees in the Citywide Doula Initiative in Brooklyn
4.
Goal:
Develop, fund, and launch truth and reconciliation projects focused on repairing
health inequities rooted in historical government policies or actions
a.
Outcome
: By 2028,
•
Launch at least three truth and reconciliation projects focused on repairing
health inequities.
•
Increase in trust of the NYC Department of Health among the communities
involved in the truth and reconciliation projects.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct qualitative interviews of key informants who had worked and/or
received services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln Detox Center and/or
Lincoln Recovery Center
•
Complete archival analysis of documents from New York State and
agencies pertaining to the closing and/or downsizing of city-run
substance use services in the South Bronx
•
Disseminate findings focused on the areas of redress the City can
implement to repair health inequities related to opioid and other
substance use in the South Bronx
•
Identify and fund at least two additional truth and reconciliation projects in
consultation with NYC Health Department staff
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of NYC residents engaged in ongoing truth and reconciliation
projects
•
Trust increases at least 10% among community members who attend a
truth and reconciliation project event
•
At least the first step to repair health inequities identified in strategy 3 are
taken by 2028
5.
Goal
: Establish the NYC Health Department as a Response Ready organization that
responds equitably, effectively, and rapidly to the full range of public health issues that
affect NYC residents, while looking after the wellness of its staff
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, achieve successful implementation of the Response Ready
Blueprint with activities tagged as addressing health and racial equity and social
justice implemented across all ten priority action areas for the NYC Health
Department.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop and maintain operational capacity to effectively manage day-to-
day and emergency response functions through planning and training,
interagency coordination, and ensuring the availability and scalability of
operations while supporting infrastructure, including by enhancing our
ability to assess and target critical community needs in response and
recovery and bring staff's lived experience and community expertise into
focus in our work
•
Recognizing the key role that trust in the Health Department plays in
working effectively with communities and addressing disparities
•
Build trust with staff, the public, partner organizations, and other
government agencies by communicating transparently, acknowledging
past errors, investing in long-term partnerships, communicating timely
public health guidance, and sharing learnings from previous emergencies
with staff and partner organizations
•
Function as a trusted employer and support a resilient public health
workforce by valuing the staff and supporting staff members’ mental and
physical health and well-being, and equity and parity in opportunity
among staff day-to-day and during emergencies
•
Work toward health and racial equity and social justice goals by
prioritizing services for disproportionately impacted communities,
centering equity in internal decision-making in day-to-day and emergency
response functions and engaging in long-term equity work. This involves
meaningfully incorporating input from staff at all levels of the agency,
community members, and partner organizations
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of activities assigned as a component of the Advancing Equity
pillar of the Response Ready Initiative that are being implemented
•
Percentage of Core, Tier 1, and Tier 2 Agency Responders that have
taken the Race to Justice Core Workshop training
Long-Term
1. Goal
: Ensure pay equity for agency employees that is inclusive of race, ethnicity, and
gender
.
51
a.
Outcomes:
By 2034:
•
Complete internal equity review and alignment that is inclusive of race,
ethnicity, and gender identity to advocate for pay equity and civil service
change.
•
Create data-informed brief to summarize findings from an agency-wide
pay parity analysis.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Require divisions to report on promotion and retention metrics
disaggregated by race and ethnicity at accountability meetings to establish
a baseline and identify where racial disparities exist
•
Conduct a title utilization and responsibility alignment review across the
agency by comparing:
•
Office title
•
Civil Service title
•
Required skills
•
Supervisory responsibilities
•
Required qualifications
•
Develop regular reporting mechanisms of disaggregated data by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, and title.
•
Review salary bands against NYC True Cost of Living/TCOL
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percent of employees with promotions and pay increases in
higher-paid titles versus lower-paid titles, disaggregating by race, ethnicity,
51
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of the equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
and gender identity
•
Percent of employees at minimum versus incumbent pay rates, with a
breakdown for tenure by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Percent of employees with completed Tasks & Standards and Performance
Evaluations
2.
Goal:
Eliminate ethnic and racial inequities in patient satisfaction for NYC Health
Department’s Article 28 and 36 programs, fostering inclusivity and equity and elevating
the standard of care offered
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, achieve less than a 5% inequity in patient satisfaction scores
among different racial and ethnic groups.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Implement a multilingual patient satisfaction survey for Article 28 and 36
programs, tailored to each clinic’s demographics, with a focus on diversity,
inclusion, and patient preferences
•
Analyze survey data, focusing on satisfaction levels, reasons for clinic
selection, and sources of information
•
Determine baseline disparities in patient satisfaction scores among
different racial and ethnic groups
•
Engage program leadership and staff to discuss findings and improvement
strategies to plan next steps
•
Develop a strategic plan to target and reduce inequities highlighted by the
survey analysis and carry out recommendations over the following six
years
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of patient satisfaction surveys available in the top five languages
spoken in each clinic
•
Number and percent of patient responses disaggregated by race and
ethnicity
•
Percent of inequity in patient satisfaction scores decreases disaggregated
by race and ethnicity year over year
•
80% of clinics that implement at least 75% of the recommendations from
the strategic plan
•
Percent decrease in inequities in patient satisfaction scores in clinics that
have implemented the recommendations from the strategic plan decreases
year over year
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity
and social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#9: Use and expand non-punitive responses to mental health and all crises. These
responses should rely less on police where possible. People should be allowed to
decide or contribute to decisions about their own care.
•
#11: Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They must
meet the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#14: Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
Spotlight Wins
•
Environmental Health
: The Environmental Health Division Regulatory Analysis Tool
evaluates newly proposed changes to the NYC Health Code related to environmental
health. For each proposed change, the division assembles a core group of key internal
stakeholders to conduct both quantitative and qualitative analyses, identifying and
addressing any potential inequities that may be created or exacerbated by these
changes, and assessing whether the proposed amendment would advance equity. The
Environmental Health Communications Equity Tool, developed in collaboration with the
Environmental Health Communications team, provides equity-centered questions and
prompts to ensure that equity is considered at every stage of communication project
planning and implementation. This tool is currently being piloted, and the division will
implement a formal feedback process to continuously update and improve it.
•
HealthyNYC
: In 2024, the NYC Health Department launched the development of the
HealthyNYC Learning Collaboratives, which brings together teams of peers and experts
to work together to improve quality of services and health outcomes. The HealthyNYC
Learning Collaboratives convene diverse stakeholder groups around the seven biggest
drivers of loss of life expectancy, with the goal of implementing quality improvement
mechanisms to better serve New Yorkers and reduce mortality.
•
Response Ready
: An important element of the Response Ready process was to
design the project to make it inclusive and reflect the diversity of the NYC Health
Department workforce. This included both the way equity was considered throughout
the project as well as how a consultation process was developed and implemented. In
the first phase of work, over 1,000 individuals contributed to the definition of Response
Ready. In the second phase of the work, over 65 staff worked across 10 action areas to
develop recommendations. The agency received 1,100 responses to an internal survey,
held over 85 consultations, and received approximately 320 perspectives from staff as
part of those consultations. This process resulted in a robust final product centering
equity in the NYC Health Department’s next steps for emergency response.
NYC Health + Hospitals
Mission and Commitment
As the largest municipal health care system in the country, NYC Health + Hospitals’
mission is to deliver high-quality health care services to all New Yorkers with compassion,
dignity, and respect.
Our vast network, comprising 11 acute care locations, five post-acute care facilities, and
over 30 community health centers, forms the backbone of New York City's safety-net
healthcare system. We serve approximately one million New Yorkers annually, with 70
percent of patients identifying as either Black/African American, Hispanic/Latina/o/x, or
Asian American/Pacific Islander, and an estimated 30 percent of patients with non-English
language preference (NELP). We serve marginalized groups who are more likely to
experience poverty and face a disproportionate amount of harmful daily stressors and
barriers, which contribute to and exacerbate chronic disease and health equity challenges.
Over 70 percent of our patients either rely on Medicaid or have no insurance. This reality
underscores our critical role in providing care to the city's most vulnerable and marginalized
populations.
As we advance, we do so with a lucid understanding of the challenges before us and an
unwavering commitment to health equity. The disparities we see are not inevitable—they
are the result of choices made, and systems created.
NYC Health + Hospitals stands firm in its commitment to bridging gaps and breaking down
barriers to healthcare access. Health equity is not just about providing services but about
actively dismantling systemic barriers.
This report was developed in response to a City Requirement.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging from frontline staff to executive leadership
to strengthen culturally competent care
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2029
•
Achieve a 3.87 on employee engagement ratings
1
•
Increase employee engagement in employee resource groups
b.
Strategies
:
•
Source and review training
•
Roll out training System-wide and build effective communication strategies to
increase staff completion
•
Expand and strengthen the manager rollout of engagement results and action
planning from the employee engagement survey
•
Launch initiatives to strengthen employee sense of belonging throughout the
System, including participation in employee resource groups.
•
Increase employee opportunities for engagement via workshops and training
to strengthen retention
•
Monitor number of employee resource groups
•
Monitor number of employees participating in employee resource groups
•
Work toward a 2029 goal of strengthening the Leader Index by reinforcing
consistent, supportive leadership practices that promote listening, trust, and
follow-through
•
Promote shared decision-making, encouraging and enabling leaders to involve
employees in decision making
•
Provide guidance and tools to help teams keep employees involved in
progress and next steps
c.
Indicators
:
•
Employee Ratings on Employee Satisfaction Surveys
2
Willingness to recommend this organization as a good place to work
(baseline 3.84)
Diversity pillar
(baseline 4.00)
Belonging
(baseline 3.9)
•
Number of EEO trainings offered by NYC Health + Hospitals
•
Percent of staff completing EEO trainings
•
Percent of leadership completing EEO trainings
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Invest in robust language access improvements to ensure equitable care for our
diverse patient population
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, enhance the provision of language access services by
achieving a 93% average call satisfaction rate.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Update public-facing website with information regarding language access
services and patient rights around language access translated into at least 15
languages
•
Increase language services in mobile health units, used as part of the Street
Health Outreach + Wellness (SHOW) program to reach diverse populations,
with a focus on people experiencing homelessness
•
Conduct an inventory of current language access equipment to determine
new needs with stakeholders
•
Work with vendors to distribute and implement equipment System-wide, with
a focus on reducing wait time for interpretation
•
Increase community outreach with community-based organizations at
parades, marches, and festivals to promote language access and other
services
•
Launch a language access campaign and distribute promotional materials to
increase awareness
•
Create and launch a patient feedback collection process in the top 15
languages used to gain insight into the NELP patient population’s experience
with our services
•
Explore the use of AI assistive technologies with qualified translator reviews
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of languages offered on public-facing website
•
Percent of interpretation minutes used by staff in mobile health units
•
Number of community events participating in promoting language access
•
Call satisfaction rates
•
Number of survey responses from NELP patients
2.
Goal
: Prioritize access to care to advance health equity for all patients
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, increase the number of uninsured New Yorkers connected to
affordable, high-quality primary, preventive, and specialty care, regardless of their
ability to pay.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with community-based organizations, houses of worship, and anchor
institutions operating in Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) zip
codes
•
Partner with elected officials and relevant city agencies to reach the hardest to
reach zip codes
•
Reach every TRIE zip code
c.
Indicator:
•
Number of uninsured New Yorkers connected to care, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender identity
•
Number of NYC Care outreach encounters, by TRIE zip code
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Increase access to care
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, every New York City Health + Hospitals patient has a primary
care physician.
b.
Strategies:
•
Complete at least 100,000 outreach encounters per year
•
Maintain persistent multi-lingual public awareness and community outreach
campaigns regarding NYC Care and the right to health care
•
Reach underserved communities, based on agency disparity analysis
•
Improve data pipelines across the System to accurately capture patients' data.
•
Embed usage of automated Systems to monitor clinical outcomes according to
race, ethnicity and language to improve clinical outcomes
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of outreach encounters in historically underserved communities and
TRIE zip codes per year
•
NYC Care enrollment by zip code and race and ethnicity
•
Clinical encounters by NYC Care members by zip code
2.
Goal
: Increase community awareness of LGBTQ+ services throughout NYC Health +
Hospitals
a.
Outcome
: By 2034:
•
Increase the number of employees who would recommend NYC Health +
Hospitals to family and friends who need care.
•
100% of the five boroughs will have Pride Health services.
b.
Strategies:
•
Increase employee opportunities for engagement via workshops and training
to strengthen retention
•
Increase employee opportunities for engagement via the system’s participation
in Pride Month activities
•
Expand Pride Health services to more facilities across NYC in collaboration
with facility leadership to see an increase from the current 8 out of 40 eligible
facilities that have services.
•
Conduct outreach to the LGBTQ+ community across the City so community
members are aware of these services
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of employees who would recommend NYC H+H to family and friends
who need care
•
Mean score for employees who complete voluntary employment feedback
survey, self-select as, “Yes I identify as LGBTQ+”, and answer “I would
recommend this organization to family and friends who need care”, with the
goal of increasing rating from 3.48 to 3.57
3
•
Boroughs with implemented Pride Health services
•
Number of employees participating in systemwide Pride Month activities, with
goal of increasing from 164 to 2500
3.
Goal
: Identify and reduce health disparities of vulnerable communities
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, advance anti-marginalization and repair strategies.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Strengthen our relationships with community organizations to address the
social determinants of health that contribute to health disparities
•
Prioritize initiatives that directly address health disparities, particularly in
maternal and infant health, chronic disease management, and preventive care
•
Advocate for policies that address systemic inequities and tackle racial
disparities in healthcare and hospital system
•
Leverage the NYC Care Program to ensure New Yorkers who cannot access
insurance are being connected with affordable, high-quality primary,
preventive, and specialty care, regardless of their ability to pay
•
Assess and refine metrics for health equity analysis for anti-marginalization
rubric
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percent of agency initiatives that meet established anti-
marginalization criteria
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#11: Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They must meet
the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social injustice.
Spotlight Wins
•
NYC Health + Hospitals has implemented policies and guidelines to promote inclusive
practices and affirming care to LGBTQ+ patients. For example, we have successfully
supported the integration of ‘Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’ (SOGI) demographic
data in the System’s electronic health records and created and launched LGBTQ+ training
programs to strengthen mental health providers’ skills. In addition, all 18 eligible NYC
Health + Hospitals facilities have earned the “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader”
designation in Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI)
annually since 2015 and all 5 eligible long-term care facilities have earned the “LGBTQ+
Long-Term Care Equality Leader” designation in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation
and SAGE's Long-Term Care Equality Index (LEI). We have also developed various
resources including ‘Transgender and Non-Binary Patient and Resident Room Assignment
Guidance', 'Trans Guide to Care’, ‘LBGTQ+ Affirming Clinic Toolkit’, and the ‘Pronoun
Guide’. Finally, we successfully advocated for the inclusion of transgender inclusive health
benefits information in NYC Employee Benefits Summary Plan—implemented in the fall of
2017.
•
NYC Health + Hospitals has expanded language access through the negotiation of a new
interpretation contract, the launch of an Essential Documents library which provides quick
access to critical documents in 13 languages as well as Braille, large font, and audio files,
and a new internal website that contains updated language access information for staff.
We are working on the implementation of new interpretation contracts, securing additional
equipment at facilities, and providing access points for staff to improve language services,
and hiring language access coordinators for facilities’ external program
.
Office of Chief Medical Examiner
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has two mission critical roles:
to protect public health and to serve impartial justice through forensic science and
medicine. Our agency’s core purpose is to provide answers in support of families and
communities during times of profound need.
At OCME, we take pride in our diverse workforce, valuing each individual's unique
contributions. We are dedicated to providing fair and equitable services to the communities
we serve. By building inclusive structures and initiatives, we ensure all stakeholders and
members of the public we serve are treated with respect and consideration. Our
commitment to equity is integral to our mission and daily operations.
OCME, an ethnically diverse agency, serves and recruits from one of the most diverse
cities in the world and as such, maintains the strictest standards in ensuring the rendering
of impartial determinations that are free from bias. The agency will continue its successful
training in this regard and will remain committed to broadening the understanding of bias in
its instruction and continue to enhance communication of information between medical
examiners, law enforcement, medical professionals, and legal authorities to focus on the
facts and not any preconceived notions of bias due to race, gender, age, culture, and other
attributes.
Our efforts include, but are not limited to, continued training for forensic specialists in the
promise and challenge of new technologies that provide greater detail and insight into
normal and suspicious deaths, honoring religious objections to autopsy, and increasing
partnerships with skilled genetic counselors and OCME’s family outreach initiatives to
support affected loved ones following sudden and unexpected loss.
In addition, we strive always to cultivate an unbiased environment through hiring a more
racial equity-aware and enlightened team of forensic specialists. We endeavor to make the
agency a critical resource for training professionals who come here for OCME’s forensic
excellence and groundbreaking technology that it offers.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Provide accessible and centralized racial equity trainings for all staff to fortify
OCME’s commitment to racial equity in and beyond our core areas of work
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, expand the already robust racial equity training to be
specifically tailored to different sectors within the agency and to roll out the training.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Assess understanding of what racial equity is throughout the agency utilizing
research techniques such as surveys, observation, and group/one-on-one
interviews
•
Partner with academic forensic bodies to design training modules that
address historical bias in the forensic science field
•
Continue the efforts of the OCME CARES campaign and integrate racial
equity principles
•
Provide comprehensive training programs, including managerial and
employee sessions, and facilitate focus groups
•
Create a centralized digital hub of information and training materials on the
OCME intranet which is accessible to all employees
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of trainings created and completed by staff
2.
Goal
: Establish a biennial baseline demographic data review to identify and address racial
silos and disparities across OCME units and foster equitable workplace opportunities
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, ensure 100% of OCME units have access to
disaggregated employee and hiring data to make data-informed decisions.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collect data to identify trends where racial inequity leads to a lack of
education and employment opportunities
•
Collaborate with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
(DOHMH) to access internal recruiting, hiring, and retention efforts data
•
Develop a method for collecting data that provides a breakdown of recruiting,
interviewing, and hiring across different racial groups in all OCME units
52
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of OCME units with access to disaggregated employee and hiring
data
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Build an inclusive workplace that actively strives to eliminate occupational
segregation, strengthen employee retention and career advancement, and provide more
attainable career guidance and resources for employees of underrepresented backgrounds
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, establish at least one employee resource group (ERG) where
racial equity is addressed in areas such as mental/physical well-being, education,
job training, and job advancement.
b.
Strategies
:
52
This information is used for informational or communications purposes, only.
•
Demonstrate how addressing racial equity fosters understanding and
tolerance to reduce workplace aggression and EEO-related issues
•
Establish EEO Focus Groups, Affinity Groups, and Employee Resource
Groups (ERGs) to foster employee participation in creating support systems
and tangible improvements in their work and life environments
•
Launch a formalized internal mentorship and technical training network linking
staff with resources, pathways and opportunities for advancement.
•
Review the resulting data from Focus Groups, Affinity Groups, and ERGs, as
well as Wellness activities to evaluate the impact of these efforts and help
determine the most valuable next steps
•
Examine the success of retention efforts so that our office can address
potential racial disparities in our staffing practices
c.
Indicators
:
•
Employee retention rate, disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Number of employees participating in ERGs, by race and ethnicity
•
Number of new internal programs and initiatives representing employees
across units and career levels
•
The percentage of internal promotions into forensic science roles,
disaggregated by race and ethnicity, prior and current role
53
2.
Goal
: Address any underrepresentation of staff in certain roles within the agency through
equitable hiring and recruitment practices for all vacancies
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, implement inclusive workforce practices that attract diverse
applicants.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Update website language to reflect our diverse workforce to attract talent
•
Expand agency participation in internships, career fairs, and outreach
programs with schools to build diverse recruitment pipelines
•
Partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and local institutions
to promote opportunities in medical examiner, medicolegal investigator and
other specialized forensic science roles.
•
Develop a pilot program to partner with one or more schools or outreach
where the approach could be evaluated as to a successful plan
•
Additionally, OCME will ensure all job descriptions utilize inclusive language
and focus on essential skills and qualifications
•
OCME Human Resources will put a focus on ensuring programs continue to
use diverse interview panels and ensure interview questions are inclusive and
geared to skills needed for the position
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of recruiting events attended
53
This information is used for informational or communications purposes, only.
•
Demographic composition of applicants
54
•
Demographic composition of staff
•
Percentage of applicants sourced from new partnerships who are
successfully hired and retained, disaggregated by race and ethnicity and role
3
•
Year-over-year demographic composition of candidates at each critical hiring
milestone: application, first interview, final panel and formal job offer
3
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
OCME has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local law
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for M/WBE
utilization.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with independent M/WBE contractors to fill various roles within the
overall scope of OCME needs. This may be in the areas of security
contracting, facilities, technician support, and administrative needs.
•
Release RFIs to diverse populations that are historically underutilized as
vendors
•
Actively participate in procurement and M/WBE events to promote our
needed commodities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of agency contracts awarded to M/WBEs, disaggregated by race
and ethnicity
•
Percentage of M/WBE contract utilization broken down across distinct internal
OCME divisions (e.g. IT, laboratories, administration, operations) to track
M/WBE procurement by sector
2.
Goal:
Establish internal and external programs with universities and high schools to
highlight the options in a career in forensic science
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, establish partnerships with at least one university and one high
school, leveraging the life sciences corridor to be expanded in Kips Bay with the
construction of the new Manhattan Forensic Pathology Center in the forthcoming
SPARC Kips Bay facility.
b.
Strategies
:
•
In 2024, OCME’s Forensics Week showcased the variety of work OCME
does. This will be taken to schools physically and virtually to show what
options exist throughout the agency
•
OCME will host classes in traditionally minority-based schools in forensic
science and pre-med Forensic Medicine
c.
Indicators
:
54
This information is used for informational or communications purposes, only.
•
Number of partnerships established with academic institutions
•
Number of students from partner institutions who successfully transition into
paid internships, fellowships or permanent tracks in forensic science roles at
OCME
55
3.
Goal:
Continue to invest resources in and expand existing innovative OCME programs that
reduce racial disparities, such as the innovative Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group
(DIIG) program
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, strive to expand the DIIG concept to at least one area in
addition to drug fatalities.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Mirror the efforts of DIIG to gain insight about where more targeted support
with post-tragedy/ fatality costs, psychological/ emotional trauma, education,
housing, and medical concerns is needed
•
Partner with city agencies, nonprofits, and community-based organizations to
provide services in those areas
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of families reached
•
Number of families that are connected to services, disaggregated by race and
ethnicity
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
•
#11: Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They must meet
the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#14: Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
Spotlight Wins
•
To advance efforts in workplace inclusion, the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity
(EEO) and Wellness completed the distribution and collection of feedback from all OCME
staff regarding their experience of working in OCME.
o
As a result of a survey conducted in the first two quarters of 2024, EEO and
Wellness held their first Focus Group meeting in July 2024 which invited the
55
This information is used for informational or communications purposes, only.
Department of Mortuary to share feedback about their specific issues in their work
environment.
o
This highlighted how racial silos may limit the shape of opportunities and suggested
that new programs developed over time would offer means of career path growth to
those interested in pursuing further Forensics studies.
o
This has resulted in ongoing assessment, both internally and externally of how
OCME is seen by its employees and the public as an entity that uplifts the potential
of all people. The very nature of its work as the City’s mortuary attests that it exists
for the ongoing support of all walks of life.
o
OCME's Outreach Unit connects those coping with the loss of a loved one to
counseling services, burial information, and options for ongoing material support and
relief.
•
To highlight our core value of service, which calls us to meet the evolving needs of our
customers inside and outside the agency with innovation, treating everyone equitably, and
with dedication to the public good. The entire Procurement team and a staff member of the
Department of Forensic Biology of OCME, received the annual New York City Excellence in
Customer Service Awards on behalf of the agency.
o
The uniqueness and sensitivity of OCME’s work extends to the highly specific mix of
goods and services required to keep the agency functioning around the clock. Our
committed Procurement professionals go the distance to find the right external
vendors to match our agency’s diverse needs, while making sure procurements align
with cost, equity, and sustainability imperatives.
o
The customer service achievements of our team members attest to the excellence
that, more often than not, unfolds without fanfare every day in countless ways
around the agency.
•
Since launching in 2022, OCME has served more than 3,000 family members of fatal
overdose victims through the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group (DIIG), the first-of-
its-kind model that offers support to surviving family members and close contacts as they
cope.
o
This program builds upon the City’s work to reduce opioid deaths, which exhibit stark
racial disparities.
o
This program goes beyond the traditional role of the medical examiner and focuses
on addressing gaps in unmet needs. Through this initiative, when someone dies
from an overdose, the OCME’s investigation and response now includes skilled
social workers to engage with the decedent’s family and friends who may also be at
risk, and to provide support and a “warm handoff” to potentially lifesaving
interventions. The wide-ranging services and referrals include grief counseling,
substance use services, housing assistance services, health care, and more. This
initiative is reaching traditionally underserved populations.
•
Social workers are successfully reaching 73 percent of the people they’ve attempted to
contact and 78 percent of the people they’ve spoken with have been provided or referred to
at least one service.
•
In Spring 2024, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham announced the launch of
OCME CARES, the core values campaign to guide how employees interact with each other
in the workplace and all the communities served by the agency during times of the most
profound need. OCME CARES enhances the experience of our employees and customers
in the following ways.
o
Internal education to support cross-agency/unit communication and opportunities for
development and career growth leads to the removal of barriers that may have
developed between units.
o
OCME CARES highlights our core values, which serve as a guiding compass for our
organization’s actions, culture, and outlook. The five core values of OCME are the
following:
▪
Commitment: Dedicated to the mission at all times
▪
Accountability: Responsible to each other and the community
▪
Resilience: Adapt in the face of adversity
▪
Excellence: Achieve and maintain the highest quality
▪
Service: Innovate to meet evolving needs
Community Safety, Rights,
and Accountability
Community Safety, Rights, and Accountability
Throughout our nation’s history, communities of color, particularly Black individuals,
have routinely experienced harm by racial violence from the legacy of slavery. Laws and
policies also promoted segregation and normalized social exclusion, contributing to
existing economic and social disparities. Additionally, racially biased criminal justice
policies and unequal emergency responses have left New York City’s Black and Brown
communities feeling unsafe. It is imperative to protect every individual’s rights, hold
responsible actors accountable, and improve public and community safety for every
New Yorker.
The Criminal Justice System
Data shows that people of color, particularly Black and Latina/o/x individuals, have been
disproportionately impacted by policies and practices such as disproportionate rates of
arrests, summonses, and stops compared to their representation in the general
population.
65
These disparities have profound and long-lasting consequences, eroding
trust between the City’s public safety institutions and the communities they serve,
especially communities of color. Addressing these systemic biases and inequities in
policing is foundational to the City’s commitment to fostering more inclusive and
equitable public safety practices.
Equity in the criminal justice system is also key to addressing our collective history of
racial inequalities. Mass incarceration continues to impact minority communities, with its
effects persisting and compounding intergenerationally. Historical records show that, in
the 19th and 20th centuries, the U.S. criminal legal system, including jails and prisons,
was used to perpetuate racial oppression and worsen racial disparities.
66
Current trends
and policy priorities in areas such as policing, prosecution, bail, and prevention
programs and other community interventions impact jail populations.
For many years, Black and Hispanic communities in New York City have been
overrepresented in its jails. Nationwide, we can observe similar disparities. Recent
research reveals stark disparities in the City's custody population. By age 38, 27 percent
of Black men and 16 percent of Hispanic men in New York have been jailed.
67
In
contrast, only 3 percent of white men have faced the same outcome. The study also
notes that Black men are often re-incarcerated, especially if they live in low-income
neighborhoods. As of calendar year 2024, in New York City, 57.4 percent of people in
Condition of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to thrive with:
Humane, empathetic, and respectful
treatment.
custody were Black and 30.9 percent were Hispanic.
68
These gaps not only reflect but
also worsen broader inequalities in NYC and the U.S.
In the mid-twentieth century, changes in the understanding of mental health disorders
and developmental disabilities and subsequent policies, among other things, led to the
deinstitutionalization from public psychiatric hospitals. Without subsequent funding to
bolster community support, individuals discharged from these institutions often found
themselves without the support needed to successfully reintegrate into their
communities.
Studies show incarceration leads to many negative effects – on the incarcerated
individual, their community, and society at large, regardless of the interventions offered
in a carceral setting – such as disruptions to or loss of employment, strained family
relationships, social stigma, and trauma. These effects are compounded when
individuals enter custody with preexisting conditions and disparities, such as psychiatric
disorders, homelessness, substance misuse issues, or lack of economic opportunity.
Many jails and prisons fail to meet regulatory requirements and minimum standards,
furthering harm.
Probation is intended as an alternative to incarceration aimed at equipping justice-
involved individuals with the educational and employment skills necessary to avoid
reentering the justice system. Individuals from marginalized communities are also
disproportionately represented in probation populations.
Emergency Response and Community Resiliency
Pre-existing social and economic inequities also contribute to more severe outcomes for
the City’s most underserved communities before, during, and after various emergency
responses such as fires, pandemics and environmental threats. For New Yorkers who
experience the greatest burden of disasters, adverse outcomes include loss of life,
property, cultural identity, and generational wealth and histories. Emergencies like the
COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated how certain communities are
disproportionately affected by disasters, underscoring the need for an equitable
approach to emergency management.
Redlining has historically shaped New York City, leading to racially segregated
neighborhoods. Communities of color are relegated to living in environmentally
hazardous areas, increasing disaster and emergency response risks. For example,
environmental justice communities are closer to power plants and waste sites,
increasing their exposure to toxins and hazardous environments in steady states and
worsening their outcomes during emergencies.
69
Compounding historic disinvestment in certain neighborhoods has left these areas less
resilient and less able to withstand natural disasters. The lack of infrastructure
improvements, such as residential home lifting and legal pathways for basement
apartments, leaves residents vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards. This history
of neglect has made it harder for underserved communities to recover, often leaving
them exposed to future emergencies.
Economic disparities, such as the racial income and wealth gaps, further hinder
community wellbeing. Limited financial resources and time mean that some residents
face greater challenges in accessing aid when and after disaster hits. For example, after
a disaster strikes and the Federal Government designates the impacted area as a
declared disaster area, homeowners, renters, nonprofits, and businesses can apply for
disaster loans from the Small Business Administration (SBA). However, the U.S.
Government Accountability Office has reported inequities in the SBA loan approval
process since the process relies on credit scores to determine whether those impacted
by disaster are able to pay back disaster loans.
70
This disproportionately disadvantages
low-income applicants, resulting in low-income neighborhoods becoming even poorer
post-disaster.
Additionally, disparities in access to broadband and technological devices present
barriers to access to critical information during emergencies. Numerous underserved
communities lack reliable access to digital resources, including community spaces and
cultural institutions, which often serve as vital sources for information and shelter.
The fields of emergency management and fire and life safety have also faced
challenges related to equity and representation. Historically, staff have primarily
consisted of white males, many with a military and/or law enforcement background.
Institutions in these fields have navigated complex and evolving steps toward a diverse
and inclusive workforce, reflecting broader societal shifts and internal organizational
change.
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section recognize the need for robust and equitable approaches to
community safety, rights, and justice.
Department of Correction
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Department of Correction (DOC or the Department) is dedicated to
creating a safe and supportive environment while providing individuals in our care with a
path to successfully re-enter their communities. The Department provides for the care and
custody of people 18 years of age and older who are ordered to be held by the courts and
are awaiting trial or who are convicted and sentenced to one year or less of jail time.
As a result of the
Nunez
class action lawsuit, the Department is subject to a federal consent
decree and is monitored by a court-appointed Federal Monitor and Remediation Manager,
who oversee several aspects of how the Department operates. Although DOC does not
determine who is placed into custody or how long they remain incarcerated, the
Department is nonetheless committed to supporting the people in its care and will work to
address inequity and structural racism by maintaining jails that are safe and humane for
both staff and those in custody.
It is the Department of Correction’s role and responsibility to provide for the safe, secure,
and humane confinement of persons in its custody. In addition, the Department recognizes
that everyone benefits when people in custody are given the tools they need to have less
adverse contact with the justice system in the future. DOC will continue to create
opportunities—by way of workforce, educational, and skill development, and other
programming and services—to meet a person in its care’s needs and help individuals to
reintegrate into their communities upon release. The Department recognizes that public
trust is strengthened through transparency and accountability. Through ongoing
evaluations, data-informed decision-making, collaboration with oversight entities, and
continuous assessment of its policies, the Department aims to improve outcomes and
strengthen public trust.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Prevent excessive or inappropriate uses of force and support de-escalation of
conflict so that force does not become necessary
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, ensure all DOC uniformed members of service have
completed newly developed training courses related to conflict resolution and
appropriate use of force. Professional development for staff in core correctional
practices will support the goal of ensuring DOC jails are safe and humane for staff
and people in custody (PIC), which will reduce harm for these marginalized
communities. Improved training and safer, more humane jails will also support
increased recruitment and retention, which will enable the Department to better
provide for the custody, care, and control of those within the jails. Improved staffing
levels will contribute to further violence reduction, as well as better program and
service delivery for individuals in DOC’s care.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Revise and implement training courses for staff that are effective in
preventing excessive or inappropriate use of force and supporting de-
escalation of conflict so that force does not become necessary, and the jails
are safer for all
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of uniformed members of service who have completed newly
developed training courses related to conflict resolution and appropriate use
of force
2.
Goal:
Ensure staff and those in DOC’s care remain safe from violence and resulting injury
so that no one is further marginalized and can ultimately thrive
a.
Outcome
: By 2026, continue to work to achieve an overall reduction in violence in
the jails, including violent incidents among people in DOC’s care and assaults on
staff by persons in DOC’s care.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Prioritize the hiring and retention of staff and expand partnerships with
government and nonprofit agencies to offer increased levels of service
delivery and programming, thus reducing idle time and supporting the
conditions necessary for treatment, rehabilitation, and effective reentry
•
Continue to review the dashboard provided by DCAS to determine which titles
experience underutilization, especially those in which racial inequities exist
•
Conduct targeted recruitment for both uniformed and non-uniformed titles by
attending career fairs and cultural events throughout New York State and
utilizing insight data to inform future recruitment efforts
•
Develop a new survey to gauge employee satisfaction with the Department as
an employer and gain perspectives on different aspects affecting employee
decisions to remain at the Department, such as Human Resources policies,
pay and perks, work-life balance, and relationships with peers
•
Track and evaluate violent incident rates disaggregated by racial groups to
identify any disparities and root causes
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and percent of violent incidents disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Recruitment and retention rates disaggregated by race and ethnicity
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Invest in and expand jail-based programs and services to bolster therapeutic
outcomes, support impacted individuals and communities in recovering from harm, and
create a safer and more humane environment for people in custody and staff
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, through continued collaboration with NYC Health +
Hospitals/Correctional Health Services, operationalize two remaining
1
therapeutic
commands situated in North Central Bronx and Woodhull Hospital. Outposted
Therapeutic Housing Units (OTxHUs) are jail facilities within a hospital that serve
patients in DOC’s care who have serious health conditions, following the jail-based
therapeutic housing model. OTxHUs will improve access to care for incarcerated
persons who do not require inpatient admission but would benefit from close, regular
access to specialty and subspecialty care available in hospitals.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Work with Correctional Health Services to support the design and
construction of the new facilities for persons with serious health conditions
who would benefit from close, regular access to specialty and subspecialty
care
•
Continue transition planning efforts, to include policy and training
development and logistics planning.
•
Enhance services and strategically inform new partnerships by developing a
feedback scale to be implemented at the close of each program or program
cohort so that the Department can assess both qualitative and quantitative
data surrounding program efficacy.
•
Further assess any programs as needed by investigating data pertaining to
program participation and infractions or recidivism, where appropriate.
•
Enhance reentry services and expand partnerships with government and
nonprofit partners by regularly assessing and updating the streamlined
processes in place to link incarcerated people with discharge planning and
housing, paying attention to options in a wider selection of neighborhoods
based on neighborhood of origin and connection to person- and needs-based
resources.
•
Continue expanding partnerships with government and nonprofit partners to
support individuals both while incarcerated and post-release for more
continuous and sustainable change; base updates and new partnerships on
data garnered from needs assessments and surveys of persons in custody to
evaluate the efficacy and impact of each program
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of operational beds at new facilities
•
Number of individuals in DOC’s care being served at new facilities
•
Percentage of program and service enrollment, disaggregated by race and
ethnicity
2.
Goal:
Build and improve robust data
2
pipelines that can be disaggregated by various
demographics, such as race, age, and gender identity to identify disparities in service
provision
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, leverage 100% of newly created data systems to better
disaggregate data Department-wide and within each system, and to better support
historical data tracking that can be used to analyze and respond to trends in
disparities.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Revamp incident reporting data flows and revise incident reporting policies.
•
Transition from paper-based logbooks to a digital logbook system to track
compliance with minimum standards and other regulatory requirements more
efficiently
3
•
Improve incident reporting and tracking across the Department to support
better data analysis, including disaggregation of certain indicators
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of applications developed that replace paper-based tracking
processes and/or create new data tracking systems
•
Number of paper-based tracking processes transitioned to data systems that
enable demographic disaggregation
3.
Goal:
Assess and evaluate implementation of accommodations and programs/program
changes to continue to enhance safety, dignity, and care for transgender, gender non-
conforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) individuals in the Department’s care, and
reduce instances of violence
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, track and report accommodations provided as well as programs
implemented or refined to support this population.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review trends in program participation as it relates to gender identity to
assess gaps and successes and determine appropriate changes
•
Continue to assess programs and services by soliciting feedback directly
from people in DOC’s care, so that offerings are targeted to their unique
needs and to specific subpopulations, reduce idle time, and address harms.
•
Identify trends within grievances related to gender identity and implement
identified solutions
•
Continue to expand our partnerships to provide human-centered, culturally
competent re-entry services specific to the LGBTQ+ community
c.
Indicators:
•
Instances of violence experienced by the population
•
Programs implemented and/or refined
•
Number of accommodations provided
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Prioritize agency resources to focus on personal growth, wellness, and community-
connections for individuals in DOC’s care and staff
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, operationalization of all borough-based jail facilities will
strengthen connections to families, attorneys, courts, medical and mental health
care, and faith and community-based organizations. Being closer to home and
transit will enhance the network of support systems for people who are detained and
help prevent future returns to jail. Modern sites will also serve as a catalyst for
positive change in the community and the criminal justice system. For staff, the
benefits will include being closer to home and/or mass transit, and new infrastructure
that promotes their safety and wellness.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Center safety and well-being for those in custody and for staff by providing
space for quality education, health, and therapeutic programming
•
Support smoother transitions back into the community
•
Collaborate with the Department of Design and Construction (DDC), which is
awarding separate Design-Build contracts for each of the four new facilities,
as well as early works packages at all four facilities, resulting in a total of nine
contracts
•
Conduct focus groups in partnership with the DDC and several contracted
partners representing groups affected by the borough-based jail program,
including currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, staff, members of
advocacy groups, and oversight agencies, to help inform design and improve
operations, and the overall human experience
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Borough-Based jails that are operational
•
Percentage of individuals in care and staff reporting that operational facilities
support connection to families, services, and resources
2.
Goal:
Co-design, with people in custody, a racial equity and efficacy rubric for all programs
offered across DOC facilities to ensure the needs of people in custody are met
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, 100% of Department programs must pass the racial equity
rubric.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand and create a more robust process and schedule for fully assessing
and restructuring programs based on the population’s experience and
feedback in tandem with the Federal Monitor’s oversight, as well as employee
feedback
•
Collaborate with relevant partner agencies to create focus groups to gather
this information and create ways to translate this information into informative
data
•
The feedback received from PIC focus groups will only be shared with internal
teams to ensure regular updates to materials reflect the needs and requests
of the population and are the most up-to-date with agency and citywide goals
and mission. The information revealed during the focus groups will not be
shared with any outside groups to support a confidential setting for PIC to be
able to have honest and intimate conversations. This feedback would also
inform DOC’s budgetary process in terms of assessing which providers
should continue to deliver services and which DOC may want to reassess or
adjust
•
Ensure Department programs continuously reference the rubric to maintain
racial equity standards
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of focus groups held
•
Number of participants in focus groups
•
Percent of Department programs assessed against the developed rubric
•
Percent of Department programs that pass the developed rubric
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#18: Expand services to prevent, intervene, and provide care for people and families
harmed by policing, jails, and court supervision.
4
Spotlight Wins
•
The Department has made immense strides to ensure the visit process is simplified and
more family-friendly. DOC provides tele-visits and free DOC-Visitor buses from Manhattan
and Brooklyn to reduce barriers to visitation.
•
The Division of Programs and Community Partnerships has done phenomenal work in
advocating for and hiring Visit Facilitators who are present to make the visitation process
more accessible for families and, in partnership with the Children's Museum of Manhattan
(CMOM), child-friendly visits have been prioritized and implemented.
New child-friendly
visitation spaces were designed in collaboration with CMOM and installed at the George R.
Vierno Center
and at the Rose M. Singer Center. It is the Department’s goal to install a
child-friendly visitation space in all facilities. Incarceration can leave lasting scars on
families, and DOC is committed to lessening the impacts of incarceration wherever
possible. Visitation areas like the ones developed with CMOM support parents and children
in maintaining a pivotal bond and provide elements of normalcy during a challenging time.
Strong visitation programs, especially those between parents and children, help maintain
family bonds, increase successful reintegration post-release, and help break the cycle of
incarceration.
•
The Department recently received a grant for $180,000 from the New York State Office of
Mental Health’s Suicide Prevention Center to expand wellness programs for staff. Our
CARE Unit will spearhead this initiative, which aims to improve mental health in the
workplace.
•
The Department recently promoted a new class of Captains, where 46 percent of the staff
members are Black and Brown employees.
Department of Probation
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Department of Probation (DOP) plays a critical role in advancing public safety
through community supervision, operating at the intersection of the criminal and juvenile justice
systems and the communities we serve. Through the use of Evidence-Based Practices (EBP),
and a balanced approach that combines accountability, structure, treatment, and support, DOP
works to ensure individuals on probation are held responsible for their actions while also providing
meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation and growth.
Central to this work is the Department's commitment to helping individuals build stable, productive
lives. DOP connects people on probation with education, workforce development, and supportive
services that strengthen their ability to obtain and maintain employment. The Department also
works to repair and restore relationships with families, neighbors, and communities recognizing
that strong social connections and community engagement are essential to long-term success and
improved public safety.
This Racial Equity Plan reflects DOP's vision of probation as a catalyst for fair and inclusive
transformation. The Department is committed to identifying and addressing systemic barriers that
have historically limited opportunity for many New Yorkers. By focusing on equitable access to
services, culturally responsive supervision practices, and community-centered partnerships, DOP
seeks to support individuals from diverse backgrounds in breaking cycles of justice involvement
and realizing their full potential.
Through these efforts, the New York City Department of Probation remains committed to building
a future where all New Yorkers regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status
have equitable access to opportunity and the support needed to thrive, while strengthening safety
and stability across our communities.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Provide ongoing anti-racism, and inclusive supervision training for all DOP staff
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, ensure 100% of DOP staff complete annual racial equity and
cultural sensitivity training tailored to justice-involved populations, including modules
on LGBTQ+-affirming supervision and working with transgender and gender-
nonconforming (TGNC) individuals. By the end of FY2026, convert the FY2024 one-
time TGNC training into a tracked, recurring annual requirement with documented
completion rates reported as a distinct equity metric.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with DCAS and the NYC Commission on Human Rights to develop
and sustain agency-specific racial equity training, incorporating modules on
implicit bias, procedural justice, disability awareness, and LGBTQIA+
inclusion
•
Formalize and sustain annual LGBTQ+-affirming supervision training for 100
percent of DOP staff, converting the FY2024 one-time training into a tracked,
recurring requirement integrated into the annual staff development cycle
•
Track training completion rates and integrate all equity training into the annual
staff development cycle
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of DOP staff completing annual racial equity and cultural sensitivity
training
•
Percent of DOP probation staff, officers and supervisors completing annual
LGBTQ+-affirming supervision training. Target: 100 percent by FY2026,
sustained annually
2.
Goal:
Implement equitable recruitment strategies to increase representation from
underserved communities
a.
Outcome
: By FY2027, increase applicants from underrepresented neighborhoods
for Probation Officer positions by at least 25% over the FY2024 baseline.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Partner with community colleges, workforce programs, and community-based
organizations in underrepresented neighborhoods
•
Conduct targeted recruitment campaigns across boroughs with historically
underrepresented applicants
•
Expand outreach through city hiring initiatives focused on candidates from
underrepresented neighborhoods
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of applicants from underrepresented neighborhoods, compared to
FY2024 baseline, for solely informational and communications purposes
•
Demographics distribution of Probation Officers applicants and hires,
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity
56
3.
Goal:
Integrate a commitment to racial equity into Request for Proposals (RFP) for risk-
reduction and programming contracts to better serve diverse communities and generate
positive and equitable outcomes
a.
Outcome
: By FY2027, assess and revamp 100% of new RFPs to build equity
criteria into the selection process.
b.
Strategies
:
56
For informational and communications purposes only.
•
Develop and incorporate questions into requests for proposals (RFP) to
gauge applicants’ commitment to racial equity
•
Create and integrate criteria to assess for commitment to racial equity into the
selection methodology for RFPs consistent with federal, state, and local law
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of new RFPs assessed
•
Percent of new RFPs updated with racial equity questions and criteria
4.
Goal
: Strengthen culturally responsive and affirming supervision, service access and
accountability for LGBTQ+ and TGNC individuals on probation, with a focus on addressing
the disproportionate barriers and inequitable outcomes experienced by Black, Latino,
Indigenous, and other historical marginalized communities
a.
Outcome
:
By FY2027, DOP will ensure that LGBTQ+ and TGNC individuals on
probation have equitable access to affirming supervision, condition modifications,
grievance pathways, housing referrals, mental health supports, employment
services, legal services, and other reentry resources, with implementation informed
by racial equity data and community partnerships.
b.
Strategies:
•
Develop and implement LGBTQ+ affirming and TGNC-responsive supervision
guidance and protocols in collaboration with the NYC Commission on Gender
Equity (CGE), the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based
Violence (ENDGBV), NYC Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, and LGBTQ+
community-based organizations
•
Expand partnerships and referral pathways with LGBTQ+ affirming providers
including housing, mental health, employment, legal, and reentry
organizations such as The Door, NYC Anti-Violence Project (AVP), Legal Aid
Society, Callen Lorde Community Health Center, the Ali Forney Center and
the Bronx Defenders
•
Integrate LGBTQ+ and TGNC case planning into supervision practices by
coordinating with community-based providers, healthcare providers and
NeON partners to address barriers related to safety, housing stability,
healthcare access, employment, and successful probation completion
•
Review and update DOP policies, forms, supervision practices, and client-
facing materials to ensure inclusive language, respect for affirmed names and
pronouns, and equitable access to services, in consultation with the NYC
Commission on Gender Equity (CGE) and community partners and
stakeholders
•
Fortify confidential grievance and accountability processes for reporting
discrimination, harassment, and inequitable treatment by coordinating with
DOP's Equal Employment Opportunity Office, the NYC Commission on
Human Rights, and community partners
•
Collect, monitor, and analyze data on service access and supervision
outcomes for LGBTQ+ and TGNC individuals, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation where appropriate and
voluntarily collected, to identify disparities and inform continuous
improvement
•
Engage LGBTQ+ and TGNC community organizations, people with lived
experience, NeON Advisory Boards, and service providers to inform policy
development, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of affirming
supervision practices
•
Provide recurring racial equity, LGBTQ+ cultural competency, TGNC-
responsive, and trauma-informed training for probation staff and contracted
providers. This would be in concert with the NYC Department of Citywide
Administrative Services (DCAS), NYC Commission on Gender Equity, and
other qualified training partners
•
Develop and maintain an internal performance tracking system to assess
implementation of LGBTQ+ affirming and TGNC-responsive supervision
practices, referral outcomes, service utilization, and equity indicators
c.
Indicators:
•
Number and/or percentage of relevant DOP staff trained on LGBTQ+
affirming, TGNC-responsive, trauma-informed, and racially equitable
supervision practices
•
Number of LGBTQ+ affirming and TGNC-responsive community-based
providers included in DOP referral pathways, including providers offering
housing, mental health, employment, legal, crisis response, and reentry
supports
•
Number and/or percentage of LGBTQ+ and TGNC individuals on probation
who receive referrals to affirming services, where data is voluntarily and
safely available
•
Number and/or percentage of referred individuals who successfully connect to
affirming services, including housing, mental health, employment, legal
services, and other reentry support
•
Number of condition modification requests related to safety, housing
instability, mental health, employment, caregiving, or gender-affirming needs,
and the percentage reviewed, approved, or otherwise resolved
•
Number of grievances or complaints related to LGBTQ+ or TGNC identity
(i.e., misgendering, discrimination, harassment, denial of service, or
confidentiality concerns), and the percentage resolved within established
timeframes
•
DOP’s development and/or update of supervision guidance, referral protocols,
grievance procedures, or staff-facing resources to support LGBTQ+ affirming
and TGNC-responsive practice
•
Number of community engagement activities, provider consultations, or lived-
experience feedback opportunities used to inform implementation
•
Shifts in service access, grievance trends, successful completion, violation
patterns, or other supervision outcomes for LGBTQ+ and TGNC individuals,
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation
where available and appropriate
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Ensure equitable access to information for New Yorkers of all language backgrounds
and literacy levels
a.
Outcome
: By FY2027, ensure that 100% of public-facing DOP materials are
translated and accessible in accordance with Local Law 30 requirements.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct an audit of public-facing documents for translation and accessibility
needs including the clothing closet palm card, NeON Works palm card, Your
Guide to the Juvenile Justice Process, and Adult Probation Basics
•
Translate materials into all Local Law 30 languages
•
Implement plain language standards for all public-facing materials
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of public-facing material available in all Local Law 30 languages
2.
Goal
: Provide immigration-responsive supervision
57
and equitable service access
regardless of immigration status
a.
Outcome
:
•
By FY2027, ensure 100% of DOP staff complete training on immigration-
responsive supervision practices consistent with city law (Executive Order 41
(2003), Executive Order 13 (2026) and Local Law 228), and complete a full
audit and modification of all supervision conditions, program eligibility criteria,
and DOP data practices that create unintentional immigration-related
compliance barriers. By FY2027, ensure that all individuals on probation
regardless of immigration status have equitable access to DOP supervision,
programs, and services without facing immigration-related barriers to
compliance.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Train 100% of DOP probation officers and supervisory staff on immigration-
responsive supervision practices including city law, appropriate limits on
immigration status inquiries, how to respond to immigration-related fears, and
referral pathways to immigration legal services integrated into the annual
training cycle alongside short-term goal one.
57
Supervision is immigration-responsive when it does not create unintentional immigration-related compliance barriers.
•
Audit all DOP supervision forms, intake documents, program eligibility criteria,
and data collection practices to identify requirements that create barriers for
undocumented individuals or those with immigration-sensitive circumstances
and modify or remove those barriers consistent with NYC policy and
applicable law (audit to be completed by FY2027)
•
Formalize a partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA)
or designated community-based immigration legal services providers to
ensure individuals on probation with immigration concerns have access to
confidential legal information and referrals
•
Strengthen internal protocol for how DOP staff document, track, and publicly
post requests by federal immigration authorities regarding an individual on
probation, consistent with Executive Order 41 and Local Law 228
•
Expand multilingual supervision communications, program materials, and
support services for individuals with limited English proficiency, tracking
program participation and technical violation rates for LEP individuals as a
distinct equity indicator
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of DOP probation officers and supervisors completing immigration-
responsive supervision training annually, with target of 100% by FY2027
•
Number of DOP forms, documents, and program eligibility criteria reviewed
for immigration barriers; number modified as a result
•
Audit complete by FY2027
•
Formal referral partnership with MOIA or equivalent immigration legal
services provider established by FY2027; number of individuals referred
annually thereafter
•
Percent of supervision communications available in required Local Law 30
languages; program participation and technical violation rates for LEP
individuals disaggregated by language and borough
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Expand equitable access to employment, education, and violence prevention
programs
a.
Outcome
: By FY2030 or sooner, ensure that at least 80% of individuals on
probation have access to workforce development, vocational training, educational
programming, or violence prevention and community reintegration services with
equitable access across all five boroughs and priority investment in communities
with the highest supervision caseloads.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand partnerships with workforce development providers and increase
capacity of programs offered through NeON Centers, with attention to
geographic equity across all boroughs
•
Develop additional vocational training opportunities tied to high-demand
industries, building on existing NeON programming including photography,
CDL training, welding, and job readiness
•
Formalize the Emerging Leaders SYEP pipeline as a structured equity
strategy, expanding access for youth and young adults facing employment
barriers due to justice involvement
•
Expand partnerships with community-based service providers for violence
prevention and community reintegration programming, scaling citywide with
attention to boroughs with the highest caseload concentrations
•
Track program participation, completion, and outcomes disaggregated by
race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, and borough to identify access gaps and
drive resource decisions
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of individuals on probation participating in at least one employment,
vocational, educational, or violence prevention program
•
Percent of individuals on probation with access to vocational training and
violence prevention programs, disaggregated by borough
•
Program participation and completion rates disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
gender identity, and borough
2.
Goal:
Expand equitable access to mental health and substance use services for individuals
on probation
a.
Outcome
: By FY2030 or sooner, ensure that at least 75% of individuals on
probation with an identified mental health or substance use need are connected to
culturally responsive services within 30 days of assessment or are actively on a
waitlist for services and achieve a measurable reduction in mental health-related
technical violations compared to the FY2025 baseline. All outcomes are tracked and
reported disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, and borough.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand co-located mental health and substance use services at NeON
Centers, partnering with NYC Health + Hospitals, community mental health
clinics, and harm reduction providers, prioritizing the three borough offices
with the highest rates of mental health-related technical violations
•
Develop and implement trauma-informed supervision protocols for individuals
with serious mental illness (SMI) or active substance use disorders,
standardizing how Probation Officers respond to behavioral compliance
issues before issuing a technical violation
•
Require that all individuals on probation with a documented mental health or
substance use need receive a formal service connection within 30 days of
supervision start or clinical assessment, with Probation Officer accountability
for documented follow-through
•
Ensure all contracted mental health and substance use programs are
culturally responsive, staffed by providers with lived experience where
possible, and available in the top Local Law 30 languages with equity
performance measures included in all vendor contracts
•
Track and report mental health-related technical violations as a distinct
category disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity, and borough, and
use this data to identify offices or boroughs with outlier violation rates that
may indicate inequitable application of supervision conditions
•
Develop and standardize criteria for identifying and tracking mental health-
related technical violations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of individuals with identified mental health or substance use needs
connected to services (or on waitlist) within 30 days disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, and borough. Target: 75 percent by FY2027
•
Rate of mental health-related technical violations compared to FY2025
baseline disaggregated by race and borough
•
Percent of individuals completing assigned mental health or substance use
programming, disaggregated by demographics and tracked by contracted
provider
•
Percent of SMI/SUD cases with documented trauma-informed supervision
review before a technical violation is filed
•
Number of NeON sites with active co-located mental health or substance use
service provider. Target: all five borough NeON locations by FY2027
•
Percent of contracted mental health and substance use providers offering
services in at least three Local Law 30 languages
•
Mental health-related technical violations are defined as violations where
mental health symptoms or treatment needs are identified as a contributing
factor to noncompliance
3.
Goal:
Reduce recidivism among youth and young adults through targeted, data-informed
interventions
a.
Outcome
: By FY2030 or sooner, reduce re-arrest rates among youth and young
adults (ages 16–24) under DOP supervision by at least 10% compared to the
FY2025 baseline, with outcomes tracked and reported disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, and borough. By FY2026, establish the data infrastructure
necessary to monitor youth recidivism on a consistent reporting cycle without
reliance on manual extraction.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Expand trauma-informed and cognitive behavioral supervision models for
youth, prioritizing individuals identified as highest-risk through DOP’s risk and
needs assessment tools building on the existing Arches Transformative
Mentoring program which serves a predominantly Black and Hispanic youth
population
•
Increase access to education, employment, and vocational programming
through NeON Centers and community-based providers, with a focus on
youth at highest risk of reoffending, particularly those without a high school
diploma or stable employment
•
Strengthen partnerships with community-based organizations to provide
mentorship, violence interruption, and reentry support to youth on probation,
with priority investment in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens where youth
supervision caseloads are highest. Formalize the Emerging Leaders SYEP
pipeline as a structured equity strategy
•
Implement ongoing case review processes to monitor youth outcomes and
adjust supervision plans based on individual risk trajectories, ensuring no
youth remains on a static supervision plan for more than 90 days without
documented review
•
Develop and implement an automated data system to collect, track, and
analyze re-arrest rates and technical violations among youth disaggregated
by race, ethnicity, gender identity, and borough replacing current manual
extraction processes and enabling analysis of which interventions are most
effective for specific demographic subgroups
c.
Indicators
:
•
Annual re-arrest rate for youth and young adults disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, and borough
•
Technical violation rate for youth cohort, tracked separately from re-arrests,
disaggregated by demographics and reported quarterly
•
Percent of youth on probation enrolled in at least one NeON or community-
based organization program within 60 days of supervision start
•
Percent of enrolled youth completing assigned programming, disaggregated
by race, gender identity, and borough
•
Percent of youth supervision cases with documented review within the 90-day
standard
•
Automated youth recidivism tracking system operational by end of FY2026
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#11: Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They must meet
the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#18: Expand services to prevent, intervene, and provide care for people and families
harmed by policing, jails, and court supervision.
Spotlight Wins
•
DOP has invested a significant portion of its budget in underserved communities and will
continue to do so through its NeON Centers. The NeON Centers have created multiple
vocational classes including photography, NeON Arts, CDL training, welding, and job
readiness courses which provide individuals on probation with opportunities to gain skills
that can lead to careers. DOP has expanded the NeON Photography program from six (6)
locations with 100 participants to ten (10) locations servicing 200 participants, offering
vocational training modeled after college-level courses.
•
DOP’s Program and Evaluation Team continues to engage in ongoing communication and
collaboration with our program partners, contributing to improved program performance and
increased community engagement. During the last fiscal year, the Arches Transformative
Mentoring program went from 299 individuals served in FY23 to 343 in FY24, bringing the
program to 75 percent of its maximum capacity. The majority of Arches participants identify
as Black or Hispanic, reflecting the program’s reach into communities most impacted by the
justice system and reinforcing DOP’s equity commitments.
•
DOP helped submit more than 1,008 Emerging Leaders Summer Youth Employment
Program applications in 2024, approximately 200 more than in 2023. The Emerging
Leaders Program supports youth ages 14-24 who face employment barriers, such as being
justice-involved, by connecting them to paid, project-based activities and paid summer job
opportunities.
•
In recognizing the need for intersectional conversations, DOP partnered with DCAS to host
LGBTQIA+ training, reaching 80 percent of staff since 2023. In FY2024, DOP also
partnered with the NYC Commission on Human Rights to train all our staff members on
working with transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.
Fire Department of the City of New York
Mission and Commitment
As first responders to emergencies, disasters and terrorist acts, the Fire Department of the City of
New York (FDNY or Department) protects the lives and property of New York City residents and
visitors. The Department advances public safety through its fire prevention, investigation and
education programs. The timely delivery of these services enables the FDNY to make significant
contributions to the safety of New York City and homeland security efforts.
FDNY is committed to upholding and promoting inclusive values, as well as equal employment
opportunities throughout the Department.
The Department’s path toward workplace equity and
employment opportunities has been multifaceted, marked by both progress and persistent
challenges. The early challenges were defined by Irish Americans' struggle to join the Department
in the 19
th
century. African Americans exemplified an indomitable spirit and struggled to be part of
the FDNY family through most of the 20
th
century culminating in the Vulcan Society lawsuit in the
early 2000’s.
The Department continues to build on its campaigns of elevating everyday heroes to help create a
workforce that reflects the City’s demographics
and spirit of excellence. Recognizing that its
greatest strength is its people, FDNY takes a proactive role in expanding opportunities for
professional development through training, mentorship programs, and coaching discussions.
FDNY works proactively to educate, engage, and empower communities to prevent emergencies
before they happen. By focusing on outreach, education, training, and relationship-building, the
Department helps reduce risk, increase preparedness, and build trust with the diverse populations
it serves in its work.
By understanding the nearly 160-year history of service, acknowledging both challenges and
triumphs, FDNY strengthens its collective ability to grow, adapt, and meet future challenges. This
integrated focus on community engagement and employee development ensures the Department
remains prepared to serve and protect the residents of New York City with excellence and
integrity.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Utilizing internal FDNY data and insights from an ongoing Deloitte study in addition
to FDNY’s regular assessments of attrition mitigation, identify recruitment campaign
strategies to support viable candidates from underrepresented backgrounds for EMT and
Firefighter positions
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, assess the factors that contribute to the hiring,
promotion, and retention of EMTs and Firefighters across all applicant
demographics. Determine which factors most closely predict success of these
milestones.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Review the results of the after-action analysis for the most recent Firefighter
campaign. That analysis will include both quantitative and qualitative
elements to update our recruitment blueprint for the next exam cycle
•
Leverage data from our last two EMT campaigns (where we recruited more
EMT candidates than the previous five campaign years) to identify high-need
areas and strategically expand our recruitment reach
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage reduction in the disparity of conversion rates between candidates
from underrepresented backgrounds and majority demographics at each
stage of the hiring process
58
•
Percentage of applicants, candidates, and hires from historically
underrepresented groups.
55
•
Number of attrition mitigation programs and communication strategies that
show improved candidate engagement and persistence
•
Annual public reporting of recruitment outcomes disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, geography, and other available demographics.
55
•
Track trends for disparate impact at various stages of the hiring process (i.e.,
application, examination, qualification, hiring, and academy completion)
2.
Goal:
Strengthen equitable recruitment and assignment practices by using disaggregated
demographic and geographic data to inform equitable recruitment strategies and support
community-connected firefighter placement
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, establish an equity-informed recruitment framework
that uses demographic, geographic, and workforce data to increase representation
from historically underrepresented communities while continuing equitable
assignment practices for newly graduated firefighters.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Analyze recruitment outcomes using data disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
gender identity, geography, language, and socioeconomic indicators
•
5Develop community-specific recruitment goals informed by demographic
data
•
Expand partnerships with schools, CUNY, workforce organizations, and
community-based organizations serving underrepresented communities
c.
Indicators
:
58
For informational and communication purposes only.
•
Percentage of applicants and new hires from historically underrepresented
communities
59
•
Number of targeted recruitment partnerships established
•
Percentage of new firefighters and EMTs reflective of the communities and
neighborhoods they serve over time
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Ensure equitable accommodations and implement substantive interim measures to
provide privacy and comfort for women firefighters to foster an inclusive work environment
that supports diversity, promotes gender equity, and ensures all members can perform their
duties with dignity and respect
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, assess 100% of requests from firefighters and ensure that all
are on the pathway to receiving upgrades and/or substantive interim measures.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Analyze current facilities in need of accommodation upgrades
•
Determine possibilities for upgrades and/or temporary remediation
•
Rearranging lockers to provide a hallway/separation
•
Constructing temporary changing rooms
•
Update records quarterly and provide Fire Operations and Personnel with
updates on renovations that affect applicable facilities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of discussions with Borough Commanders on ongoing gender-
related facility needs
•
Percentage of identified facility interim measures and equity accommodations
completed (compared to the number of accommodations requested over
time)
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Analyze Citywide medical emergency response times alongside neighborhood
demographics to assess potential racial disparities and identify opportunities for resource
allocation or reallocation to ensure equitable service delivery
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, reduce disparities in response times to medical emergencies.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Utilize real-time data to monitor call volumes and health trends in
underserved communities, allowing for dynamic adjustments in resource
allocation
59
For informational and communications purposes only.
•
Employ predictive analytics to anticipate surges in call volumes and
proactively allocate resources to areas most likely to experience increased
demand.
•
Develop a public awareness campaign to eliminate low acuity transports to
hospital emergency departments.
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of minutes on average to respond to medical emergencies across the
city
•
Multi-year reduction in medical emergency response times across the city
2.
Goal:
Implement a process for salary reviews to identify any racial disparities and make
recommendations.
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, ensure any/all pay parity issues across the Department are
regularly reviewed. For actions that can be addressed internally at the agency level,
these actions will have been fully effectuated and measures to avoid parity issues
will have been implemented. For parity issues that require external partner buy-in, a
plan of action will have been drafted and shared with those partners.
60
b.
Strategies
:
•
Create a review process to establish parameters for analyzing salaries
•
Execute review process in each Bureau
•
Analyze results and formulate recommendations in an action plan
•
Implement recommendations that are within the purview of the Department,
and seek partnership with other oversight agencies to increase pay parity
•
Support policy recommendations requiring collaboration with OMB, MOCS,
DCAS, OLR, and other oversight partners.
•
Participate as agency partners in working groups spearheaded by oversight
agencies.
•
Support interagency working groups or ERGs focused on compensation
equity.
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of discretionary salaries reviewed for racial parity
•
Percent of discretionary salary increases reviewed for racial parity and
corrective actions
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#14: Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
60
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of the equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
Spotlight Wins
•
FDNY launched the 5
th
edition of its premiere multi-media storytelling project, We Are
FDNY, in the first quarter of 2026. Featuring 24 members of the Department across a
dozen Bureaus/Units, the campaign highlights unique and diverse stories from members
that reflect all titles. We Are FDNY posters are displayed in all FDNY firehouses, EMS
stations, training academies, dispatch and civilian offices.
Monthly newsletters, social
media posts and workstation desktops feature these unique stories.
•
FDNY recorded a new Implicit Bias Training in July 2024 with a live audience. The edited
version of the multi-module training focusing on personal development, leadership skills,
storytelling-based narratives, risk management and experiences from the field will be
uploaded on the agency Learning Management Services portal as part of a learning
development tool for all 17,500+ personnel.
•
FDNY launched targeted Community Risk Reduction (CRR) pilot programs in districts most
impacted by fire incidents, using data-driven strategies to reduce fire-related injuries and
fatalities and improve health outcomes in vulnerable communities. These pilots integrate
proactive outreach, fire safety education, smoke alarm installations, and partnerships with
community-based organizations to address neighborhood-specific risks. By focusing
resources on historically underserved and high-risk areas, FDNY has strengthened its
preventative approach, enhanced community trust, and contributed to measurable
improvements in fire safety outcomes. The success of these pilots has positioned FDNY as
a national leader in community-centered fire prevention, earning recognition for its
innovative, equity-driven model.
•
FDNY has advanced efforts to document and elevate the lived experiences and
contributions of diverse members who have served the Department despite systemic
barriers, laying the foundation for a comprehensive historical narrative timeline. Drawing
from internal archives, member testimonies, and historical records, this initiative highlights
the resilience and impact of various demographics across both uniformed and civilian roles.
By beginning to integrate these narratives into leadership discussions and training spaces,
FDNY is fostering a deeper, shared understanding of the Department’s history and its
connection to present-day equity goals. This work represents a critical step toward
institutionalizing inclusive storytelling and ensuring that the Department’s history reflects
the full breadth of those who have shaped it.
•
FDNY successfully implemented its commitment to strengthening community connections
by assigning newly graduated Probationary Firefighters who reside in New York City to the
division in which they live whenever feasible, based on individual preference and
operational needs. This milestone reinforces the Department’s efforts to cultivate a
workforce with strong community ties to the neighborhoods it serves, helping build trust,
enhance community engagement, and draw on firefighters’ local knowledge and lived
experience. This initiative was successfully implemented while maintaining equitable initial
firehouse assignments and supporting the Department’s operational needs.
Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice
Mission and Commitment
The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) advises the Mayor on the maintenance and
improvement of a fair and equitable justice system. Through data, policy, program
investment, contracting, and cross-system coordination, MOCJ works to improve public
safety, reduce unnecessary incarceration, expand access to justice, and strengthen
communities.
MOCJ will advance racial equity through four core pillars:
1. Workforce practices
2. Contracting and resource allocation
3. Program design and service delivery
4. Policy, legislative, and justice-system advocacy
These commitments will be supported by measurable outcomes, disaggregated data
where feasible, community participation, public reporting, and clear internal ownership.
Public Feedback Incorporated
Community feedback called for stronger accountability, clearer metrics, transparent and
disaggregated data, meaningful community participation, equitable workforce practices,
targeted investment in prevention and supportive services, equitable access to diversion,
and measurable reductions in racial disparities across criminal justice decision points. This
updated plan is responsive by assigning review cadences, establishing public reporting,
strengthening community engagement, and requiring corrective action when material
disparities are identified.
Implementation and Accountability
•
A cross-functional Racial Equity Planning (REP) Team will review progress
quarterly and publish an annual aggregate progress update.
•
Each goal will have a business owner, data owner, milestones, validated measures,
and corrective actions when progress is off track.
•
Data will be reported in aggregate, with privacy safeguards, consistent definitions,
documented limitations, and revisions to targets when baselines, legal authority, or
data-sharing conditions require adjustment.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Build a representative workforce and institutionalize equitable recruitment,
hiring, pay, development, and promotion practices
a.
Outcome:
•
By the end of 2026, train 100% of hiring managers and executive
leadership on equitable recruitment, structured interviewing, and
promotion practices.
•
By the end of FY 2027, apply approved protocols to 100% of
competitive recruitments and applicable discretionary promotion or
salary-review processes and complete an initial aggregate workforce,
promotion, and pay-equity analysis.
1
b. Strategies:
•
Adopt a standardized recruitment and selection checklist covering
outreach, qualifications, structured interviews, scoring, panel
composition, documentation, and conflict safeguards
•
Expand recruitment pipelines through CUNY, workforce and professional
organizations, community-based partners, and City fellowship and internship
programs
•
Review promotion pathways, stretch and acting assignments, professional
development, salary actions, retention trends, and employee feedback for
barriers and corrective action
•
Complete quarterly review and annual aggregate update
c. Indicators:
•
Training and protocol compliance rates
•
Data trends review and update in aggregate for applicant, interview,
selection, promotion, retention, representation, and salary
2
•
Number of diverse partnerships for recruitment pipelines
•
Number of corrective actions
2.
Goal:
Establish durable racial equity governance, public accountability, and meaningful
community participation
a.
Outcome:
By the end of FY 2027, maintain a cross-functional REP team, assign an
owner and data owner to each goal, complete quarterly progress reviews, publish an
annual progress update, and conduct at least four engagement opportunities
annually where feasible, including opportunities for youth, justice-impacted people,
providers, advocates, and residents of communities disproportionately affected by
violence and enforcement.
b.
Strategies:
•
Maintain an annual implementation work plan with milestones, ownership,
data sources, risks, dependencies, decisions, and corrective actions
•
Utilize accessible neighborhood sessions, virtual meetings, surveys, focus
groups, and existing advisory structures;
•
Translate public-facing materials consistent with applicable Language
Access requirements and available resources
•
Maintain a feedback disposition log explaining whether material
recommendations were adopted, modified, deferred, or not adopted
c.
Indicators:
•
Quarterly review completion
•
Annual report publication
•
Number of community engagement opportunities
•
Participation in community engagement opportunities, by target stakeholder
groups (youth, justice-impacted people, providers, advocates, and residents
of communities disproportionately affected by violence and enforcement) and
neighborhood
•
Number of public-facing materials translated
•
Percentage of recommendations adopted, modified, deferred, or not adopted
3.
Goal:
Advance equitable contracting and transparent, data-informed resource allocation
a.
Outcome
: By the end of FY2027, establish an aggregate baseline of MOCJ program
and contract investments by program area and geography where reliable data
exists, assess distribution against community need and justice-system impact, and
incorporate racial equity and accessibility criteria into 100% of applicable new
program solicitations and evaluation tools, consistent with governing law and City
policy.
b.
Strategies:
•
Use a procurement and program-design equity rubric that addresses
community need, target populations, accessibility, cultural responsiveness,
participant voice, outcomes, and provider capacity
•
Conduct broad and targeted outreach to M/WBEs, emerging providers, and
organizations with trusted relationships in underserved communities
•
Review aggregate allocations and improve forecasting, technical assistance,
and payment practices to reduce barriers for smaller community-based
organizations
•
Complete semi-annual reviews
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage of program solicitations and evaluation tools incorporating the
equity rubric
•
Aggregate program and contract investments by program area and
geography
•
M/WBE participation and utilization, disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Number of vendor outreach activities conducted
•
Number of bids received from M/WBEs, emerging providers, and community-
based organizations.
•
Number and percentage of contract awards to M/WBEs, emerging providers,
and community-based organizations
•
Payment timeliness
•
Number of technical assistance engagements provided to vendors and
community-based organizations
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure equitable access to and outcomes from MOCJ-funded programs, including
diversion and alternatives to incarceration
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2028, apply an equity review to 100% of new program
designs and applicable solicitations and complete baseline reviews of priority
portfolios. Material disparities in eligibility, referral, enrollment, service intensity,
completion, or outcomes will receive a corrective-action plan.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Map key decision points and barriers across diversion, alternatives to
incarceration, pretrial services, reentry, housing, employment, education,
mental health, legal support, and restorative justice programs
•
Analyze aggregate participant and outcome data by race and ethnicity and
other relevant characteristics, where legally permissible and operationally
reliable.
•
Review eligibility rules, referral practices, assessment tools, waitlists, service
location, hours of operation, digital access, language access, disability
access, participant costs, and provider feedback mechanisms to identify and
address barriers to equitable access
•
Complete semi-annual reviews
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of new program designs and applicable solicitations that
undergo an equity review
•
Number of priority program portfolios completing baseline equity reviews
•
Referral rates, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity and other
relevant characteristics where available
•
Eligibility rates, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity and other
relevant characteristics where available
•
Enrollment rates, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity and other
relevant characteristics where available
•
Program completion rates, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity
and other relevant characteristics where available
•
Participant outcomes, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender identity and
other relevant characteristics where available
•
Average time to service and waitlist duration
•
Diversion program utilization
•
Participant experience and satisfaction
•
Number of identified disparities with corrective action plans developed and
implemented
•
Percentage of applicable contracts incorporating equity reporting
requirements
2.
Goal:
Direct prevention and supportive-service strategies toward communities
disproportionately affected by violence, enforcement, and chronic disinvestment
a.
Outcome:
By end of 2028, work with Office of Community Service (OCS) to
provide data that allows OCS the ability to use neighborhood-level data and
resident input to guide community safety investments. Newly launched
priority-neighborhood plans will include documented resident engagement and
a service strategy considering violence prevention, restorative justice, mental
health and trauma supports, arts and youth programming, employment,
housing, and other locally identified needs.
b.
Strategies:
•
Combine data-driven prioritization with resident-led safety diagnoses and
transparent selection criteria
•
Engage residents in problem identification, co-design, implementation
review, and evaluation, including compensated participation when legally
and fiscally permissible
•
Coordinate investments and services across City agencies and community
organizations and assess whether resources align with violence,
victimization, justice-system involvement, and social need
•
Complete semi-annual reviews
d.
Indicators:
•
Number of priority neighborhood plans with documented resident co-design
•
Investment and service capacity by priority geography
•
Number of resident engagement activities conducted
•
Resident participation in community engagement activities
•
Public safety indicators in priority neighborhoods
•
Resident-reported safety and trust
•
Racial and geographic concentration of violence and enforcement
•
Number of neighborhood investment decisions informed by community input
and neighborhood-level data
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Embed a racial equity lens in all policy, legislative, budget, and major
operational recommendations addressing structural inequities in the criminal justice
system
a.
Outcome:
•
By the end of FY2028, finalize an equity-review rubric, define
applicability, train relevant staff, and begin annual quality-assurance
reviews.
•
By 2034, document a racial-equity review for 100% of priority policies,
legislation, budget proposals, and major operational initiatives
reviewed or recommended by MOCJ.
b. Strategies:
•
Assess affected populations, historical and current disparities,
distribution of benefits and burdens, community input, alternatives,
mitigation, and monitoring approaches
•
Define full, expedited, and not-applicable review pathways and train policy,
program, finance, procurement, legal, research, and executive staff on the
equity review process
•
Include community and subject-matter input for high-impact proposals and
track whether reviews change decisions or require corrective action
c. Indicators:
•
Percentage of applicable policies, legislation, budget proposals, and major
operational initiatives with completed equity review process
•
Number of staff trained on the equity review process
•
Number of equity reviews resulting in mitigation strategies, alternative
approaches, monitoring requirements, or additional community engagement
•
Annual quality assurance reviews completed
•
Number of quality assurance findings and corrective actions implemented
•
Percentage of priority policies, legislation, budget proposals, and major
operational initiatives reviewed using the equity review rubric
2.
Goal:
Establish measurable targets that identify racial disparities at critical criminal
justice decision points.
a.
Outcome:
•
By the end of FY2028, establish validated baselines and numerical
reduction targets for at least three priority disparities within MOCJ’s
coordination or influence, potentially including jail admissions, pretrial
detention, diversion access, court supervision, electronic monitoring,
case-processing time, disposition, and program completion.
•
By 2034, demonstrate sustained reduction and publicly report progress,
limitations, and corrective actions.
b.
Strategies:
•
Use a recurring analytic framework with appropriate controls and
transparent methodology to examine outcomes by race and ethnicity,
geography, and other relevant characteristics.
•
Work with the Criminal Justice Agency to assess Release Assessment
Tool recommendations, release decisions, and outcomes in aggregate,
while respecting judicial independence and each partner’s authority.
•
Assess diversion and alternatives-to-incarceration access and convene
justice-system partners to identify root causes, assign actions, and
monitor results.
•
Complete annual reviews.
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of validated baselines established for priority disparities
•
Number of numerical reduction targets established for priority disparities
•
Jail admissions, pre-trial detention, diversion access, court supervision,
electronic monitoring, case-processing time, disposition, and program
outcomes, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, geography, and other
relevant characteristics where available
•
Release Assessment Tool recommendations, release decisions, and
outcomes analyzed in aggregate
•
Percentage of corrective actions completed
•
Progress toward established disparity reduction targets
•
Public reporting of progress, limitations, and corrective actions
3.
Goal:
Review public safety practices and outcomes through a racial equity lens
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, institutionalize recurring analysis of priority public-safety
practices and outcomes by race and ethnicity, geography, and other relevant
characteristics and use validated findings to inform policy, training, resource
allocation, program design, and supervisory or oversight recommendations
within MOCJ’s authority.
b.
Strategies:
•
Establish baseline disparity measures and conduct recurring reviews of
priority public safety data sets and initiatives.
•
Where data and agency authority permit, examine enforcement
contacts, summons and arrest outcomes, recovery or hit rates,
victimization, complaints, deployment or service patterns, and
community-based alternatives.
•
Interpret findings in collaboration with oversight entities, agencies,
community representatives, and experts; track recommendations and
publish aggregate findings while protecting confidential and sensitive
information.
•
Complete annual review
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of priority data sets reviewed
•
Number of recommendations informed by findings
•
Number of recommendations implemented or alternative corrective
actions taken
•
Change in identified disparities
•
Community-reported trust, fairness, safety, and access to non-
enforcement responses, where measured
•
Number of recurring disparity analyses completed
•
Public release of aggregate findings
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability in city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city’s
commitment to equity and social justice.
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates
on NYC government plans.
•
#6: Collect analyze, and share data on access to government services with the
public, categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#9: Use and expand non-punitive responses to mental health and all crises. These
responses should rely less on police where possible. People should be allowed to
decide or contribute to decisions about their own care.
•
#11: Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They
must meet the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social
injustice.
•
#15: Close the racial, gender identity, age, and disability gaps in access and
opportunity to employment, and appropriately fund programs distributing money to
start a business.
•
#16: Reduce the number of people of all ages in jail, prison, or court monitoring
for criminal offenses, and transform jails into rehabilitation centers.
•
#18: Expand services to prevent, intervene, and provide care for people and
families harmed by policing, jails, and court supervision.
Spotlight Wins
•
Workforce development and recruitment:
Since becoming a standalone agency in FY24,
MOCJ has expanded pathways into public service through NYC Urban Fellows, DCAS Civil
Service Fellows, Public Service Internships, and NYC Service. From the 17 participants
engaged through these programs, five—nearly one-third—have entered City service
through open positions at MOCJ.
•
Pretrial Release Assessment:
MOCJ worked with the New York City Criminal Justice Agency to revise the City’s
pretrial release assessment to establish objective criteria to assist judges in
determining likelihood of return to court in an effort to reduce racial and other
disparities in pretrial detention.
The goals above build on this work through recurring aggregate analysis of
recommendation patterns, release decisions, and outcomes linked to partner action
and public accountability.
NYC Emergency Management
Mission and Commitment
NYC Emergency Management (NYCEM) helps New Yorkers before, during, and after
emergencies through preparedness, education, and response.
NYCEM believes that equity in emergency management is a civil and human right. To better serve
all New Yorkers, we strive to directly engage communities in planning, ensuring their concerns are
heard and addressed. This includes expanding public messaging and emergency notifications to
target hard-to-reach populations and working to build trust in government where it may have
eroded. It also means identifying and addressing internal staffing disparities and advocating for
equitable Federal management of recovery aid.
NYCEM is committed to building an emergency management culture and program that reflects the
city’s diversity and range of needs. This approach is closely aligned to NYCEM’s mission: to help
New Yorkers before, during, and after emergencies through preparedness, education, and
response. As outlined in our 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, we are dedicated to closing emergency
planning gaps to ensure the communities hardest hit by disasters are prioritized and receive the
resources they need to be both ready and resilient.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Collaborate with City leadership and subject matter experts to develop an equity-
focused lens on emergency planning, operations, and recovery
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, include the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice
(MOERJ) as an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) liaison to provide an equity
perspective on Steering Committee calls.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Cultivate a strong relationship with MOERJ to include the office as a liaison
during emergencies
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of EOC liaisons/alternates
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Develop and implement citywide guidance that helps agencies incorporate the needs of
historically marginalized communities into their respective emergency plans (with particular
attention to individuals in congregate settings, public housing and other populations
disproportionately impacted by emergencies)
a.
Outcome
: By FY2028, NYCEM will develop, pilot, and begin implementing a racially
conscious emergency planning framework and technical assistance for City agencies.
This will support the integration of equitable preparedness, response, and recovery
practices in agency emergency plans, particularly for agencies serving historically
marginalized communities (i.e. NYCHA, DOC, etc.)
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop standardized emergency planning guidance for City agencies that
incorporates best practices and racial equity principles into agency emergency plans
•
Create planning guidance that assists agencies in identifying and addressing the
needs of historically overlooked and underserved communities. This includes
residents of NYCHA developments, people living in Taskforce on Racial Inclusion &
Equity (TRIE) neighborhoods, individuals in congregate settings, people with
disabilities and access and functional needs, immigrant communities, and people
with limited English proficiency
•
Partner with MOERJ and other relevant agencies to incorporate equity
considerations into emergency planning templates, planning checklists, and planning
reviews
•
Pilot the guidance with agencies serving populations disproportionately impacted by
emergencies before broader implementation
•
Collaborate with community-based organizations and subject matter experts and
involve them in the development and refinement of planning guidance
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of participating agency emergency plans that incorporate NYCEM's equity
planning guidance
•
Percent of participating agency plans that include strategies addressing historically
underserved populations
•
Number of community-based organizations and experts consulted for emergency
planning guidance
•
Number of external and city partners consulted for emergency planning guidance
2.
Goal:
Enhance emergency management plans by incorporating a racial equity lens to ensure
all communities are served effectively through the integrated planning and preparedness
process.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, NYCEM will apply a structured racial equity review for all new
emergency plans.
b.
Strategies:
•
Develop and begin applying a racial equity lens when updating or developing
an emergency planning document
•
Develop a structured process for including community partners in emergency
plan development and review, and ensure there is a mechanism to
incorporate feedback
•
Develop equity-related learning objectives for improving staff familiarity with
equity best practices in emergency responses
•
Evaluate options for format and delivery of learning opportunities on equity
best practices in emergency responses
•
Provide EOC Leadership Pathway participants with opportunities to engage
with experts in equity in emergency management
•
Continue including Disability, Access, and Functional Needs (DAFN) and
social vulnerability planning considerations as discussion areas during the
City's Integrated Planning and Preparedness Workshop (IPPW)
•
Include agency subject matter experts (SMEs) on the exercise planning
teams and identify planning gaps during exercise development
•
Incorporate racial equity considerations into EOC functional exercises
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of plans that have gone through an internal racial equity review
•
Number of Strengthening Communities partners engaged in plan
development/updates
•
Year-to-year representation of historically underserved communities in
emergency planning
•
Percent of plans where Strengthening Communities partners have been
engaged
•
Number of equity-focused learning opportunities for EOC Pathway
participants
•
Percent of participants and community members reporting increased ability to
apply emergency measures
•
Number of exercises with racial equity considerations
3.
Goal
: Increase public awareness and utilization of NYCEM’s multilingual emergency
communications and language access resources
a.
Outcome:
By FY2028, increase awareness and utilization of NYCEM's multilingual
emergency communication resources among communities with historically lower
engagement and higher emergency vulnerability.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop multilingual public education campaigns explaining available emergency
communication resources
•
Partner with NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), community-based
organizations, schools, libraries, NYCHA developments, and faith-based organizations
to promote Notify NYC and other emergency communication tools
•
Create simple multilingual educational materials explaining how emergency alerts are
translated and distributed
•
Coordinate with MOIA and other language access partners to improve outreach
regarding existing multilingual emergency resources
•
Coordinate and host community/public education sessions on the language and
translation resources New Yorkers have access to in case of an emergency
c.
Indicators
:
•
Year-to-year percentage of multilingual Notify NYC subscriptions among targeted
communities
•
Using community surveys to track and measure awareness of multilingual emergency
resources
•
Geographic distribution of multilingual subscribers across TRIE neighborhoods
4.
Goal
: Increase NYCEM's community engagement and outreach to improve emergency
preparedness in TRIE neighborhoods
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase agency presence in the 33 TRIE neighborhoods through
Ready NY, Strengthening Communities, and Community Emergency Response Team
(CERT).
b.
Strategies
:
•
Evaluate existing NYCEM community engagement activities in TRIE neighborhoods and
identify potential gaps in programming
•
Tailor community engagement strategies to each TRIE neighborhood to increase
preparedness
•
Target CERT recruiting events in TRIE neighborhoods
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of partnerships made within TRIE neighborhoods by community engagement
staff
•
Number of CERT recruiting events held in TRIE neighborhoods
5.
Goal:
Promote equitable recruitment and hiring process strategies
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure robust recruitment plans and equitable hiring processes are
implemented for 100% of agency vacancies in staff and leadership.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue paid college aide, DYCD summer youth employment program, and Silver
Star programs at NYCEM
•
Showcase NYCEM's diverse workforce across recruitment events (e.g., career fairs,
veteran's events, city-sponsored mass recruitment events)
•
Finalize and implement the Equitable Recruitment Checklist to diversify candidate
pools through increased engagement with a variety of stakeholders (e.g., strengthening
communities’ partners, John D. Solomon alumni) and media
•
Continue ensuring NYCEM hiring panels are diverse, with Human Capital Management
(HCM) review and approval of panelists before candidates are interviewed
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of recruitment events attended
•
Percent of workforce representation across demographic groups
61
•
Number of students participating in NYCEM programs
•
Demographic composition of workforce across titles and divisions, including executive
leadership positions for routine operations and emergency operations
58
6.
Goal:
Build NYCEM capacity to increase outreach to people speaking a language other than
English and multilingual New Yorkers to ensure that access is not a barrier in emergency
communication
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase the percentage of people speaking a language other than
English and multilingual New Yorkers who receive Notify NYC notifications by 10%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify funding for community groups to participate in reviewing translated materials
•
Develop support for Spanish and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) in the Notify
NYC mobile application
•
Promote WhatsApp emergency notification groups for public and ethnic media
engagement
•
Test CERT volunteers for language access skills to expand outreach to multilingual
communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of multilingual subscribers to Notify NYC
•
Number of users in WhatsApp groups
•
Number of CERT volunteers certified for language access skills
7.
Goal
: Enhance heat season Cool Options messaging in TRIE neighborhood areas to reduce
heat-related illness among vulnerable populations
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, establish recurring “Cool Options” messaging in print, media, and out-
of-home marketing in 100% of TRIE neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Assess the effectiveness of the 2024 heat season messaging campaign, identify the
most effective messaging tools, and determine which TRIE neighborhoods have
already received Cool Options messaging
61
For informational and communications purposes only.
•
Develop a multi-year roll-out plan to place Cool Options messaging in every TRIE
neighborhood, taking into account language accessibility, ethnic media ad
placements, and geographic balance
•
Begin designing graphics and developing long-term relationships with media outlets
and community-based ethnic newspapers in the identified zip codes
•
The enhanced Cool Options messaging will begin in the summer of 2026 and grow
progressively until Q4 2028, at which point every identified zip code should have
annual Cool Options messaging in place
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of TRIE neighborhoods with recurring Cool Options messaging
•
Percent of advertising and marketing spending in TRIE neighborhoods annually
•
Number of emergency department visits and EMS calls related to heat in TRIE
neighborhoods
8.
Goal
: Ensure that NYCEM is better supporting residents of basement apartments to combat
flooding to reduce preventable deaths, which disproportionately affect low-income and
immigrant New Yorkers
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase enrollment in the Notify NYC Basement Notifications group by
100%.
b.
Strategies:
•
Analyze data on basement apartments in NYC to better target NYCEM strategies and
determine program effectiveness
•
Increase the number of community events highlighting Notify NYC/basement
apartments group within TRIE neighborhoods
•
Engage Strengthening Communities in door-to-door canvassing for basement
apartments in TRIE neighborhoods
•
Partner with elected officials to encourage enrollment in the Notify NYC Basement
Notifications group
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of community events participated in, including Ready NY and Capacity
building sessions
•
Year to year percentage of preparedness outcomes in targeted communities
•
Number of Notify NYC enrollments in basement apartment group
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
NYCEM has had 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state, and local law
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for M/WBE
utilization.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Create a tracking system and regular reporting system to monitor M/WBE
contract utilization across the agency and analyze the disparity within the
disparity in agency contracting
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of all contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
•
Number of M/WBE contracts awarded, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
gender
2.
Goal
: Incorporate a commitment to racial equity in recovery planning to equitably support
historically marginalized communities, who are disproportionately impacted by emergencies
and disparities in response
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, incorporate strategies, operations, and data tracking in 100% of
recovery plans that focus on equitable outcomes for disaster survivors.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Track recovery through a racial equity lens in NYCEM Recovery Dashboards
and post-disaster reports
•
Advocate/partner with organizations to allocate and distribute local (i.e., non-
Federal, non-State) recovery funding to historically disadvantaged communities
•
Conduct analysis, overlaying collected damage assessment and financial
recovery data with socioeconomic layers, including TRIE neighborhoods and
high Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) areas, to advocate for disaster declarations
and equitable distribution of federal recovery aid
•
Partner with academic institutions to learn recovery planning best practices
incorporating racial equity considerations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of recovery dashboards that include equity variables in the analysis of
damage and recovery aid
•
Number of reports that document past damage/recovery aid through a racial
equity lens
•
Number of academic partnerships to study best practices for incorporating racial
equity
•
Number of grants provided to low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities in
historically disadvantaged communities for when there are major disasters
3.
Goal
: Ensure 2030 census data informs NYCEM's commitment to provide and expand
language support in communications to people speaking a language other than English and
multilingual New Yorkers through Notify NYC
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, review census data and identify additional languages to support
within the Notify NYC program.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify any additional languages that should be supported
•
Engage vendors to discuss potential for adding language support
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of Notify NYC enrollments in newly supported languages
•
Number of additional top languages identified by NYC Census
•
Percent of additional top languages incorporated into Notify NYC
4.
Goal
: Incorporate a racial equity lens when coordinating hazard mitigation funding
applications from City agencies
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, incorporate a racial equity assessment into all mitigation planning,
funding requests, and federal advocacy.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Track hazard mitigation applications for funding and awards and overlay with
TRIE neighborhoods
•
Utilize analysis to provide insights into mitigation funding and racial equity (i.e.,
where additional hazard mitigation funding could support TRIE neighborhoods)
•
Incorporate analysis into mitigation advocacy opportunities to further advocate for
equitable mitigation funding
c.
Indicators
:
•
Dollars of mitigation funding requested and obtained for TRIE neighborhoods
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#14: Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
Spotlight Wins
•
The 2024 NYC Hazard Mitigation Plan is a public document that identifies the natural
hazards facing New York City and specifies long-term strategies to reduce those risks and
the City's vulnerability to them. NYCEM made sure to incorporate the perspectives and
context of historic and on-going inequities and injustices, including adding a goal to create
a healthy and equitable environment, incorporate perspectives and context of race and
inequities based on historic redlining and highlighting where vulnerable neighborhoods are
located, and other improvements.
•
NYCEM is committed to ensuring equity in public communications and outreach.
Specifically, we have prioritized translating agency materials and emergency messaging to
reach all New Yorkers across a range of platforms. In 2021, NYCEM rolled out multilingual
Twitter (now known as X) notifications. In 2023, NYCEM coordinated with OTI to enhance
NYCEM’s website, enabling non-English speakers to translate the website into multiple
languages on desktops and within cell phone browsers. NYCEM also natively translated
the updated Cooling Center Finder and the new Hurricane Evacuation Zone Finder in 12
languages. In addition, in 2023, NYCEM launched a Notify NYC notification group for
residents living in basements which may be prone to flooding and other hazards. This
group’s enrollment is largely concentrated in majority-minority neighborhoods.
•
In 2023, the Strengthening Communities program added 20 new networks to its roster,
expanding the program to a total of 35 community networks across all five boroughs. Most
of these networks overlap with TRIE neighborhoods (32 out of 35 Strengthening
Communities networks are in TRIE neighborhoods, with the other 3 operating citywide),
advancing NYCEM’s efforts towards more equitable response and recovery operations in
hard-to-reach communities.
NYCEM utilizes a thoughtful awards program entitled “Annual Performance Awards” that
recognize and celebrates our staff and the invaluable contributions our employees have
made at NYCEM. All staff are invited to submit nominations. The committee making the
decision awards is comprised of 100 percent women and 25 percent minority. The Chief
Equity & Diversity Officer (CEDO) who leads the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and
Accessibility (IDEA) serves on the NYCEM Awards committee for the purpose of
embedding EEO/Diversity and Inclusion events/awards. The CEDO will continue to work
with the awards committee on its inclusion of the Lonestar Award for the NYCEM employee
who demonstrates a strong commitment to IDEA on or outside of the job into the employee
recognition program. This plan year’s NYCEM Annual Performance Awards and
Nominations took place during the January Birthday Babies/ Awards Ceremony, January
28, 2026.
•
Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) developed a Cultural
Sensitivity in the Workplace training for all staff held July 14, 2025.
•
IDEA leads NYCEM's implementation of the agency Racial Equity Plan, collecting metrics
across Bureaus/Offices, reviewing progress, and guiding teams in achieving goals
and objectives over time.
•
NYCEM employees Eric Stoessel and Thea Paulucci created the LGBTQ+ Emergency
Managers ERG on June 2, 2025. The ERG’s purpose is for queer-identifying colleagues
and allies to network, hold social events and participate in volunteer projects.
•
The 2025 NYC Hazard Mitigation Plan is a public document that identifies the natural
hazards facing New York City and specifies long-term strategies to reduce those risks and
the City's vulnerability to them. This document serves as foundational overview for citywide
capabilities and strategies
.
NYCEM made sure to incorporate the perspectives and context
of historic and on-going inequities and injustices, including by adding a goal to create a
healthy & equitable environment, incorporating perspectives and context of race and
inequities based on historic redlining, and highlighting where vulnerable neighborhoods are
located, along with other improvements.
New York City Police Department
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is to enhance the quality of life in
New York City (NYC) by working in partnership with the community to enforce the law,
preserve peace, protect the people, reduce fear, and maintain order.
The NYPD acknowledges its responsibility to address disparities and is committed to
implementing these initiatives to promote equity, fairness, and inclusivity within the NYPD
and in its service to the broader community.
Building on its existing diversity efforts, the NYPD is looking to further increase
representation within its ranks, particularly in leadership positions and in specialized units.
This demonstrates the NYPD's understanding that a diverse workforce at all levels is
crucial for effective community policing and building trust.
As the NYPD continues to build on its progress, these initiatives have the potential to create a
more trusted, responsive, and just police force that better serves all New York City
residents.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Strengthen equitable workforce practices and systems to remove unnecessary
barriers and support equitable opportunity throughout an employee’s career.
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, improve equitable access to employment
opportunities and strengthen career pathways across the department by
reducing barriers to recruitment and hiring and expanding opportunities for
retention, mentorship, leadership development, and career advancement.
b.
Strategies:
•
Assess the NYPD's Police Officer hiring process by focusing on outreach,
the background check, the psychological exam, the job standards test, and
the disqualifications process
•
Develop recommendations through the Panel on Applicant Hiring and
implement recommendations to reduce unnecessary barriers in the hiring
process
•
Identify and analyze barriers that underrepresented groups face in
recruitment, hiring, retention, and career advancement opportunities
across the department
•
Leverage existing workforce development initiatives such as the Rank to
Rise Mentorship Program and develop additional initiatives to address
workforce equity gaps identified through disaggregated demographic
analyses
•
Continuously monitor and evaluate progress toward workforce equity
goals and use workforce demographic data to refine recruitment, hiring,
retention, mentorship, leadership development, and career advancement
strategies
•
Develop a plan of action to improve the process and mitigate any disparate
outcomes.
c.
Indicators:
•
Length of recruitment and hiring timeline
•
Rate of attrition throughout the recruitment and hiring process
•
Demographics of applicant pool and new hires
•
Workforce demographics, disaggregated by bureau, rank, race/ethnicity, and
gender
•
Retention rate of historically underrepresented groups
•
Percentage of recommendations from the Panel on Applicant Hiring
implemented
•
Percentage of workforce participating in a mentorship/leadership
development program disaggregated by bureau, rank, race/ethnicity and
gender
•
Number of targeted recruitment initiatives conducted in the 33 Taskforce on
Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) neighborhoods
62
2.
Goal
: Build agency-wide capacity to recognize and address implicit bias, race-
based trauma, and hate crimes by developing and piloting comprehensive
training for new hires and integrating key concepts into ongoing professional
development.
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, implement and institutionalize a
comprehensive training curriculum for 100% of new hires with core
concepts embedded into ongoing workforce development.
b.
Strategies:
•
Identify and engage key stakeholders and community experts in the
development of the curriculum
•
Conduct a needs assessment to identify specific training
requirements and pilot training curriculum
•
Integrate implicit bias, race-based trauma, and hate
62
A TRIE Neighborhood in New York City is a designated area identified by the Taskforce on Racial
Inclusion & Equity as a priority due to significant racial and economic disparities, particularly exacerbated
during the COVID-19 pandemic. These neighborhoods receive targeted resources and support to improve
health equity and socioeconomic conditions.
crime training concepts into existing leadership
development opportunities.
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of community experts engaged in development of material
•
Percentage of new hires completing the training curriculum
•
Percentage of employes demonstrating an increase in understanding of
implicit bias, race-based trauma, hate crimes, through pre- and post-
assessments.
3.
Goal:
Center community voices in the development of an equitable enforcement
approach within the NYPD to address systemic issues while fostering trust and
collaboration with the communities served.
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2027, collect community feedback on
equitable policing approaches in all 33 TRIE neighborhoods.
b.
Strategies:
•
Organize community forums and workshops in all 33 TRIE
neighborhoods to discuss policing needs and concerns
•
Collaborate with local community-based organizations, to
facilitate discussions, gather community-informed feedback
•
Incorporate community-informed feedback into the Department’s
equity review processes to help inform priorities, recommendations,
and implementation planning
•
Assess changes in community trust, participation, and
engagement to inform continuous improvement of equitable
policing efforts.
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of community forums and workshops held, and attendance rates,
by TRIE neighborhood
•
Survey results measuring community perceptions of police
engagement and trust
•
Percentage of TRIE neighborhoods engaged through
community forums, workshops, or other community
engagement activities.
Medium-
Term
1.
Goal:
Quantify, track, and analyze racial disparities in stops, frisks, and searches in an
effort to reduce identified disparities and support continuous improvement.
a.
Outcome:
The Racial Disparities Review Committee will regularly analyze
the Department's Stop, Question, and Frisk (SQF) practices, review data,
and identify opportunities to reduce racial disparities in enforcement.
b.
Strategies:
•
Use data to monitor, analyze, and seek to reduce racial
disparities in the Department's SQF enforcement
•
Identify and seek to reduce unaccounted-for racial disparities
•
Prepare data models to analyze trends in Department-level and
command-level disparities
•
Focus on outlier commands driving unaccounted-for racial
disparities in SQF enforcement
•
Report to the public regarding racial disparities in SQF enforcement.
c.
Indicators:
•
Reduction in unaccounted-for racial disparities in stop activity
•
Reduction in unaccounted-for racial disparities in post-stop
outcomes.
2.
Goal:
Increase the representation of underrepresented groups in specialized units
across the NYPD.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, increase representation of underrepresented
groups across all the specialized units of the NYPD through targeted
outreach and data-informed recruitment strategies.
b.
Strategies:
•
Identify which units are considered specialized within each of the
bureaus
•
Identify specific underrepresented groups and identify clear,
measurable steps to increase outreach
•
Create outreach programs specifically designed to attract
candidates from underrepresented groups
•
Implement a data-driven approach to monitor representation levels over
time.
c.
Indicators:
•
Demographics of the workforce in specialized units, disaggregated by
bureau, rank, race, ethnicity, and gender identity, and other relevant
demographic characteristics.
3.
Goal:
Train all recruits using scenario-based training focusing on identifying
unconscious bias, race-based trauma, and hate crimes to foster mutual respect,
enhance trust, and ensure that all community members are treated with dignity
and understanding.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, ensure incoming recruits on cultural competence,
communication skills, and sensitivity needed to effectively interact with
diverse communities, including immigrants, religious groups, the LGBTQIA+
community, families experiencing domestic violence, the deaf or hard-of-
hearing, the blind and low vision, and people with developmental, learning,
mobility, and mental health disabilities, including individuals who are neuro-
divergent.
b.
Strategies:
•
Implement a pilot training program with select officers and collect
feedback to make necessary adjustments to the curriculum
•
Roll out the comprehensive training curriculum to all relevant units
•
Establish a system for ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and
updates to the curriculum to reflect emerging research, community
feedback, and operational needs.
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage of recruits who complete the training curriculum
•
Percentage of participants demonstrating improved cultural
competency proficiency in post-training assessments.
4.
Goal:
Develop and implement pilot community policing initiatives in selected TRIE
neighborhoods, focusing on prevention and early intervention strategies to address
local concerns.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, implement at least one community-driven policing
initiative in each of the TRIE neighborhoods, resulting in measurable
improvements in community satisfaction and trust.
b.
Strategies:
•
Collaborate with community stakeholders to design and tailor
community policing programs that address local needs
•
Identify and implement pilot community policing programs in selected
TRIE neighborhoods, focusing on prevention and early intervention.
c.
Indicators:
•
Community satisfaction with police services, measured through
surveys
•
Crime rates in pilot neighborhoods before and after implementation
•
Number of pilot community policing initiatives implemented in TRIE
neighborhoods.
5.
Goal:
Collaborate with relevant city agencies/offices on expanding co-creation of
tailored, comprehensive community safety and crime prevention plans with
residents in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by violence.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, implement community safety and crime prevention
plans in all target neighborhoods, resulting in measurables and
reductions in crime in communities where plans have been
implemented.
b.
Strategies:
•
Partner with the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene, NYC Housing Authority, Mayor's Office to
Prevent Gun Violence, and community-based organizations to jointly
create community safety and crime prevention plans
•
Engage precinct community councils—residents, faith leaders, youth,
small businesses, nonprofits—in each target neighborhood;
convene quarterly to develop evaluation criteria, priorities, and
implementation strategies.
c.
Indicators:
•
All indicators disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age and other
demographics.
•
Crime rates before and after plans implemented
•
Community trust before and after plans implemented
•
Number of community safety and crime prevention plans
developed and implemented.
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Create a more representative and inclusive NYPD at all levels through
equitable recruitment, retention, and advancement practices
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, increase representation in all executive titles and ranks of
the NYPD to better reflect the internal demographics of the NYPD and the
diverse population of New York City, ensuring a more representative and
inclusive command structure.
b.
Strategies:
•
Collect and analyze workforce demographic data on gender, race,
ethnicity, age, and other relevant demographic factors across all
leadership levels
•
Create formal mentoring and development programs to prepare
employees from underrepresented groups for leadership roles
through network development and career guidance
•
Examine promotion rates to identify any disparities and implement a
data-driven approach to ensure all members of service are promoted
fairly on an equitable basis across the Department.
c.
Indicators:
•
Workforce demographics of NYPD leadership, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender identity, age, and other relevant demographic
characteristics
•
Comparison of NYPD leadership demographics to the overall
NYPD demographics
•
Promotion rates for employees disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
gender identity
•
Time to promotion for employees disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
gender identity
2.
Goal:
Fully integrate equity principles into every aspect of NYPD operations and
culture, creating a fair and just policing environment that builds trust with all
communities served.
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, ensure equity principles become an intrinsic part of
NYPD's decision-making processes, policies, and daily operations,
resulting in measurable improvements in fair policing practices and
community trust.
b.
Strategies:
•
Implement a comprehensive equity impact assessment process for all
new policies and initiatives
•
Establish an Innovation and Recognition Program to incentivize
equity-focused solutions from officers and precincts.
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of new policies and initiatives that undergo equity impact
assessments before implementation
•
Number of officers or commands recognized for developing and
implementing equity-focused initiatives
•
Number of equity impact assessments completed annually.
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
in city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city’s commitment to
equity and social justice
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
in city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#18: Expand services to prevent, intervene, and provide care for people and families
harmed by policing, jails, and court supervision.
Spotlight Wins
•
The Women's Institute:
A leadership development program designed to address the
underrepresentation of women in executive roles. The program brings together 100
NYPD women from diverse backgrounds, ages, abilities, and identities, equipping
participants with networking, mentorship, and professional development opportunities to
support career advancement. Participants collaborate to research issues
disproportionately affecting women in the workplace and develop evidence-based
recommendations for Department leadership. By expanding leadership development
opportunities and addressing barriers to advancement, the Women’s Institute supports
a more representative leadership pipeline and promotes workforce equity across the
Department. The Women’s Institute and its goals were incorporated into the Rank to
Rise Mentorship Program, which was launched in February 2026.
•
The Rank to Rise Mentorship Program:
A Department-wide voluntary mentorship
program designed to support leadership development, foster career growth, increase
retention, and raise morale across all ranks and titles within the department, including
executive-to-executive mentorship opportunities.
•
ASL Initiative:
The NYPD's American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter Certification
Pathway is a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to improve communication and
accessibility for the approximately 200,000 Deaf and Hard of Hearing New Yorkers. In
partnership with the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, the program trains
officers in ASL fundamentals, interpreting techniques, and emergency communication
to strengthen interactions and reduce communication barriers. Building on ongoing
ADA efforts, the program includes a budget for an ASL curriculum, hiring a Deaf
instructor, and covering the cost and preparation of the Registry of Interpreters for the
Deaf (RID) test for officers. Additionally, the initiative establishes the NYPD's first
dedicated ASL Response Team, providing on-call state-certified interpreters and
conducting comprehensive courses to deepen officers' understanding of Deaf cultural
norms. This effort enhances safety, understanding, and cooperation, ensuring concise
communication in high-pressure scenarios and fostering a safe environment for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.
•
Equitable Decision Making:
Equips civilian and uniformed supervisors with tools to
recognize how day-to-day management decisions can impact workforce equity and
organizational culture. The training focuses on staff development, transparency,
equitable distribution of training opportunities, overtime management, performance
evaluations, and command assignments, helping leaders identify potential bias and
disparate impacts in decision-making. By promoting more equitable and consistent
management practices, the program supports fair access to professional development,
career advancement, and leadership opportunities.
•
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has made significant strides in areas of public
service, community engagement, crime reduction, and organizational development. Below
is a summary of key accomplishments:
•
Neighborhood Policing Program
: Launched in 2015, has been one of the
most significant milestones in fostering trust between officers and the
communities they serve. Through Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs),
the program assigned officers to specific sectors of neighborhoods, giving
residents a consistent point of contact to address local concerns. According to
NYPD data, over 70 percent of surveyed residents in participating
neighborhoods reported improved relations with local officers.
•
NYPD Community Center
: Opened in 2019, a historic first-of-its-kind venue
and partnership that provides a variety of high-quality educational, recreational
and social programming for young people and adults. It serves as a place for
family events, community meetings and a range of other enrichment
opportunities. The center, located in the Brooklyn community of East New York,
is the former site of a courthouse that underwent extensive renovations. The
building now features classrooms, a computer lab, fitness center, dance studio,
music room, and counseling space.
•
Police Athletic League (PAL) and the Explorers Program
: Engage
thousands of young people annually in mentorship, leadership training, and
crime prevention education. By 2023, over 20,000 youth had participated in the
Explorers Program, with many graduates pursuing careers in law enforcement,
community service, or related fields.
•
Crisis Management System (CMS) Partnership
: The NYPD has developed
partnerships with social services and nonprofits, such as the Crisis
Management System (CMS), which focuses on violence interruption in
neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence. The CMS, often described as
“violence interrupters,” works to mediate conflicts before they escalate. The
collaboration between the NYPD and community-based organizations earned
praise for significantly reducing gun violence in high-crime areas.
•
Crime Reduction and Prevention Strategies:
The NYPD has seen remarkable
crime reductions through strategic initiatives, including the CompStat system,
which uses data-driven analysis to deploy officers where crime is most likely to
occur. This was complemented by proactive measures such as Operation Impact
(2003), where officers were deployed to high-crime areas. Between 2003 and
2023, New York City's major crime rates declined by over 40 percent, with
homicides falling from 596 in 2003 to around 391 by 2023, according to NYPD
reports.
•
Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Program:
The NYPD revamped its
training curriculum and increased its focus on de-escalation tactics, crisis
intervention, and bias awareness. A comprehensive Crisis Intervention
Training (CIT) program was introduced in 2015 and has since expanded
to train all officers on responding to individuals with mental health needs.
The training program has been recognized as a model for large urban
police departments. Additionally, in 2022, the NYPD received
commendation for integrating implicit bias training for all recruits and in-
service officers.
Good
Governance
and
Inclusive
Decision-Making
Good Governance and Inclusive Decision-Making
To achieve racial equity, the City must hold itself to unwavering standards of
governance, including building a representative and inclusive workforce, dismantling
discrimination across the city, advancing accountability and integrity in our operations,
implementing just enforcement and regulatory mechanisms, promoting transparency,
and centering communities and participatory processes.
Representation and Inclusivity
Structural and institutional racism have historically impacted access to employment,
leading to occupational segregation. This has not only caused disparities in wealth
building, but also disparities in access to benefits such as health care, paid time off, and
financial programs. Like employers across the country, there is significant occupational
segregation in the City’s workforce.
Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and discrimination, severely limiting
employment opportunities for African Americans, relegating them to low-wage, low-skill
jobs. Even as the New Deal introduced workforce protections like minimum wage laws,
Social Security benefits, and overtime pay, these provisions often excluded people of
color.
71
Additionally, school segregation and discrimination in college admissions
created significant barriers to entry across various industries. Access to government
jobs—traditionally viewed as “good” jobs due to their benefits and potential for economic
stability—was also affected by these structural inequalities. The civil service system,
though designed to promote fairness in hiring through a competitive process, was still
subject to bias and failed to address the systemic discrimination and barriers faced by
people of color. It is important to note that most City positions are in the competitive
class, for which New York State Civil Service Law requires candidates to take a test to
determine their merit and fitness for the job. This, at times, has had an adverse impact
on enhancing representation in various job titles. We recognize that these inequities
contribute to persistent occupational segregation, pay disparities, and limited upward
mobility for marginalized communities.
While considerable progress has been made to address these historical harms,
disparities still exist. Data suggests that diversity in New York’s state and local
government agencies has increased over the last decade.
72
Despite the City’s
workforce diversity, pay disparities between white people and people of color persist.
Condition of Thriving:
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New
York City has the opportunity to thrive with:
Access and opportunity to participate
meaningfully in government decision-making
Although 65 percent of the City’s workforce identify as people of color
73
, they are
disproportionately represented in lower-paying civil service titles.
Civil Rights and Discrimination
The federal government passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to outlaw segregation in
public spaces because exclusion and threats of violence denied Black people access to
basic services such as hotels, restaurants, salons, and gas stations.
Anti-discrimination laws, like the NYC Human Rights Law, passed in 1965, were created
to prevent and prohibit race and color discrimination, and signal the legal consequences
for discrimination. Today, the NYC Human Rights Law is one of the broadest anti-
discrimination laws in the country, with over 25 protected categories, including race,
color, national origin, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The
NYC Human Rights Law prohibits housing providers, employers, and public spaces
from discriminating against people on the basis of their identity. The City is committed to
vigorously enforcing the Human Rights Law by investigating individual allegations of
discrimination, and identifying larger patterns and practices of discrimination, which
often disproportionately harm people of color.
While pursuing individual cases of discrimination makes up a significant portion of the
City’s enforcement, barriers remain for individuals to report discrimination and
harassment. There is significant evidence indicating that communities most impacted by
discrimination and bias under-report these experiences. Individuals may not report
discrimination for many reasons including, a lack of awareness of legal rights, the
emotional impact of reporting, time constraints, and fear of retaliation. However, it is
also well documented that distrust in government is a major factor. A recent report
indicates government agencies are the least trusted institution in the world, especially
among communities of color who have experienced systemic harm.
74
These factors
likely impact reporting to the City. In recent years, less than 20 percent of claims were
race-related, even though research suggests race discrimination is pervasive across
New York City.
75
Accountability and Integrity
It is important to recognize that the City’s institutions, staff members, and vendors can
also inflict harm upon New Yorkers. As such, when we think about advancing racial
equity through the law, we must apply many lenses, including the lenses of justice and
equity, into all aspects of our internal- and external-legal matters.
In promoting integrity and equity for all New Yorkers, the City investigates individuals,
including government actors, who steal or waste valuable public resources – including
those intended to benefit vulnerable New Yorkers. These individuals who pose risks to
the efficient and appropriate use of resources, or allow such risks to persist unchecked,
undermine integrity and transparency in City government.
Systemic corruption and misuse of public resources, when they occur, often
disproportionately impact marginalized communities, particularly communities of color,
to the extent that unethical or corrupt government entities or third parties divert public
resources from their intended recipients. Recent examples of the City’s work in this
respect include a Florida woman charged with a years-long scheme to defraud
approximately 120 low-income New York City residents out of tens of thousands of
dollars of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits
76
, and the arrest of
a former senior fiscal officer for embezzling over two million dollars from a nonprofit
organization that received City funding to provide employment and education services
for economically disadvantaged people and those with emotional, developmental,
and/or physical disabilities.
77
It is imperative that the City’s legal and regulatory
enforcement ensure that racial inequities are not further exacerbated.
Just Enforcement and Processes
When City enforcement agencies issue summonses to residents, when a city agency
files disciplinary charges against an employee, when a parent files a complaint
regarding special education services for a child, or when other types of civil violations
are alleged, the City seeks to adjudicate these matters in a manner that ensures
fairness and equal treatment to all parties regardless of race or other status.
All administrative law judges and hearing officers in City administrative tribunals are
bound by a judicial code of ethics, which includes a duty to act in a manner without bias
or prejudice based on socioeconomic status or any status protected by the New York
City Human Rights Law and New York State Human Rights Law.
Ethical rules also require administrative adjudicators to take specific steps to ensure
that unrepresented parties are fully heard, including explaining the procedures, using
plain language, providing translation and interpreters to overcome language barriers,
and supplying information about low- or no-cost legal resources that may be available to
those who lack the wherewithal to secure legal representation.
The City also has a Center for Creative Conflict Resolution, which is the City’s central
resource for conflict resolution services and restorative justice work, and central to that
work is equity and fair treatment.
However, many factors outside of the adjudicatory process might result in unintended
disparities – including enforcement strategies, fine structures, disciplinary decisions,
and the laws and rules that define violations.
Transparency
Through the Municipal Library and Municipal Archives, the City works to preserve and
provide access to records of New York City’s municipal government dating from the first
colonial settlements in the 1600s to the present day. The work of countless City clerks,
librarians, and archivists over the past four centuries has allowed the City to not only
preserve history, but to learn from it.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated that preserving
and learning from history is “key to strengthen the global fight against racism.”
78
In this
spirit, the City has long been organizing and cataloging records that document
government decision-making and engagement with residents.
However, records from the earliest collections in the 17
th
and 18
th
centuries are
handwritten in English and cursive, making it difficult to decipher and make accessible
to multilingual users with accuracy in real time. Collections must better reflect New York
City’s diverse communities, which requires not only expanding the types of records
transferred to the Archives, but also ensuring that City agencies better document and
report on stories and perspectives of underrepresented communities. Unfortunately,
adherence to the City’s charter mandate requirements for transferring archival records,
managing records, and adding content to the Government Publications Portal has been
inconsistent, leaving gaps in how government interactions with diverse communities are
recorded and preserved.
Further, there are significant challenges in how past record keepers’ terminology for
materials may now be considered offensive or insensitive. The City is actively leading
initiatives to identify and remediate these inadvertent descriptions or cataloging terms to
ensure that the City’s records are inclusive. By eliminating outdated terminology and
including more complete descriptions, we can better ensure that the records are
accessible and meaningful to all New Yorkers.
In addition, the fields of library, archive, and records management have historically been
lacking in diversity. The profession remains disproportionately represented by white
women, with national statistics from the Society of American Archivists reporting that
only 16 percent of archivists are people of color, while 71 percent are women.
79
These
disparities not only appear in staffing, but also in pay. In New York City, despite data
suggesting a diverse applicant pool, the underrepresentation persists and is reflected in
the agency’s records management division.
Community-Driven and Participatory
Democracy, or government by the people, centers people’s voices in decision-making
and ultimately depends on the ability and will of people to manifest their individual and
collective power to organize for change. Civic engagement is both a right and
responsibility and can include a range of activities such as voting, participating in public
meetings, participatory budgeting, deliberative forums, and serving on voluntary boards.
However, the United States has a well-documented history of systemically restricting
the power and influence of diverse communities in civic affairs and governance. This
includes suppression of voting rights and systemic exclusion that restricts civic
participation based on property ownership or English literacy requirements. When those
in governing power systematically exclude and silence people along the lines of race,
ethnicity, gender, class, religion, and other characteristics, they reduce people’s power
to one (1) advocate for their own well-being, two (2) define what is of benefit to
communities, and three (3) develop a strong and reliable safety net for the most
vulnerable members of society. Civic exclusion and disparities often go hand in hand.
In New York City, barriers to civic engagement are multi-dimensional and reinforced by
different forms of discrimination, each compounding the barriers to political participation.
For example, housing discrimination, exclusionary zoning, and redlining practices of
denying mortgage loans and insurance to residents of predominantly Black and
Hispanic neighborhoods across NYC have led to persistent economic disinvestment
and residential segregation which has, in turn, limited residents' ability to engage fully in
civic life.
80
School segregation diminishes political participation by isolating Black and
Latina/o/x students in under-resourced schools, perpetuating cycles of inequality and
reducing opportunities for upward mobility.
81
Disparities in the criminal justice system,
including over-policing and harsh sentencing, disproportionately affect communities of
color and contribute to a pervasive mistrust of political institutions.
Health care inequality has an adverse impact on overall health, which also limits political
engagement. Employment discrimination and income disparities restrict access to
resources crucial for civic engagement, such as transportation to polling stations and
time for voting. Finally, the digital divide remains a critical issue. It’s not only that low-
income neighborhoods across the City will have low-speed and expensive broadband
services, but also that people will have limited access to high quality devices, software,
as well as digital literacy skills necessary to engage with the world around them online.
82
Whether seeking employment opportunities, engaging with school assignments, or
participating in civic and political processes, lower digital access will disadvantage
communities in various ways and hinder their ability to fully participate in society.
Language barriers compound these issues by further isolating marginalized
communities from the democratic process. In New York City, nearly half of the
population speaks languages other than English. Nearly a quarter of residents who do
not speak English will face difficulties accessing public resources due to the lack of
multilingual materials and services, and the lack knowledge about opportunities for civic
engagement. Additionally, the language barrier is exacerbated by the digital divide, as
voters who prefer translated materials in a language other than English may also have
limited digital access and struggle to find up-to-date information about voter registration
and polling locations in their language. These intersecting factors generally create
complex barriers to civic engagement, such as reduced participation in local policy-
making structures like public hearings or membership in community boards, and voter
participation specifically, reflecting a broader pattern of disenfranchisement that
perpetuates inequality and limits the political power of marginalized communities in
NYC.
Unified Commitment
The agencies in this section are committed to building and maintaining a local
governance structure that is adaptive, responsive, and equitable for all communities.
Civic Engagement Commission
Mission and Commitment
The purpose of the Civic Engagement Commission is to enhance civic participation,
increase civic trust, and strengthen democracy in New York City.
The CEC has made strides in racial equity and inclusion and is committed to advancing
racial equity in NYC. Specifically, within The People’s Money program, CEC has adopted a
population size and poverty level formula to guide the budget allocation for the
implementation of the participatory budgeting (PB) initiatives. Most of the participatory
budgeting program engagement happens within the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity
(TRIE) neighborhoods. More specifically, the Commission has partnered with non-profits in
each neighborhood and invested in their capacity to engage residents in civic engagement.
CEC's voter language assistance services rely on a methodology that was publicly vetted
and reviewed by communities in order to determine the languages we focus on voter
interpreter assistance. Our community board training includes topics such as language
access and conflict resolution between board members, both of which are important
strategies for creating more inclusive civic engagement.
In further developing our racial equity work and developing our plan, CEC will actively seek
ways we can measure our reach and engagement with diverse communities, as well as
how we are impacting civic trust as an outcome of engagement.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure all CEC public facing material is accessible to diverse communities
through meeting Local Law 30
63
and plain language requirements
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, 100% of our information assets are available in all Local Law
30 languages.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with programmatic teams to compile an inventory of
information assets and determine workflow for remaining translation
•
Develop rubrics to assess the accessibility, clarity, and cultural
competence of our public facing assets
•
Leverage Language Access Advisory Committee (LAAC) to ensure
translations are culturally competent
c.
Indicators
:
63
NYC Administrative Code sec. 23-1101
et seq
•
Number of assets translated into all Local Law 30 languages
•
Percent of CEC assets reviewed through rubrics
2.
Goal:
Develop culturally competent communication and outreach strategies that
leverage the arts to engage New Yorkers of diverse backgrounds
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, 100% of artistic and communication strategies pass a rubric
assessing accessibility and cultural competence.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop rubrics to assess the cultural competency of our communication
and artistic strategies
•
Collaborate with arts and culture organizations with a focus on TRIE
neighborhoods, including youth serving groups, to increase New Yorker
engagement with The People’s Money process
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of art interventions
64
•
Number of people reached
•
Number of new partnerships with diverse arts and culture organizations
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Develop disaggregated data pipelines for all participatory budgeting phases (idea
generation, borough assemblies to create ballots, voting, and project implementation)
so that we can determine how we reach diverse communities and identify any potential
disparities
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, 100% of participatory budgeting processes have data
analytics dashboards created and made available to the public.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with participatory budgeting staff to develop data collection
tools and strategies to measure how we are reaching diverse communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of data collection tools identified/developed to better track key
indicators
•
Percent of participatory budgeting phases that have an analytics dashboard
•
Number of recommendations and strategy improvements made based on
increased understanding of the footprint of our participatory budgeting
operations
2.
Goal
: Increase the technical capacity of Community Board members to carry out their
duties to reduce poverty, discrimination, and inequality
64
Art that often exists in public spaces and communities, bringing it directly to people (rather than confined to a
gallery) and often creates dialogue, awareness, and challenges perceptions.
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, ensure that at least 75% of Community Board members who
received capacity building training report an increase in knowledge on equity,
and particularly racial equity.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Source and provide capacity building trainings on topics such as youth
outreach, conflict resolution, fair and affordable housing, diversity and
accessibility, the city’s budget, language access, parliamentary
procedures, home ownership, harassment and discrimination, and the
2021 legislation on racial equity reports for rezoning
•
Work to increase attendance and re-enrollment to workshops
•
Create outreach strategies to target each community board by deploying
CEC staff to attend at least one CB session a year
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of trainings
•
Number of attendees
•
Number of topics covered
•
Self-reported learning outcomes with Post workshop survey
3.
Goal
: Reduce language barriers for voters who prefer interpreter assistance in elections
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, increase voting participation by New Yorkers who prefer
interpreter assistance in poll sites.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Facilitate language forums to inform voters of their rights to language
services, ability to bring interpreters to the poll site, and information on
what’s on the ballot
•
To promote outreach and community engagement, the CEC will continue
to build partnerships with youth and older adult serving organizations, faith
leaders, TRIE Neighborhood Initiative partners, the NYC Campaign
Finance Board, Libraries, NYC Public Schools, as well as elected officials
•
Increase voter language accessibility in NYC poll sites by providing
interpretation services
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number people that voted by using the poll site service
•
Number of sessions
•
Number of attendees
•
Satisfaction feedback survey
•
Number of poll sites by language
•
Number of interpreters by language
•
Number of languages
4.
Goal
: Collaborate with other agencies to introduce and encourage the usage of
participatory processes to determine agency resource allocation or agency policy
a.
Outcome
: By 2029, pilot with at least two city agencies to leverage to increase
use of participatory processes.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Engage with city agencies to have them facilitate their own Idea
Generation Sessions as part of The People’s Money
•
Engage with city agencies to have them support the planning and
management of the projects that get to be implemented through The
People’s Money
•
Engage with city agencies to use data collected through The People’s
Money for policy making and priority setting
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of interagency relationships established
•
Number of interagency initiatives launched
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Invest in historically underserved neighborhoods to strengthen civic engagement
infrastructure, including investing in non-profit and community-based organizations
providing essential services (e.g., employment support, disaster relief, housing support,
economic development, arts and culture, etc.)
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, increase and spend more of the participatory budgeting
programmatic budget on diverse partnerships.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Apply lessons learned from data analysis to proactively seek diverse
partners that are led by and that service CEC priority populations that we
have not been able to work with before
•
Enhance our budget management databases and practices to better
report on demographic information from the organizations that we fund
and other relevant information to assess that we are empowering through
our operation budgets organizations led by CEC priority populations
•
Increase capacity building for partnerships to generate greater impact on
communities CEC serves
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of priority populations specific partners
•
Number of distinct organizations in TRIE neighborhoods funded
•
Percent of total PB funding for partners serving
2.
Goal
: Increase agency among low income and diverse New Yorkers on how the city
allocates funding to invest in community priorities
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, reach 100% of equitable representation in The People’s
Money’s/Participatory Budgeting cycle including idea generation sessions,
borough assembly committees, and the voting process in all boroughs in terms of
race, ethnicity, and gender identity as captured by the most up to date census
data.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify and address barriers to participation for priority populations and
residents of TRIE neighborhoods
•
Advocate for more funding to the participatory budgeting program to scale
impact
•
Continue to collaborate with City agencies like the public libraries, Mayor’s
Office of Immigrant Affairs, Department for the Aging, Department of
Youth and Community Development, NYC Public Schools and community-
based and led organizations who serve CEC priority populations to
promote awareness and outreach
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of idea generation sessions held with priority populations and/or in
TRIE neighborhoods
•
Percent of ideas produced from sessions in equity neighborhoods and/or
from high-priority populations
•
Demographics of each Borough Assembly Committee
•
Percent of voters self-identifying residence in a TRIE neighborhood
•
Percent of voters self-identifying with at least one high-priority population
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#2: Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
•
#4: Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
Spotlight Wins
•
The People’s Money Year One Outcomes:
Project Implementation:
In the first cycle of The People’s Money, 46 Projects were
selected to be funded for a total of $5 million. 33 projects were funded at $50,000 in
each one of the 33 TRIE Neighborhoods. The remaining 13 were larger in scale, and
their funding was allocated based on population and poverty level distribution
between the five boroughs: four projects were implemented in Brooklyn, three in the
Bronx, three in Queens, two in Manhattan, and one in Staten Island for a total of
$3.35 million.
•
The People’s Money Year Two Outcomes:
Community Outreach & Ballots:
In Year Two (2), the CEC partnered with 84
community partners including 30 TRIE organizations. Together, they mobilized New
Yorkers citywide to cast a total of 139,688 ballots. Over 50 percent of the total
ballots (81,704) were cast by residents of TRIE Neighborhood zip codes.
Additionally, 35,613 ballots were in a language other than English.
Survey Results:
Based on the survey data retrieved from 107,744 voters, we found
our community outreach successfully engaged groups that are underrepresented in
traditional civic engagement processes. Minority voters made up the majority of
survey respondents, and 37.6 percent identified as Hispanic or Latino. Other
highlights include the participation of English Language Learners (24 percent of
respondents), Public Housing Residents (10 percent of respondents), and Justice-
Impacted Individuals (3 percent).
•
TRIE Neighborhood Initiative Outcomes:
Coalition-Building:
In FY 2023-2024, the CEC invested $1,575,500 in 30 TRIE
Partnerships, which funds CBOs in priority NYC Neighborhoods to build a coalition,
conduct community outreach to engage residents in The People’s Money, and to
host civic engagement workshops. Twenty percent (20 percent) of the TRIE
Partnership funding was reinvested into TRIE Coalition Partnership as a means to
strengthen community-building and civic infrastructure within TRIE Neighborhoods.
Commission on Human Rights
Mission and Commitment
For more than 80 years, the Commission on Human Rights ("CCHR" or the
"Commission") has fought for a city free from discrimination where all New Yorkers can
live, work, and thrive with dignity. Our mission was born out of the need to address
racial tension and disparities, a commitment that remains as vital today as ever. We
believe that diversity is the cornerstone of our city's strength.
Honoring our differences, the Commission uses the power of law, education, and
community engagement to unify our city, even at our most challenging times. By
centering equity in the daily lives of all New Yorkers, we draw on the rich histories and
lived experiences of the communities we serve. Our work continues to grow and evolve
to meet the ever-changing needs of all New Yorkers.
To advance fundamental rights for all New Yorkers, the Commission is committed to:
•
Forge pathways to justice for individuals impacted by discrimination, resulting in
individual remedies and systemic policy change through robust litigation.
•
Cultivate respect, understanding, and inclusion to combat discrimination via
education, outreach, and community engagement.
•
Shape laws and policies that eliminate root causes of discrimination and advance
equality, working with government and community partners.
To successfully address racial inequities and promote social justice, the
Commission's role is to build bridges, foster meaningful dialogue, and work with
stakeholders to identify and address gaps in the Law in a way that is responsive to
the lived experiences of New Yorkers most impacted by bias, hate, and exclusion.
Together, these efforts cultivate a city where everyone can live, work, and thrive
regardless of identity.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Increase strategic partnerships with organizations in communities facing
resource disparities, with a focus on
Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity
(TRIE) neighborhoods
a.
Outcome:
In FY 2027, participate in at least one legal intake per borough
to strengthen partnerships and visibility, focused on the highest need areas
of NYC.
b.
Strategies:
•
Work with partners imbedded in communities to enhance agency
responsiveness and inform trainings and outreach
•
Pilot
new models of intake and collaboration in each borough
to
address some hurdles to reporting for marginalized communities
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of legal intake events conducted, by borough
•
Number of strategic partnerships established with organizations in
TRIE neighborhoods, disaggregated by neighborhood
•
Number of TRIE neighborhoods engaged
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Expand Commission investigations to root out patterns and practices of
discrimination relating to race, color, and national origin in employment and public
places
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2028, launch up to five Commission-initiated
investigations, which will be informed by prior Commission cases, to identify
and eliminate racially discriminatory policies and practices, including those
that have a disparate impact on Black New Yorkers.
b.
Strategies:
•
Strengthen the capacity to utilize statistical data and experts to
identify disparate impact
•
Continue to strengthen information sharing with community-based
organizations to identify repeat violators of the NYC Human Rights Law
•
Use agency data to identify repeat violators of the NYC Human Rights Law
based on situations where individuals may report issues but not file a
complaint
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of Commission-initiated investigations that address policies and
practices with a disparate impact on Black New Yorkers in employment and
public places
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Enhance accessibility of services to reduce barriers to reporting and addressing
discrimination
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2037, ensure that agency communications and intake
services are accessible.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review agency materials and create new materials that are at 5
th
grade
reading level
•
Invest in and deploy new communication channels for intake
appointments, complaint filing, document sharing, and ongoing
engagement with complainants.
•
Removal of barriers to complaint filing, such as need for notarization.
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of public facing materials that are accessible
•
Percentage of agency communication and intake materials that meet
established accessibility standards
•
New technologies put into practice for communicating with members of the
public
•
Percentage of language access requests that are fulfilled
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the
public, categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
•
#17: Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability access to job training and funds to start businesses.
Spotlight Wins
•
In 2024, the Commission and the Fair Housing Justice Center reached a landmark
settlement to address pervasive housing discrimination. This is the Commission's
largest housing settlement, resulting in the payment of $1 million in civil penalties to
NYC and an agreement from the housing provider to set aside 850 apartments for New
Yorkers with housing vouchers. This settlement is significant for equity and racial justice
because 60-70 percent of voucher holders identify as Black, Latino, or Asian -
nationally and in NYC.
•
The Commission is educating about and enforcing new housing protections for
individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, which took effect on January 1, 2025,
as part of the Fair Chance Housing Law. Passed in 2024, this amendment to the NYC
Human Rights Law paves the way to housing by limiting the use of criminal background
checks in housing decisions.
Department of Citywide Administrative Services
Mission and Commitment
The NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) makes city government work
for all New Yorkers. Our commitment to equity, effectiveness, and sustainability guides our work in
providing City agencies with the resources and support needed to succeed, including:
•
Recruiting, hiring, and training City employees
•
Managing 56 public buildings
•
Acquiring, selling, and leasing City property
•
Purchasing over $1 billion in goods and services for City agencies
•
Overseeing the greenest municipal vehicle fleet in the country
•
Leading the City's efforts to reduce carbon emissions from government operations
At DCAS, equity is a core value. Our commitment to equity, effectiveness and sustainability
guides our work providing City agencies with the resources and support needed to succeed.
DCAS acts on its commitment to equity by providing services that help municipal government
uplift and empower all New Yorkers.
This commitment includes recruiting and retaining a workforce that reflects the talents and
diversity of the city DCAS serves. DCAS provides the Workforce Profile Report, a snapshot of key
demographic information and other characteristics about the City’s workforce, to help City
agencies shape strategies to improve diversity and increase equity. As a source of centralized
training within the New York City government for employees at all levels and agencies, DCAS is
committed to providing professional development opportunities to facilitate career growth, along
with training and tools to fight bias and discrimination in the workplace, including through the
NYCityLearn platform.
DCAS also plays an essential role in progressing the City’s major emissions reduction goals,
which benefit all New Yorkers, and more critically, communities disproportionately impacted by
poor air quality. DCAS and its partner agencies have committed to incorporating equity measures
into decarbonization planning and decision-making.
Collectively, these efforts will expand economic opportunities, address systemic issues, and move
the agency and the city closer to achieving racial equity.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Deepen M/WBE vendor outreach and engagement efforts to enhance their capacity
to participate in contracting opportunities. DCAS will continue to implement and evaluate
goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state and local law
a. Outcome:
By the end of 2026, conduct 180 one-on-one vendor engagement
sessions annually.
b. Strategies:
•
Inventory current outreach efforts and use M/WBE data to inform outreach
strategies and initiatives
•
Host networking events with construction project managers to provide
opportunities for M/WBE vendors to learn about subcontracting opportunities
•
Expand additional one-on-one virtual sessions for vendors and use sessions
to identify barriers to M/WBE participation in contracting opportunities and
provide recommendations
•
Educate DCAS Project Managers on the breadth of the M/WBE program,
ways to improve their M/WBE search, and the challenges vendors face in the
M/WBE contracting process
•
Implement outreach strategies, such as social media campaigns, and host
M/WBE targeted events in collaboration with SBS, Office of M/WBE, MOCS
and other agency partners
c. Indicators:
•
Number of vendor engagement sessions held
•
Number of vendors served
•
Number of vendors satisfied with vendor engagement sessions
2.
Goal:
Build knowledge and capacity of city employees, including supervisory, and
managerial employees, to identify, respond to, and combat racism and racial discrimination
in the workplace
a.
Outcome:
By the end of the first training cycle in FY27, ensure 100% of city
employees have completed the mandated Everybody Matters EEO training that
incorporates new anti-racism training.
b.
Strategies:
•
Convene a working group with agency partners such as the Mayor’s Office of
Equity & Racial Justice (MOERJ) and the City Commission on Human Rights
(CCHR) and other stakeholders to define goals, outline content, and develop
an implementation plan that includes engaging a vendor and/or NYCityLearn
on content development and delivery
•
Relaunch the Everybody Matters EEO training which will include anti-racism
training content Citywide by communicating the training mandate and
compliance expectations to agencies, monitoring compliance, and conducting
outreach to agencies with low compliance rates
•
At the end of the training cycle, update the training module as necessary to
incorporate feedback, current policies, new legislation, etc.
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of city employees that completed the training
•
Percent of DCAS employees that completed the training
•
Percent of agencies that have achieved 100% employee compliance
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Incorporate innovative procurement methods while maintaining compliance with
federal, state and local law
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, standardized process to identify opportunities for agencies to
procure goods under $1.5M using the M/WBE methods.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review contracts to determine eligibility for unbundling (breaking large
contracts into smaller contracts) and vet for approval
•
Communicate to agencies once eligible contracts are unbundled
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of eligible contracts unbundled
•
Number of contract delegations to agencies
2.
Goal:
Complete a citywide pay equity analysis through a selected third-party vendor to
study potential pay disparities within 30 selected civil service job titles and make policy
recommendations
a.
Outcome
: By May 2027, the selected vendor must submit the first of three pay
equity analysis reports to the City (as per Local Law 27) outlining the methodology
developed to complete the job title evaluation, initial pay equity analysis findings and
recommendations for consideration to close any identified gaps. The second and
third pay equity analysis reports shall be due 1 year and 2 years, respectively, after
the first report has been published.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review data (e.g. background information, job descriptions, title
specifications, pay authorizations and promotion trees) for the 15 civil service
titles with the greatest deviation from citywide gender demographics and the
15 civil service titles with the greatest deviation from citywide racial or ethnic
demographics as of June 30, 2025
•
Using methodology approved by the City (including desk audits), the third-
party vendor will assess the potential presence of pay disparity within the
selected job titles
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of civil service titles reviewed
•
Number of civil service titles where pay inequities were identified
•
Number of impacted employees (pay difference between employees
performing similar work after accounting for job-related factors, e.g. years of
experience and education)
•
Number and rate of salary adjustments needed, if applicable
3.
Goal:
Reduce barriers to employment within city government by reforming the city’s
minimum qualification requirements (MQR) for civil service titles
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, review 150 civil service titles.
b.
Strategies:
•
Revise qualification requirements to credit relevant work experience and
practical skills to expand qualifying pathways
•
Titles recommended for revision will be reviewed by user agencies, OLR, and
the union, and if the revision is approved, the MQR of the civil service title will
be updated and a new title description published
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of civil service titles reviewed
•
Number of civil service titles revised
•
Number of jobs impacted by change to MQRs
•
Number of job applications for positions with revised MQRs
•
Number of candidates on civil service lists for titles with revised MQRs
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
DCAS has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement and
evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state and local law
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, maintain implementation consistent with local law.
b.
Strategies:
•
Expand inclusive procurement practices
•
Develop design-build contract opportunities with a value ranging from $1M to
$80M and set M/WBE utilization goals for multi-year contracts
•
For applicable contracts, review the scope of work and subcontracting areas
with project managers
•
Engage M/WBEs as prime contractors, subcontractors, and through joint
ventures, as applicable
•
Conduct research to better understand barriers to entry for M/WBE firms
interested in pursuing joint ventures
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of new vendors submitting responses to solicitations for DCAS
contracts
•
Number of M/WBE vendors with DCAS contracts, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, and gender
•
Number of M/WBE vendors awarded prime contracts
•
Number of M/WBE vendors receiving contracts for small purchases
•
Dollar amount of contracts awarded to M/WBEs
•
Use of M/WBE Non-Competitive Small Purchase Method (NCSP) by
agencies citywide
2.
Goal:
Advance environmental justice in NYS Disadvantaged Communities (DACs) by
fulfilling the City’s mandate for emissions reduction
a.
Outcome:
By 2030, expand the electric truck program by 30% and
install at least 50% of fast electrical chargers in Disadvantaged Communities
(DACs).
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify target locations within DACs and assess feasibility of sites to host
charging stations
•
Establish contracts and MOUs with vendors and primary stakeholders, and
conduct prep work for installation
•
Install fast EV charging networks, and continuously test and inspect
•
Increase number of electric trucks in fleet
c.
Indicators:
•
Number and percent of fast chargers in DAC communities
•
Number of additional sites identified
•
Percent of additional sites confirmed and planned for installation
•
Number of electric trucks purchased or on order
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city jobs. Ensure
that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age and disability in city pay,
promotions, and contracts.
Spotlight Wins
Expand Employee Knowledge of Equity and Inclusion Topics in the Workplace
•
Increase in completed equity and inclusion trainings by City employees/participants:
In
FY24 City employees completed 435,996 DCAS-provided training courses in equity and
inclusion, a three percent increase from FY23. This includes the “Everybody Matters” course,
which covers the City’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, who is protected, what
constitutes discrimination, and who is entitled to an accommodation. Additionally, Structured
Interviewing and Unconscious Bias courses train employees in how to identify unconscious
biases and the impact of bias on decision-making, providing tools for making fair employment
decisions and best practice guidance in this area, including a review of the Uniform Guidelines
on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP).
•
DCAS’s Race Equity Initiative (REI) for DCAS Employees:
DCAS launched its “REI
Champions” program for DCAS employees. Twenty (20) DCAS employees were selected for
the program: eight (8) as learning series specialists that contribute resources for the monthly
learning series and twelve (12) as trainers to facilitate unconscious bias, structured
interviewing, and bystander intervention training across the agency. In November 2024, DCAS
launched Structured Interviewing training for its HR personnel and over 300 hiring managers.
Reduce the environmental impact of carbon emissions in Disadvantaged Communities
(DACs)
•
DCAS achieved 50x25 GHG reduction and major air quality improvement through
implementation of NY State’s largest EV fleet (5,700+), hybrid fleet (4,300+), electric charging
network (2,400+) and biofuels program with all fleet, off-road equipment and the Staten Island
Ferry now completely using biofuels. Orders are in place for 6,100 EVs, and 32 additional solar
carports will be ordered in 2026 which will be placed at NYC Parks parking lots in DACs and
made available to fleet and the general public.
Increase Access to City Jobs
Pathway Programs
•
CTE Automotive Technology Internships and EV Training:
In 2024, DCAS expanded its
High School Automotive Internship Program from a summer, paid-learning opportunity to a
year-round series of seasonal cohorts to broaden student access and engagement.
•
Expansion of the Civil Service Pathways Fellowship (CSPF) Program from 200 to 400
seats:
CSPF is a two-year program for City University of New York (CUNY) graduates that
creates a pipeline to civil service careers.
•
Modern Youth Apprenticeship program:
In FY26, DCAS launched
a first-of-its-kind pathway
to help young New Yorkers, ages 16-24, launch good-paying careers in city agencies more
easily. Up to 500 young adults at a time will be hired into the Youth Apprentice title for up to six
years across city agencies.
Targeted Recruitment
DCAS doubled its efforts to engage communities across the five boroughs, especially with
justice-impacted individuals. In FY25, DCAS participated in 308 career outreach events, a 66
percent increase from FY24, reaching more than 15,075 participants. DCAS also hosted
targeted hiring events for early-career professionals and individuals with disabilities. DCAS
also partnered with DOC and ACS to conduct ten “Civil Service 101” information sessions
reaching 128 participants across DOC facilities on Rikers Island and ACS-operated youth
detention centers in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
Remove Barriers to City Employment
•
Minimum Qualification Review
: In June 2023, DCAS began reforming the city’s Minimum
Qualification Requirements for entry level civil service titles. To date, DCAS has completed
review of 70 titles with the potential to impact over 54,700 jobs.
•
New Exam Fee Waivers for NYC Public High School students and first-time civil service
test takers:
Effective July 1, 2026 (as per Local Law 57 of 2025) New York City civil service
exams are now completely free for NYC high school students and first-time test takers.
•
Bridge Exams:
Candidates apply for one exam, pay one application fee, and take a single test
that can be used for multiple titles. In 2025, this format was used for public safety titles,
resulting in over 3,800 applications.
•
Translatable Notice of Examinations (NOE):
Beginning in FY27, DCAS NOEs will be
translatable in candidates’ preferred language.
Support Employee Advancement
•
Launch of the EPIC Program:
DCAS’s Education Propelling into Career (EPIC) Program
allows eligible municipal employees to earn a high school equivalency diploma and 27 college
credits, expanding career opportunities.
•
DCAS EV Basics & Safety Training Program for City Employees:
The program is part of a
previously announced $1.4M public-private investment in the City's Green Economy Action
Plan to train the municipal workforce for nearly 400,000 projected 'green collar' jobs expected
over the next decade. In accordance with NYSDOL guidelines eligible employees must earn
no more than $91,000 annually, and more than one-quarter must reside in Disadvantaged
Communities.
•
Compensation Primers:
In June 2024, DCAS released Compensation Primers for non-
managerial, managerial and Original Jurisdiction (OJ) employees. These comprehensive
guides are the first of its kind in City government and explain all aspects of municipal employee
compensation, including how wages are determined and what retirement and education
benefits City employees are entitled to.
Capture Employee Viewpoints
•
Citywide Employee Viewpoint Survey (CEVS)
: Launched in September 2025. Over 16,300
employees completed the survey, representing an approximate 10% completion rate.
•
Citywide Exit Survey Analysis
DCAS’s second annual Exit Survey Analysis was released in
April of 2026. Employees reported positive experiences in their workplace, good relationships
with their managers and coworkers, feeling supported in their work, and a sense of respect
and belonging.
•
Career Counseling Feedback Survey (Local Law 75 – 2024):
The first career counseling
report was published in January 2026.
•
Citywide Workplace Climate Survey (Local Law 101 - 2018):
The survey aims to assess
employees’ understanding of the city’s EEO policy and the complaint and investigation process
and their experiences with workplace discrimination.
Perceptions of workplace safety and
compliance have steadily improved, and a strong majority of survey participants believe their
agency actively prevents EEO violations.
Department of Investigation
Mission and Commitment
The New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) is a law enforcement agency that promotes
and maintains integrity and efficiency in City government by investigating potential corruption,
gross mismanagement, waste, and abuse by City agencies, entities, employees, and contractors.
DOI serves New Yorkers by acting as an independent and nonpartisan watchdog for City
government. DOI has oversight of more than 45 mayoral agencies with over 300,000 employees,
as well as dozens of City boards and commissions. As an agency charged with promoting
accountability and integrity across City government, DOI recognizes the importance of advancing
equitable and inclusive practices within its own workforce. DOI targets corruption through
investigations that lead to arrests, public reports, and recommendations for policy and procedural
reforms intended to strengthen agencies’ internal controls and improve their operations. DOI’s
mission is to identify and seek to prevent criminal misconduct, waste, abuse, and
mismanagement, and to ensure wrongdoers - whether public officials, City employees,
contractors, or other third parties - are held accountable, and thereby improve the way City
government functions. DOI recognizes that racial equity is advanced not only through workforce
diversity and inclusion, but also through ensuring that City government systems operate with
integrity, accountability, and transparency. As the City's independent watchdog, DOI's work helps
strengthen public trust, which in turn supports equitable outcomes for New Yorkers.
As an agency responsible for the oversight of over 300,000 public employees, we recognize that,
beyond our investigative mission, we have a responsibility to be a leader in promoting diversity
and inclusion within our own workforce. Law enforcement agencies have historically faced
challenges in recruiting, hiring, retaining, and advancing a workforce that reflects the diversity of
the communities they serve. Public-facing agencies, especially law enforcement, should be
comprised of a demographic makeup comparable to that of the community which they serve, as
this will improve communication and relationships in both directions. All underutilization should be
addressed and analyzed to determine the root cause and, if feasible, to implement an action plan
towards a solution. For example, throughout FY2025 and FY2026, DOI experienced
underutilization of employees who self-identified as Black or African American, specifically in the
Technicians category. This category is comprised of Confidential Investigators and Special
Investigators and represents the largest job category in the agency. This ongoing issue continues
to be analyzed and addressed by the Executive Division, the EEO Office, Human Resources, and
other relevant members of the agency. It is through this lens that our plan goals were prepared.
DOI recognizes that workforce representation is a racial equity issue and is committed to
identifying and addressing barriers that contribute to disparities in recruitment, hiring, retention,
and advancement.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure that DOI Hiring Managers recognize and address any potential racial biases
that may occur during the interview phase of the hiring process
a.
Outcome
: By the end of calendar year 2026, ensure hiring managers have learned
and adopted an inclusive hiring framework.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Develop and train hiring managers on a comprehensive hiring guide to
promote equity in the hiring process
•
Collaborate with DCAS Learning and Development to deploy Unconscious
Bias training in order to provide training that helps hiring managers at DOI
identify and mitigate bias throughout the hiring process
•
Incorporate the EEO Office and Human Resources in the hiring process,
including question development, conducting interviews, candidate review, and
selection
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of hiring managers who have acknowledged their compliance
with the DOI Hiring Manager Guidebook
•
Percentage of hiring managers who have attended and completed
Unconscious Bias training
•
Demographics of recent hires and previous hires to assess training impact
1
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Ensure that DOI’s hiring practices address any identified racial disparities that may
occur in the recruitment phase of the hiring process
a. Outcome
: By 2028, strengthen the agency’s commitment to address any identified
racial disparities by ensuring equitable outreach to racially diverse and
underrepresented communities.
b. Strategies
:
•
Monitor and analyze utilization statistics to assess whether recruitment
practices are improving employment of underrepresented staff, particularly in
the Technicians job group
•
Expand strategies to increase diversity in recruitment, including posting on
diversity-focused job boards, attending diversity-focused job fairs, and
conducting outreach to schools and professional organizations
•
Perform regular assessments of job requirements, qualifications, and
recruitment processes to identify and address barriers that may
disproportionately impact applicants from historically disadvantaged
communities
1
For informational and communication purposes only.
c. Indicators
:
•
Percentage of recruitment events that occur at, or are focused on, diverse or
underrepresented demographic groups
•
Percentage of recruitment budget dedicated to events that involve diverse or
underrepresented demographic groups
•
Consistent adherence to utilization of statistical goals through verifiable data
2.
Goal:
DOI has a 10% goal for M/WBE utilization in our discretionary operational budget,
and will continue to implement and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are
consistent with federal, state, and local laws
a. Outcome:
By 2028, evaluate progress on the implementation of goals.
b. Strategies:
•
Continue to identify contracting opportunities for M/WBE firms, including
micro-purchases, small purchases, monitorships, and sub-contractors, and to
directly engage with M/WBE vendors regarding opportunities
•
Collaborate with internal stakeholders to identify ways to improve M/WBE
interest in DOI contracting opportunities
•
Perform regular assessments of eligibility requirements and qualifications to
minimize barriers to access DOI contracts, including for M/WBE vendors
c. Indicators:
•
Percentage of all contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
•
Number of M/WBE contracts awarded, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and
gender
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Advance racial equity and ensure pay parity within DOI's workforce in terms of hiring
and promotions
2
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, ensure hiring and pay parity across all titles and levels at DOI
are fair and equitable.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Perform annual analysis of demographics and pay data, and report results to
agency leadership, to address any potential pay disparities
•
Perform annual analysis of recruitment strategies, qualified applications, job
offers, and selected candidates, to determine if recruitment and interview
practices have reduced any identified racial disparities in hiring
2
Subject to Office of Management and Budget policies. Additionally, when applicable, implementation of any
workforce-related changes in furtherance of equity goals related to salary adjustments highlighted in this report must
be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
•
Perform annual analysis of promotional opportunities and demographic data
to both assess agency awareness of available promotions and to understand
the impact on demographic distribution
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percentage of salaries that pass internal pay parity analysis
•
Percentage of qualified applications per job opening
•
Consistent adherence to utilization of statistical goals through verifiable data
•
Consistent adherence to equitable promotions utilizing statistical goals
through verifiable data
Community Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age and disability in city
pay, promotions, and contracts.
Spotlight Wins
•
In 2024, DOI launched an Employee Resource Group (ERG) program designed to allow
employees with similar interests or common characteristics, including cultural heritage, to
create affinity groups. These ERGs have hosted diverse speakers on a variety of topics,
and have led diversity and professional development initiatives that are open to all staff.
•
DOI maintains a robust Equal Employment Opportunity Program led by its EEO Officer.
The EEO Office leads workforce analysis efforts and consistently works with leadership,
human resources, and hiring managers to improve diversity in DOI’s workforce. DOI is
overall a diverse work environment with a commitment to maintaining a fair and equitable
workplace for all employees. DOI continues to make strong efforts to identify and address
the underrepresentation of minority groups in its workforce.
•
DOI is also a leader when it comes to providing contracting opportunities for minority-
owned businesses and firms. As a law enforcement agency, DOI offers unique contracting
opportunities to work on interesting and sensitive law enforcement matters.
Department of Records and Information Services
Mission and Commitment
The mission of the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) is to foster a more
equitable civic life by preserving and providing access to the historical and contemporary records
of New York City municipal government. To achieve this, the Department ensures that City
records are properly maintained following professional library, archival and record management
practices and makes materials available to diverse communities both online and in person.
DORIS is dedicated to fostering an environment that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive. DORIS is
committed to ensuring access to its services for all individuals and to actively identifying,
preventing, and eliminating barriers which may prevent access to its resources.
As stewards of historical and contemporary records of city government, DORIS has a unique
responsibility to facilitate every New Yorker’s access to records documenting government
decisions and interactions. This also includes and encourages the agency to review how
government actions may have caused harm to marginalized communities, fostering a sense of
transparency and accountability.
As part of our commitment to racial equity, DORIS also has a responsibility to maintain a diverse
workforce and, to this end, will continue outreach efforts to youth and young adults to guide them
towards records management, library, archival, and conservation sciences programs, as well as
provide paid internships to engage new audiences in the field. Through these actions, DORIS is
dedicated to advancing racial equity, addressing historical harms, and ensuring that our city’s
records are accessible, inclusive, and reflective of all communities.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Analyze and leverage programming to highlight and uplift the histories of historically
marginalized communities so that DORIS remains vigilant and aware of historical harm and
community resilience
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, increase the percentage of programs and events that include
content addressing subjects that have been historically overlooked to 25% of all
programming.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct a needs assessment to identify underrepresented histories in current
programming
•
Identify primary communities for outreach using data and collaborate with
civic partners within target communities to tailor communication
•
Develop a calendar of events to highlight themes of historical harm and
resilience and evaluate impact of programming through feedback from
community stakeholders to ensure continued relevance and inclusivity.
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of programming events connected to the library and archival
collections
•
Percent of programming events that reflect the histories of historically
marginalized communities
•
Percent of participants reporting increased awareness of DORIS collections
and services
2.
Goal:
Expand access to our library and archival collections by increasing partnerships with
community-based organizations in historically underserved neighborhoods in the city by
20%, so that all New Yorkers have the opportunity to readily learn and interact with the
agency’s services
a.
Outcome
: By 2027, increase partnerships with community-based organizations in
Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) neighborhoods and/or historically
underserved areas of the city as part of volunteer and programming outreach by
20%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify community-based organizations in historically underserved
neighborhoods and develop partnership agreements that outline mutual goals
and shared access to collections and services
•
Co-create outreach programs tailored to local needs and interests and
regularly assess partnership impact and adjust programming based on
feedback from partner organizations
c.
Indicators
:
•
Increase in number of new partnerships with community-based organizations
in historically underserved neighborhoods
•
Increase in number of New Yorkers in historically underserved neighborhoods
participating in DORIS programming
•
Increase in number of participants reporting awareness of DORIS collections
and services
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Advance equity in information management, preservation, and access by developing
and implementing targeted training for DORIS staff and records officers across city
agencies biannually with greater than 90% participation
a.
Outcome
:
By 2028, publish training resources for record officers across city
agencies and ensure 100% of agency-wide and division-specific trainings are
implemented.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct gap analysis to identify staff knowledge of equity concepts in
information management
•
Develop or source training modules on equity and anti-racism in library and
archival practices
•
Develop collaborative framework for implementing this across records
management, library, and archival teams
•
Evaluate training effectiveness through post-training surveys and regular staff
feedback
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of required city employees who complete enhanced Online Records
Management training
•
Percent of agency divisions that engage with specific trainings on equity
•
Number of accepted and standardized Subjects and Names added to the
collection guides’ site
•
Number of agency record retention schedules reviewed using a racial equity
framework
2.
Goal:
Develop and implement tools and platforms to improve public access to our
collections, focusing on reaching diverse, historically underrepresented communities, and
involving them in identifying and describing figures in our digital records to deepen
understanding of our shared history
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, increase events that engage communities of color in
remediating online content and/or metadata associated with the collections of the
Archives and Library by 25%.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify baseline data for accessibility in user-experience on digital platforms
across the agency using Google analytics and census data
•
Conduct user research to understand accessibility challenges faced by
marginalized communities
•
Research available technological solutions to language and broader
accessibility barriers to collections
•
Improve online platforms that showcase collections to expand user access
and ease
•
Deploy training to all staff on using accessibility equipment and software
•
Host community information-gathering sessions around the tools so we can
incorporate feedback
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of visits by users in TRIE neighborhoods and/or historically
underserved communities
•
Increased percent of public-facing staff trained to use tools and platforms
•
Number of engagement sessions held to receive input from underrepresented
communities
3.
Goal:
Leverage primary source materials from the Archives and Library to promote
informed discussions on structural racism and racial equity, particularly for educators and
students
a.
Outcome
: Empower students to have meaningful and informed conversations on
structural racism and racial equity by expanding the showcasing of primary source
content from our collections about historically underrepresented communities by
10% to bolster curricula used by the Department of Education and CUNY.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with NYC Public Schools and the City University of New York to
identify curricula needs and select primary sources to integrate from the
Archives and Library collections that highlight issues of structural racism and
inequities
•
Develop educator toolkits or support their development in partnership with
volunteers, academic experts, and racial equity organizations
•
Analyze data to identify primary communities for outreach and identify civic
partners within the communities to tailor educational materials, such as blogs,
or curriculum aids to content that addresses structural racism
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of NYCPS or CUNY curricula that incorporate content from the
Municipal Library and/or Archives that reflect the City’s diversity and/or can be
used to facilitate discussions about inequities
•
Number of educator toolkits developed by DORIS that speak to structural
racism and inequities
•
Number of students and educators engaged in the agency’s educational
programs
•
Percent of students and educators engaged who are located in schools within
TRIE neighborhoods
4.
Goal:
Implement equitable and inclusive recruitment practices to ensure DORIS addresses
any underrepresentation of staff in certain roles within the agency through equitable
recruitment and hiring practices for all vacancies
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure 100% of open positions have an actionable recruitment
plan to increase applications from individuals from underrepresented communities
and provide a representative applicant pool.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct a review of the current workforce to identify any disparities,
disaggregated by demographic information
•
Develop internship and fellowship programs in library and archival
professions
•
Partner with local schools, colleges, and professional organizations to
promote careers in these fields
c.
Indicators
:
•
Demographics of workforce, new staff, and applicants
65
•
Number of new partnerships developed to foster recruitment pipelines
•
Number of outreach and recruitment events aimed at students from
underrepresented communities
•
Number of community members engaged at job fairs and presentations.
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Implement pay equity analysis to address traditional racial disparities and
occupational segregation in library, archives, and record management positions so that all
work is valued
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, develop an assessment to determine pay equity across DORIS
and ensure 100% of full-time staff meet internal pay equity standards.
b.
Strategies
:
65
For informational and communication purposes only.
•
Conduct a comprehensive review of pay to identify disparities based on race
and position analyzing compensation against the True Cost of Living (TCOL)
standard published by the NYC
•
Analyze city salaries and industry pay practices to develop a framework for
implementing an equitable pay structure across job titles and functions,
including records titles across all city agencies
•
Develop and implement a policy to regularly review and adjust pay to
maintain equity
66
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of salaries that pass pay equity assessment and TCOL measure
•
Percent change in compensation differences over time, across demographic
groups, referencing average pay by title, disaggregated by race, gender, and
ethnicity
•
Percent of staff salaries reviewed against and meeting internal pay equity
standards
2.
Goal:
Identify and address any occupational segregation in the Records Officer titles within
the agency’s workforce so employees of color are not underutilized in comparison to their
representation in the profession.
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, eliminate under-representation in 100% of job category titles
using the guidance of the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Analyze the demographics of current staff by job category titles
•
Provide professional development, training, and mentorship programs to
support employees in advancing to these positions and leadership roles
•
Analyze hiring, promotion and retention trends in Record Officer titles to
identify any barriers
•
Work with organizations who offer job placement for underserved
communities
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of agency employees participating in mentorship opportunities
•
Underutilization data for library, archives, records management positions
(specifically management specialist job titles)
66
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of the equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to equity and
social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in city
pay, promotions, and contracts.
Spotlight Wins
•
The agency successfully developed and began implementing the first phase of the plan to
address gaps in collection descriptions through the
In Her Own Name
project. This initiative
aims to update metadata for women in the digital collections who are identified only by their
husband’s name or title. As a starting point, we have earmarked hundreds of images of
women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to be identified through research
conducted by volunteers at agency-hosted events. The agency is also developing a similar
initiative focused on identifying individuals in images from the David Dinkins Administration.
•
The agency has developed several curriculum aids that leverage the rich collections of the
Archives and Library. These resources are designed to support K-12 educators by
deepening students’ understanding of key topics and themes, all while engaging them with
primary sources unique to our institution. Our latest educational toolkits cover a range of
compelling subjects, including
Community Activism in NYC’s Chinatown
,
LGBTQ Activism
in 1970s and 1980s NYC
,
Asian Americans’ Academic Experiences
, and the
Electrification
of NYC
. Each toolkit includes primary source materials, background information, discussion
questions, and activities tailored to enrich classroom instruction. With the assistance of
volunteers, the agency is working to identify more underrepresented stories of diverse
communities to be explored using the collections of the Archives and Library. Additionally,
the agency offers free educational programming to local schools and prioritizes schools in
TRIE neighborhoods for outreach.
Law Department
Mission and Commitment
The Law Department's mission is to provide legal representation to the City of New York in
the tradition of excellence and dedication, in the furtherance of the operation of its
government. The Law Department, led by the Corporation Counsel, fosters a work
environment which reflects our core values of justice, diversity, integrity, excellence,
supportive work environment, teamwork, dedication, respect, and professionalism.
The New York City Law Department's lawyers and support professionals work
collaboratively to pursue justice while providing the City with the highest quality legal
representation. The Law Department represents the City, the Mayor, other elected officials,
and the City's many agencies in all affirmative and defensive civil litigation, as well as
juvenile delinquency proceedings in Family Court and Administrative Code enforcement
proceedings in Criminal Court. The Law Department attorneys also draft and review local
and State legislation, real estate leases, procurement contracts, and financial instruments
for the sale of municipal bonds, and provide legal counsel to City officials on a wide range
of issues such as immigration, education, and environmental policy.
The Law Department remains one of the most diverse law offices in the country. In addition,
22.5 percent of the department’s contracts are with minority and/or women business
enterprises (M/WBEs). To promote equity, the Law Department seeks to increase the
agency's visibility and enhance policies which impact the recruitment and retention of
candidates from underrepresented groups. To build a work environment that continues to
value and promote racial equity, the Law Department plans to evaluate additional
programming to be offered/delivered to its workforce, including programs related to the
intersection of law and racial equity.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
Build an environment that values racial equity and provides our colleagues with
a greater knowledge of the related theories of justice so they may apply that
knowledge when providing counsel to or defending City agencies
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2027, provide two additional staff racial equity
programs and trainings that address the intersectionality of law and
racism.
b.
Strategies:
•
Continue to review and deploy relevant trainings offered by the
Department of Citywide Administrative Services in addition to the trainings
on Microaggressions, Dimensions of Racism, Applying a Gender Lens,
Social Emotional Learning, Inclusive Environment System, and
Psychological Safety offered to staff in FY 2024
•
Source internally or externally through a vendor a training on the
intersection of law and racial equity
•
Explore adding equity to the core values of the organization
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of racial equity trainings offered by the agency
•
Percent of staff who complete racial equity trainings
2.
Goal:
Target citywide and community partnerships to increase connections
between the Law Department and institutions or networks that engage individuals
from racially diverse communities
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, increase Law Department's partnerships
with institutions, agencies, and networks that engage individuals from
racially diverse communities by 5%.
b.
Strategies:
•
Continue attending panels at various educational institutions and
professional organizations that serve underrepresented
communities
•
Explore partnering with new organizations and other
government agencies that serve underrepresented
communities
•
Identify and disseminate voluntary pro bono opportunities for
Department attorneys
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of new partner organizations
•
Number of people engaging with the agency at events and online
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Enhance recruitment and retention strategies to build avenues of
opportunity for diverse legal professionals
a.
Outcome:
By 2026 and continuing into 2027, evaluate and update, where
appropriate, the Law Department's recruitment plans to increase the pool of
diverse candidates for all
vacancies.
b.
Strategies:
•
Re-engage with iMentor, a High School Mentorship Program
targeting prospective first-generation students from historically
marginalized communities to establish an individualized
partnership or to encourage Law Department staff to become
mentors
•
Continue engagement with PENCIL Ladders for Leaders and provide
internships to high-school and college students interested in law
careers
•
Continue to participate in job fairs across the country, which attract
law students and attorneys, from underrepresented backgrounds
•
Expand participation in the Law School Ambassador Program to
raise awareness about employment opportunities with the Law
Department
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of Job Fairs attended
•
Percent of Assistant Corporation Counsels participating as
Ambassadors
•
Number of students, ages 16-24, engaging with the Law Department
•
Workforce demographics
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Expand opportunities for unionized civil service members to better achieve a
rate of pay consistent with the NYC True Cost of Living standards
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, increase the rate of pay for unionized civil service
members at the Law Department.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review and analyze salary and title structures for staff subject to
collective bargaining agreements to ensure equity
•
Endeavor to implement a uniform organizational structure across all
divisions and a review - every five (5) years - of salaries,
responsibilities, and titles
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent difference in pay in title compared to other agencies with
similar titles
•
Demographics of civil service members leaving the agency
annually
•
Percent increase in salary for unionized civil service members
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability in city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city’s
commitment to equity and social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability gaps in city pay, promotions, and contracts.
1
Spotlight Wins
•
The Corporation Counsel, Legal Recruitment, and Human Resources Offices
hosted high school students, for the second summer, in 2025 as part of the
agency’s goal to support pipeline programs. This summer, in 2026, the agency
onboarded high school and college students for internships at the agency’s 100
Church Street location. This program was made possible through an ongoing
community partnership with Pencil Ladders for Leaders.
•
At the beginning of 2024, the agency in collaboration with external partners,
provided additional trainings, including Microaggressions, Dimensions of Racism,
Applying a Gender Lens, Social Emotional Learning, Inclusive Environment System,
and Psychological Safety. We trained 1181 out of 1521 employees in
Microaggressions. Our attendance for the Dimensions of Racism, Applying a
Gender Lens, Social Emotional Learning, Inclusive Environment System, and
Psychological Safety workshops ranged from 25-75 participants each. We sent 5-10
senior and mid-level managers to training on Building an Inclusive Culture
Understanding Unconscious Bias, Creating a Culture of Inclusion: From
Microaggressions to Microaffirmations, and Managing a Multigenerational
Workforce: Leveraging the Talents of 5 Generations.
•
The civil service title with the largest number of employees at the agency is the
Assistant Corporation Counsel, which is not a title subject to collective bargaining.
The Agency conducted an extensive review of salaries, resulting in a revised
compensation structure, which improved pay equity for all 721 Assistant
Corporation Counsels.
Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget
Mission and Commitment
The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) fulfills its mission by:
•
Serving as the Mayor’s chief financial advisor;
•
Developing and executing the City’s expense and capital budgets;
•
Overseeing the budgets of nearly 90 City agencies and related entities;
•
Enhancing operations management citywide, and evaluating the efficiency and
cost-effectiveness of City services and proposals, and the fiscal impact of local,
state, and national legislation;
•
Providing vital information to government officials on the local, national, and
world economies;
•
Implementing the City's borrowing and bond programs and conducting legal
reviews of capital projects for financing with bond proceeds; and
•
Integrating environmental sustainability and resiliency into the City's financial
planning to address current and future climate risks.
OMB’s mandate is to ensure that the City’s resources are managed and allocated effectively
and efficiently, and the agency will continue to work with the Office of Equity & Racial Justice
to explore ways of integrating equity considerations in the budget process. In parallel, OMB
will redouble its efforts to cultivate an internal workforce that is equitable and inclusive at all
levels, including leadership and decision-making roles.
The agency is committed to doing so with a key focus on recruitment and retention efforts.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Continue to support a diverse workforce across all levels of the agency
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, ensure recruitment plans are developed for all
open positions in order to expand outreach and increase applications from
underrepresented communities based on agency disparity analysis.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Conduct an extensive analysis of demographic data as it applies to job
applicants, employees, promotions, and separating employees, on an
annual basis to help inform recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention
efforts
•
Continue targeted outreach to diverse applicant pools through
expanded use of job boards and partnerships with community
organizations and educational institutions
•
Coordinate with the Learning and Development OMB unit to identify
ways to better train managers and others involved in the recruitment
process, building on efforts that require all employees involved in the
hiring process to take the structured interviewing and unconscious bias
courses offered by DCAS
•
Identify and expand leadership development opportunities that diversify
advancement and decision making
c.
Indicators
:
•
Demographics of workforce by position level
•
Demographics of new hires
•
Demographics of applicants
67
•
Number of outreach events
•
Number of training courses offered
2.
Goal:
Assist city agencies in factoring equity into budgetary planning and decision-
making consistent with mayoral directives and in compliance with federal, state, and
local laws
a.
Outcome
: In calendar year 2026, develop the tools that will assist City
agencies in incorporating equity considerations into their budgetary
planning and requests, and ensure that agencies utilize the tools in
preparation for submissions for the Fiscal Year 2028 Preliminary Budget.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Collaborate with the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice
(MOERJ) to define criteria for agencies to use in evaluating budget
and policy proposals
•
Develop guidance that supports agencies in applying such equity
criteria to their budget and policy proposals
•
Review agency requests in light of such equity criteria, in addition to
other budgetary requirements and constraints
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of agencies that incorporate consideration of equity criteria
when submitting budget requests
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: Foster an inclusive workplace where employees feel a sense of belonging through
investing in mentorship, support services, and professional development opportunities
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, ensure at least 75% of employees share positive
67
For informational and communications purposes only.
feedback related to workplace inclusion, belonging and opportunities for
advancement through employee climate survey.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Build disaggregated participant data pipelines for OMB’s
mentorship program to better track participation rate of senior
managers and staff with fewer years of experience
•
Encourage greater participation of underrepresented gender and
racial/ethnic groups in mentorship programs
•
Develop new programming and events which celebrate different
cultures and heritages
•
Promote leadership development and advancement opportunities for
employees from underrepresented groups based on agency
disparity analysis
•
Create and advance Employee Resources Groups (ERGs)
c.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of employees sharing positive feedback through surveys
and focus groups on workplace inclusivity and opportunities for
advancement
•
Attrition data by race, ethnicity, and gender
2.
Goal:
Advance pay equity across all roles
68
to address the effects of occupational
segregation and gender discrimination
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, ensure 100% of OMB staff salaries are reviewed against
and meet internal pay equity standards on an ongoing basis.
b.
Strategies:
•
Continue to thoroughly review compensation data to identify and
address potential pay disparities
•
Continue to ensure consistent standards are applied in the hiring
process to promote equity at the point of hire
•
Conduct bi-annual competitive citywide salary reviews to assess
and maintain compensation alignment
•
Reference NYC's True Cost of Living (TCOL) measure as a
benchmark in pay equity analyses to inform compensation
decisions
b.
Indicators
:
•
Percent of salaries that pass internal pay parity analysis
•
Average pay by title disaggregated by race, gender and ethnicity
68
Implementation of any workforce-related changes in furtherance of the equity goals related to salary adjustments
highlighted in this report must be consistent with collective bargaining obligations. See p. 424 for further information.
3.
Goal:
OMB has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement
strategies to make further progress toward the goal, consistent with federal, state, and
local law.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for M/WBE
utilization.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continue to attend M/WBE outreach events and procurement fairs
while also fielding calls and conducting procurement-specific
outreach to qualified M/WBE vendors
•
Develop marketing strategies focused on underrepresented
vendors
•
Evaluate and update procurement policies/criteria to remove
potential barriers for underrepresented businesses
•
Convene annual meeting summarizing agency spending with
M/WBEs and discuss potential barriers to participation
•
Actively review and adjust the agency’s goal setting protocol for
opportunities to improve M/WBE inclusion and target historically
underutilized firms
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of all contract payments paid to M/WBE vendors
•
Dollar value of contract payments paid to all M/WBE vendors
•
Dollar value of contract payments paid to MBE vendors in the most
recent fiscal year disaggregated by race and ethnicity
•
Dollar value of contract payments paid to Non-Minority WBE
vendors city
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Expand public reporting to improve public insight into city investments and
equity commitments
a.
Outcome:
By 2034, implement a reporting system that highlights the City’s
progress towards equity goals from a budgetary perspective.
b.
Strategies:
•
Collaborate with the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice
(MOERJ) to define reporting requirements, core metrics, agency
responsibilities for data tracking and reporting, and the scope of
work of the reporting system
•
Identify interagency stakeholders who will coordinate, guide, and
organize the information-gathering necessary for the reporting
instrument
•
Ensure that the reporting format is not in conflict with other
budgetary reporting or financial system requirements, and ensure
that the format aligns with best practices in accessibility and user
experience
•
Conduct periodic reviews to maintain alignment with strategic
goals, improve data quality, accessibility and usability
c.
Indicators:
•
Completion of citywide public reporting system and governance
structure
•
Number (or percent) of citywide investments and equity
commitments included in public reporting
•
Launch of public reporting tool/platform
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability in city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's
commitment to equity and social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age,
and
disability in city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#6: Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the
public, categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
Spotlight Wins
•
OMB has invested in a variety of initiatives to increase employees’ sense of
belonging and access to professional development. For example, the OMB
Mentorship program is in its fifth
year and has increased to a total of 104
participants, approximately 25 percent of the agency. Additionally, OMB has
significantly expanded its professional development opportunities through the OMB
Leadership Development Program “Catalyst,” which focuses on mindset,
relationships, culture, feedback, coaching, and performance. From 2023-2025,
we’ve had 85 participants in the summer cohort program. Also, the agency
launched the OMB Employee Equity Group (EEG) program in 2023, including two
existing EEGs: PRIDE and BOLD (Black employee equity group) and adding a
third: WIN (Women’s Initiative Network).
•
OMB has developed a yearly cycle of in-person events celebrating diverse cultures.
During 2024-2026, OMB hosted events centered on the following areas: Black
History Month, Women’s History Month, Earth Day, Mental Health Awareness
Month, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, Caribbean
American Heritage Month, Arab American Heritage Month, and Hispanic Heritage
Month. Each of these events was popular with all staff, often reaching maximum
capacity based on available venue size. Each event included extensive planning to
provide a mix of educational, community-building, and celebratory opportunities for
all staff.
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings
Mission and Commitment
The City of New York’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) is the City’s
central, independent, administrative law tribunal. OATH’s mission is to ensure that
everyone who appears at OATH receives access to justice, a fair opportunity to be heard,
and a timely resolution of their case.
We are committed to ensuring OATH’s staff treat all parties fairly and impartially, that all
OATH adjudicators conduct themselves ethically and with the utmost level of
professionalism, that OATH continually promotes access to justice for all, that OATH
strives for the highest standards with respect to hiring, workforce development,
contracting, and other internal practices, and that OATH makes information available to all
parties, regardless of status, so that everyone has a full and fair opportunity to be heard
when they attend an OATH proceeding. These are the areas that OATH has addressed
and must continue to address.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal
: Strengthen training for agency leadership to build internal knowledge and
commitment to racial equity work
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2027, ensure at least 90% of OATH leadership
have undergone racial equity training and demonstrated an increased
understanding of how equity considerations relate to OATH’s mission,
workforce, and public-facing services.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Source and collaborate with partner agencies to provide appropriate
training for OATH leadership
•
Build leadership buy-in and facilitate additional conversations on the
application of trainings in OATH’s work
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of senior leadership who completed training
•
Percent of leadership demonstrating increased knowledge in post-training
assessments
•
Percent of leadership demonstrating deeper understanding in post-training
assessments
2.
Goal
: Ensure all agency public-facing material is anti-marginalizing so that New
Yorkers of different language preferences and literacy levels can access our
agency’s information and services
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, ensure 100% of the agency’s online
informational materials, forms, and applications are written in plain
language and translated into at least all Local Law 30 languages.
b.
Strategies:
•
Conduct an inventory of agency’s online material to identify gaps in
language access and plain language
•
Work with translation vendors to update identified material, and update
agency website with new material
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of agency online informational materials, forms, and applications
written in plain language
•
Percent of agency online informational materials, forms, and applications
translated into all Local Law 30 languages
Medium-Term
1.
Goal
: OATH has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to
implement and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with
federal, state and local law
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, maintain consistent implementation and assessment for
M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review submitted purchase requisitions
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of all contracts awarded to M/WBE vendors
•
Number of M/WBE contracts awarded disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
and gender identity
2.
Goal:
Build diverse recruitment pipelines to ensure equitable access to
information about agency vacancies
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, build at least 5 new recruitment pipelines through
partnerships with diverse professional networks.
b.
Strategies:
•
Expand agency participation in recruitment fairs, workshops, and
networking events
•
Develop and institutionalize contact databases through leveraging internal
and external agency networks
•
Join networking listserves that allow access to diverse recruitment
pipelines
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of new partnerships developed with groups for underrepresented
communities
•
Number of new hires informed of opportunity through new partnerships
•
Retention rate of hires recruited from established partnerships
•
Rate of change in employee demographics based on available data
3.
Goal:
Prioritize racial equity training for all agency personnel to understand the
need for the work and how personnel can uphold these values
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, 100% of agency personnel are fully trained on racial
equity values.
b.
Strategies:
•
Source and collaborate with partner agencies to provide training for OATH
personnel on racial equity
•
Communicate to personnel on importance of trainings and facilitate
additional conversations on the application of trainings in OATH’s work
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of agency personnel trained on racial equity values
•
Percent of agency personnel demonstrating deeper understanding in post-
training assessments
4.
Goal
: Promote the use of restorative practices and conflict resolution services
throughout city government and in the city government’s interaction with the
public through the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution (CCCR)
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, improve access to restorative practices, mediation, and
conflict resolution services through CCCR to strengthen workplace equity,
improve organizational culture, and support community-centered
approaches to conflict resolution.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Encourage agency leaders to maintain an active Alternative Dispute
Resolution Coordinator (ADRC) for their agency
•
Build the internal capacity of the Alternative Dispute Resolution
Coordinator (ADRC) network through continued quarterly meetings,
workshops and 1:1 consultations
•
With the support of MOERJ, connect ADRC's directly with those in
agencies responsible for racial equity work
•
Provide ongoing outreach about CCCR services through presentations
and workshop opportunities
•
Expand CCCR training, mediation, coaching, group facilitation and
restorative practices to mayoral and non-mayoral agencies that are not
already working with CCCR
•
Support agencies in incorporating restorative practices, conflict resolution
skills, and employee engagement strategies into the workplace culture
•
Identify public-facing agency opportunities in collaboration with sister
agencies’ leadership and ADRCs where restorative or alternative dispute
resolution approaches may be appropriate as alternatives or supplements
to punitive enforcement
•
Support agency personnel involved in equity and racial justice work
through CCCR trainings, coaching, facilitation, restorative practices,
consultations and other technical support
•
Track the use of CCCR services, participant satisfaction, and new design
initiatives to assess increased opportunities for building trust, improving
communication, and enhancing conflict resolution capacity
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of external partners receiving CCCR services (Mayoral, Non-
Mayoral, or Elective Offices)
•
Number of agencies incorporating restorative practices into workplace or
public-facing programs
•
Participant satisfaction with CCCR services
•
Number of public-facing restorative or alternative dispute resolution
sessions
•
Number of CCCR services provided
•
Number of City employes trained in conflict resolution or restorative
practices
5.
Goal:
Proactively review, update, and communicate established policies
agencywide to foster a culture of transparency and inclusion
a.
Outcome
: By 2030, 100% of agency personnel are able to view all agency
policies.
b.
Strategies:
•
Review all established policies with an eye toward transparency and
inclusion
•
Create SharePoint or equivalent folders with published policies and FAQs
•
Develop protocol for updates to internal policies to keep up with changes in
data
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of communications on existing policies, additional policies, or
changes to existing policies
•
Number
of policies revised incorporating best practices on inclusion and
transparency
Long-Term
1.
Goal:
Build an inclusive workplace where employees are supported and advance
their careers, particularly those of underrepresented groups based on agency
disparity analysis
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, 100% of agency divisions are representative of the
City’s population.
b.
Strategies:
•
Create yearly “stay interviews” to understand the experiences of existing
staff in under-represented populations
•
Administer survey capturing employee suggestions to foster a more
inclusive workplace
•
Host professional development events within the agency that promote
career development
c.
Indicators:
•
Percent of stay interviews analyzed
•
Number of career counseling sessions conducted in a year
•
Percent of career counseling sessions conducted for underrepresented
staff
•
Percent attrition of all staff
•
Percent attrition of underrepresented staff
•
Number of professional development events held yearly
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1:
Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability in city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's
commitment to equity and social justice.
•
#3: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and
disability in city pay, promotions, and contracts.
•
#4:
Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language
access services in the city's most spoken languages.
•
#16:
Ensure all city employees and their agencies, including the police and social
service providers, are held accountable for any harm and abuse of power.
Spotlight Wins
•
OATH ensures information is accessible by providing it in plain language and
translating it into the top 10 languages spoken in NYC. Everyone has access to
free translation services for help sessions, trials, hearings, community service and
mediations. OATH also makes all forms and applications available in the top ten
languages and has also made other documents such as outreach flyers,
informational fact sheets, and handouts available in the top ten languages. In
addition, OATH has redesigned a majority of the summonses that agencies use
to have clearer plain language instructions, fewer words, and a helpful QR code
which will redirect the reader to more information.
•
Not having a lawyer should not limit one’s ability to navigate OATH’s processes.
OATH has a Help Center which ensures that unrepresented respondents receive
non-legal answers to their questions, are aware of their rights, and understand
the hearing process. A resident is afforded the opportunity to have a Help
Session, which is a one-on-one meeting with a Procedural Justice Coordinator, in
their language of preference. More than a dozen explanatory fact sheets on
enforcement agency processes and OATH’s hearing process are available at the
Help Center and may be translated into the top ten languages. These include, but
are not limited to, the following fact sheets: DOB Certificates of Correction; DOB
Stipulations; DCA Settlements; Helpful Information for Haircutters, Hair Salons,
and Barbershops; and Summonses Where Your Property Was Taken Away.
•
OATH leverages technology to make our adjudications more accessible to
parties. A text-message reminder system is available to all OATH respondents to
help ensure that people never miss a hearing and get real-time updates about the
status of their case. Since the inception of the text-message reminder system in
September 2020, approximately 13,128 respondents have registered for these
reminders. The text message system can also be utilized to initiate contact with
our Help Center. In addition, during the pandemic, OATH added a call-back
option to the Hearings Division remote hearings system, allowing respondents to
avoid waiting on hold and instead request a call-back when their hearing is ready
to go forward. Since this option was launched, around 82 percent of respondents
have taken advantage of it. For outreach materials, OATH also created its own
QR Code, which takes users to a specific page on the OATH website called “You
Received a Summons, Now What?” This webpage enumerates all the options
available for someone who has just received a summons including links to other
webpages and online forms such as reschedule form, payment websites, hearing
request forms and other pertinent information. OATH also meets people where
they are. We have offices in every borough where people can come in person to
ask questions and take care of OATH business. Each year, thousands of
respondents come to our borough offices to get work done.
•
Affinity-group bar associations have posted OATH job openings to their members,
increasing and diversifying our potential recruitment pool.
•
Integrally tied to racial justice and equity is the issue of interpersonal and group
conflict and conflict resolution, and OATH’s Center for Creative Conflict
Resolution (CCCR) has been doing important work in this space. Since 2016,
CCCR has been addressing workplace conflicts that include implicit bias and in-
group/out-group biases, through early-intervention interest-based processes like
mediation, coaching, training, and consultations. In 2023 alone, CCCR provided
over 500 processes across city agencies and mayoral offices. CCCR is in the
early stages of developing a two-part best practices model that is rooted in the
theories and principles of Restorative Practices aimed at fostering Restorative
Work Environments (RWE) in City government workplaces and training and
offering technical assistance to agencies that want to incorporate Restorative
Practices into their public-facing work.
Office of Labor Relations
Mission and Commitment
The City of New York values our employees, retirees, and their families and recognizes our
employees are the engine that keeps our city running. The NYC Office of Labor Relations
(OLR) is a Mayoral agency whose mission is to negotiate and implement fair collective
bargaining agreements while being responsible to NYC taxpayers; provide benefits that
support the health and well-being of our workforce; and support the needs of our partner
agencies and municipal unions.
More specifically, OLR’s purpose is to:
•
Represent the Mayor in the conduct of all labor relations between the City of New York
and labor unions representing employees of the City, including collective bargaining
negotiations between the city and its 149 collective bargaining units
•
Administer programs to support the health and well-being of NYC staff, retirees and
their families through the Health Benefits Program, Management Benefits Fund,
Employee Assistance Program, WorkWell NYC and Citywide Tax Favored Benefit
Programs including the Deferred Compensation Plan and NYCE IRA
•
Act as a resource to agencies regarding workforce labor issues, including contract
administration, personnel and payroll issues, labor-management meetings, adjudicating
Step Three employee grievances and representing the City in arbitration, legislative and
policy matters
•
Collaborate with the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) to achieve affordable and high-
quality healthcare for City employees, retirees, and their dependents
OLR, through the collective bargaining process, is committed to treating all unions and the
employees they represent in an equitable and fair manner. Furthermore, as the
administrator of City health benefits, the deferred compensation plan, and other employee
benefit programs, OLR is in a position to make efforts to improve access to benefits for all
City employees and address any disparities. In collaboration with other agencies (i.e.,
DCAS, OMB and the Pay Equity Cabinet), OLR is also working to examine potential pay
inequity in New York City through the identification (a) of any gender and/or race pay
disparities within selected civil service titles and (b) the existence and magnitude of any
occupational segregation in the City’s workforce.
Racial Equity Goals
Short-Term
1.
Goal:
OLR has had a 30% goal for M/WBE utilization and will continue to implement
and evaluate goals going forward to ensure they are consistent with federal, state
and local law
a.
Outcome:
Through 2026, maintain consistent implementation and
assessment for M/WBE utilization.
b.
Strategies:
•
Incorporate language emphasizing racial equity and related
expectations in RFP/RFX/RFI’s and micro-purchases, where
appropriate
•
Reinforce requirement for M/WBE database to be used to source
goods and services
c.
Indicators:
•
Percentage of micro-purchases and contracts awarded to M/WBEs
2.
Goal
: Build disaggregated data pipelines for OLR programs to identify potential
racial disparities in participation and barriers to access programs and services
a.
Outcome:
By the end of 2026, analyze existing demographic data, with a
focus on gender and race, of the participants in 100% of City funded benefit
programs administered by OLR, and identify and implement appropriate
methods to collect data from other OLR programs while ensuring that data
collection does not create unintended barriers to participation.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Gather and analyze existing participation data across programs to
identify any disparities among underrepresented groups
•
Where demographic data is not currently available, develop plans to
collect data or identify alternate measures (i.e., salary levels, home
address/zip codes, union representation). An example includes
incorporating demographic questions on all registration forms (i.e., flu
clinics, financial planning seminars, other requests for services)
•
Identify potential challenges with collecting data and ensure that data
requirements do not create barriers to participation
•
Implement a clear and adequately resourced process and structure for
regularly tracking and analyzing participation in OLR programs
•
Compare OLR program participation data with the NYC Government
Workforce Profile Report to assess alignment with workforce
demographics by race and gender
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of programs for which demographic data is and is not
collected
•
Number of participants in each demographic group/program
3.
Goal
: Review OLR’s current hiring and promotional practices to ensure equity
throughout the employment process, including job postings, interviews, hiring, and
promotions to reduce potential workforce disparities
a.
Outcome
: By the end of 2026, establish a clear and consistent hiring and
promotion process of OLR staff across 100% of agency divisions.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Identify job titles to target for initial changes
•
Review language of job postings and locations of postings for non-
competitive jobs
•
Distribute all job postings to all CUNY schools and HBCUs, and
develop relationships with career counselors
•
Reach out to a broader array of professional associations to help with
job postings to diversify the pool of applicants
•
Develop structured interview guidelines and protocols for interview
committee such as diversity of the interview team
•
Train hiring managers on updated hiring and interview protocols
•
Determine whether DCAS or OLR can track race, gender and ethnicity
of applicants
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number and demographics of staff hired and/or promoted
1
Medium-Term
1.
Goal:
Leverage OLR purchasing and contracting authority to advance equity among
our partners and strengthen their commitment to racial equity in the delivery of
services. OLR will continue to implement and evaluate its goals going forward to
ensure they are consistent with federal, state and local law.
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, collaborate with 100% of vendors to assess their equity
programs and policies.
b.
Strategies:
•
Identify existing use of subcontractors by vendor to establish baseline
•
Review agency partnerships and request reports from different entities
•
Engage vendors in discussions regarding equity priorities and how that
benefits the City’s workforce, particularly where historical disparities in
service delivery have been identified, and consider demonstrated
commitments to equity when evaluating contract renewals
•
OLR’s Legal Division will continue to partner with OCB and DC 37
regarding arbitrator panels composition to ensure broad representation
c.
Indicators:
•
Number of vendors with demonstrated commitment to racial equity
2.
Goal:
Ensure all NYC employees maximize their benefits and obtain the full value of
their employment by increasing participation in OLR programs through targeted and
tailored outreach and inclusive program design
1
For informational and communications purposes only.
a.
Outcome:
By 2028, expand the number of historically underrepresented
participants, as identified through agency analysis, across 100% of City
funded benefit programs administered by OLR.
b.
Strategies:
•
Create targeted or new campaigns/programs to reach
underrepresented communities of color
•
Build upon new targeted campaigns for Health Programs (ex. Smoking
Cessation, Diabetes Prevention, Cancer Screening), Deferred Comp,
EAP, WorkWell NYC
•
Review OLR’s website, videos, informational materials, and other
communications
•
Work with communications experts to assess OLR collateral, forms
and website content and make improvements as appropriate
•
Simplify enrollment, educational, and communication materials to
reduce barriers to accessing OLR programs, particularly for employees
from historically underrepresented backgrounds
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of programs identified as requiring changes to address
participation barriers
•
Number and demographics of staff enrolled in OLR programs
•
Number of changes implemented to simplify enrollment and improve
access
3.
Goal
: Collaborate with the Pay Equity Cabinet to identify potential inequities and
occupational segregation within our city workforce and develop recommendations for
addressing identified issues
a.
Outcome
: By 2028, publish a report identifying any disparities, if any, within
the job titles analyzed.
b.
Strategies:
•
Participate in a subcommittee working with an external party that will
conduct review of pay equity
•
Work with DCAS and the external party to develop the scope and
methodology of the study and formulate recommendations
•
Collaborate with DCAS, Pay Equity Cabinet, Law Department, OMB
and Mayor’s Office to develop recommendations for implementation
c.
Indicators
:
•
Number of recommendations developed and delivered
Long-Term
1.
Goal
: Invest and commit a percentage of the OLR budget to advance racial equity
as it pertains to staffing, contracting, and programming
a.
Outcome
: By 2034, expand participation of historically underrepresented
groups across OLR contracting, programming, and staffing.
b.
Strategies
:
•
Continuously review representation across OLR programs and vendor
staff/subcontractors, ensuring equitable participation across all
categories
•
Dedicate staff resources to maintaining the demographic data for both
internal and external usage
•
Work with our vendors to ensure they have diverse workforces,
contractors, and programs that effectively serve a diverse audience
c.
Indicators
:
•
Demographic composition of program participants
Community Equity Priorities Referenced
•
#1: Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city’s commitment to equity
and social justice.
Spotlight Wins
•
WorkWell NYC’s Project B.U.I.L.D. (Building Understanding, Inclusion, Learning, and
Diversity) is committed to addressing matters of injustice and inequity by providing
platforms to educate and develop awareness to improve the health and wellness of City
employees in and out of the workplace. Examples of programs include Art is Life
employee showcase – highlighting city employees’ visual, performance and literary arts
to support building understanding and community; education programs on identities,
equity, race and justice, and allyship in the workplace. The 2026 Art is Life program,
attracted 250 artist submissions and over 1,000 registrants to attend the gallery
showcase and the first ever live performance at a professional Off-Broadway theater.
•
The Health Benefits Program has added a new customer service call center to help
enhance accessibility to retirees’ health benefits. The call center handles approximately
12,000 calls per month and serves approximately 300 in person visitors monthly.
•
OLR’s Legal Division internship program conducts broad outreach for all positions and
internships through multiple channels (including but not limited to HBCUs, CUNY,
SUNY, and various diverse bar associations and professional organizations). The
program received a record number of law student applications for the Summer 2026
term.
•
During our most recent round of labor negotiations, OLR reached an agreement with
DC 37 to provide a $7,000 salary increase for 911 operators, funded through resources
dedicated to titles experiencing recruitment and retention challenges. Additionally, the
agreement increased compensation for more than 100 City titles to at least $18 per hour
and provided additional increases and bonuses for other titles through the parties’
equity fund.
Looking Ahead
Plan Implementation
With the final Citywide Racial Equity Plan published, MOERJ will work closely with agencies
operationalizing their short-, medium-, and long-term goals. The MOERJ team will source
and craft tools and resources for agencies to accomplish their diverse goals and provide
one-to-one technical assistance as well as guidance on tracking and reporting. MOERJ will
also create spaces for agencies to come together, share, and sharpen their knowledge on
racial equity work, with the goal of cultivating a community of internal change-makers to
sustain and power the work ahead.
Equity in Budgeting
In creating the City’s first racial equity planning process, MOERJ was committed to building the
strategic framework necessary to not only advance equity, but support structural reform.
MOERJ ensured the framework addressed the core levers of government so the plan could be
transformative and sustainable. This meant centering things like service delivery, staffing,
contracting, and budgeting from inception.
Centering budgeting during the racial equity planning process included working with agencies to
consider if and how they allocate funds in their budget to remedy disinvestment and past harm as
they contemplated how to approach their agency’s plan and began to develop it. This could mean
reallocating funds to meet the needs of historically marginalized communities, expanding services
in key neighborhoods experiencing long-standing disparities, and more.
As we continue moving this process forward, we are committed to collaborating with our budget
colleagues and other stakeholders to build and continue to strengthen a citywide equity in
budgeting framework.
This work will be a foundational starting point and will evolve through implementation, learning,
and ongoing collaboration. This includes partnering with the NYC Office of Management & Budget
and other stakeholders on the following:
•
Building a framework for a citywide equity in budgeting process, including review of best
practices of other municipalities and considering complementary New York City budgeting
approaches like climate budgeting
•
Integrating a foundational equity budget review process in the Fiscal Year 2028 Preliminary
Budget, providing an initial structure while ensuring opportunities to refine and improve the
approach in future years
•
Collaborate on timelines, assessment tools, and review processes that would allow agencies
to evaluate where and how funding needs meet Racial Equity Plan objectives and goals,
while simultaneously tracking progress prior to the release of the next Preliminary Racial
Equity Plan in January 2028.
Data Disaggregation Vision
Included in the Preliminary and Final Racial Equity Plan is a north star in our vision for racial equity
focused on data disaggregation (by race, ethnicity, gender identity, and other characteristics,
including all those listed in the NYC Charter) across agencies to understand and act on
unaddressed needs and historical inequities impacting communities today. MOERJ is continuing
to build on guidance provided to agencies during the first preliminary planning cycle, with an
emphasis on race and ethnicity, gender identity, and/or geography. For this cycle, MOERJ
considered existing data disaggregation policies (including
Executive Order No, 45 of 2019
) as
well as data gaps. Direct support was provided to agencies while building and refining plans to
incorporate and expand on data disaggregation work that can help continually identify and
address inequities.
As we move toward implementation and future planning cycles, we are developing an updated
vision and standard for data disaggregation that we aspire to work towards as a city,
recognizing that working towards a new vision will take time, resources, and infrastructure to do
so, and will not happen within a single racial equity planning cycle.
The following
working
principles and standards provide the foundation from which we will build
together. MOERJ will work with City agencies to review these working principles and guidance
and gather input from stakeholders both inside and outside of government before they are
finalized.
Data Disaggregation:
Working Principles
The following working principles for data disaggregation are informed by best practices in
equitable data collection and applicable federal statistical guidance
69
.
69
Includes U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s 2024 revision to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15)
Standards
for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.
Equity:
Data collection and analysis should center the goal of identifying and addressing
disparities. We should design data systems that illuminate inequities, with particular attention to
communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, or adversely affected by
persistent poverty or inequality.
Self-Identification:
Whenever feasible, demographic data should be collected through self-report,
allowing individuals to identify themselves according to their own understanding of their identity.
When self-identification is not possible, we should document the alternative method used and its
limitations.
Transparency and Informed Consent:
We should clearly communicate to respondents why
demographic data is being collected, how it will be used, with whom it may be shared, and how it
will be protected. Responses to demographic questions should generally be voluntary and we
should document response rates to assess data quality.
Data Minimization:
We should only collect the demographic data necessary for clearly defined
equity analysis purposes. The level of detail collected should be proportionate to a particular
agency’s analytical needs and capacity to protect the data. We should articulate specific use
cases before expanding demographic data collection.
Privacy and Security:
All demographic data collection must comply with applicable privacy laws
and the standards including applicable policies and protocols of the Chief Privacy Officer, and with
privacy standards developed pursuant to NYC Charter Section § 3401(d)(2)(c). We should
implement appropriate technical and administrative safeguards, including data anonymization,
access controls, and secure storage protocols.
Community Engagement:
We should engage with affected communities in developing data
collection approaches, ensuring that categories and terminology reflect community preferences
and lived experiences. This engagement is particularly important when collecting data about
communities that have experienced historical discrimination or marginalization.
Data Disaggregation:
Working Standards
The following working standards aim to establish proposed demographic categories and data
specifications envisioned to enable the City to identify and understand disparities within and
across populations. It aims to do this while allowing the specific measures, response options, and
level of detail to vary according to purpose, necessity of the data collection, privacy and
confidentiality considerations, response burden, population and context, and intended analysis.
These working standards include more detailed race and ethnicity categories, including further
disaggregation in broad categories like Asian and Hispanic or Latino as well as write-in options;
income and socioeconomic status and measures; and additional demographic categories relevant
to understanding disparities and experiences of communities that may otherwise be concealed in
broader categories.
The working standards are a starting point and proposed to provide a meaningful level of detail for
equity analysis, while allowing for additional categories when appropriate to the population, data
collection purpose, etc.
Overall Race and Ethnicity Categories
•
American Indian or Alaska Native:
A person having origins in any of the original peoples
of North and South America who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or
community attachment
•
Asian:
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast
Asia, or the Indian subcontinent
•
Black or African American:
A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of
Africa
•
Hispanic or Latino:
A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central
American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race
•
Middle Eastern or North African:
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of
the Middle East or North Africa
•
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander:
A person having origins in any of the original peoples
of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands
•
White:
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe
Detailed Race and Ethnicity Categories
Asian Detailed Categories:
Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino,
Hmong, Asian Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Mongolian, Nepalese,
Okinawan, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese
Black or African American Detailed Categories:
African American, Afro-Caribbean (including
Jamaican, Haitian, Trinidadian, Guyanese, Barbadian), African (including Nigerian, Ethiopian,
Ghanaian, Somali, Eritrean, Kenyan, Liberian, Senegalese, Sierra Leonean)
Hispanic or Latino Detailed Categories:
Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran,
Dominican, Guatemalan, Colombian, Honduran, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Nicaraguan, Venezuelan,
Argentinian, Chilean, Panamanian, Costa Rican, Bolivian, Uruguayan, Paraguayan
Middle Eastern or North African Detailed Categories:
Afghan, Algerian, Bahraini, Egyptian,
Emirati, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Libyan, Moroccan, Omani,
Palestinian, Qatari, Saudi Arabian, Syrian, Tunisian, Turkish, Yemeni
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Detailed Categories:
Native Hawaiian, Samoan,
Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese, Palauan, Tahitian, Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Kosraean,
Yapese, Carolinian
Additional Write-In Options:
Race and ethnicity questions should include a write-in option
allowing respondents to specify identities not listed. A process should be established for reviewing
write-in responses to identify emerging communities and evaluate whether additional standard
categories should be added.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Data
Collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity enables us to identify and address
disparities affecting LGBTQIA+ communities. These data shall be collected following established
best practices to ensure accuracy and protect respondent privacy. It is critical that it is collected
following established best practices to ensure accuracy and protect respondent privacy.
Given the sensitive nature of SOGI data, it is critical to implement enhanced privacy protections
and build working guidelines for use:
•
SOGI data collected should have a clear, analytical purpose
•
Access to individual-level SOGI data should be strictly limited
•
Aggregate reporting thresholds should be applied to prevent re-identification
•
Respondents should be clearly informed about how SOGI data will be used and protected
•
Respondents should be able to update their SOGI data wherever possible and SOGI data
should not be used to negatively impact a respondent’s access to services or benefits
•
Staff who collect SOGI data from New Yorkers should understand the purpose of the data
collection and how to discuss it in an inclusive and respectful manner.
•
SOGI terminology can be nuanced and evolve over time. Before using question or
categories in data collection, surveys, research, or equity analysis, it is important to
establish a shared understanding of terms being used and recognize that people may use
different terms to describe themselves. Definitions should be used to support respectful,
consistent data collection while preserving opportunities for self-identification.
•
For definitions and additional guidance on terminology, staff should consult current
resources including the
NYC Commission on Human Rights’ Gender Identity/Gender
Expression Legal Enforcement Guidance
and definitions contained in the
NYC Human
Rights Law and implementing regulations
.
The following three-part SOGI data measure may be considered as a framework, with responses
options that allow respondents to self-describe or decline to answer.
The specific SOGI measures and level of detail selected should be guided by purpose, necessity,
privacy and confidentiality risks, respondent burden, and intended analysis. As these are working
guidelines, specific question stems or survey wording are not yet included in this stage, but will be
considered based on feedback and input.
Overall Categories and Terms
70
•
Current Gender Identity
o
Woman
o
Man
o
Non-Binary
o
Prefer to self-describe (write-in text box)
o
Prefer not to answer
o
Don’t know
•
Sex Assigned at Birth
71
o
Female
o
Male
o
Intersex
o
Don’t know
o
Prefer not to answer
•
Sexual Orientation
o
Straight/Heterosexual
o
Lesbian
o
Gay
o
Bisexual
o
Queer
o
Asexual
o
Pansexual
o
Prefer to self-describe (write-in text box)
o
Questioning/Unsure
o
Prefer not to answer
70
Gender identity and sex assigned at birth are presented as a two-step measure. Collecting these two measures
together,
when appropriate and necessary,
can provide a more complete understanding of gender-related demographic
information and can support more meaningful equity analysis.
71
Inclusion of sex assigned at birth as part of a to-step measure doesn’t imply that it should be collected in all contexts.
While this measure may be appropriate for certain health-related purposes or large-scale population surveys, it may be
unnecessary or inappropriate for some administrative data collection. In contexts where sex assigned at birth is not
necessary for the intended purpose, alternative questions can be considered.
Income and Socio-Economic Status
When we collect income data we should consider standardized bands relative to both the Federal
Poverty Level (FPL) and Area Median Income (AMI), as appropriate to the agency’s function.
Standard income bands can include: below 100% FPL, 100–200% FPL, 200–300% FPL, 300–
400% FPL, and above 400% FPL. For housing-related programs, agencies can additionally use
AMI-based thresholds consistent with those used by the Department of Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD). Agencies can cross-tabulate race and ethnicity with income data to identify
intersectional disparities.
Where the NYC True Cost of Living Measure cost-of-living-adjusted income measures are
available, it would be encouraged to use them alongside nominal income to present a more
accurate picture of economic hardship across neighborhoods and demographic groups.
Geographic Data
Geographic disaggregation is essential for identifying neighborhood-level disparities and targeting
interventions.
The following geographic units for disaggregation should be considered, alongside other maps
and geographical boundaries (e.g. Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity Neighborhood Map):
•
Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs)
•
Community Districts (CDs)
•
Census Tract
•
Borough (high-level geographic comparison)
Additional Demographic Categories
Beyond the categories already mentioned, we should collect and disaggregate data by the
following characteristics as relevant to their programs and functions: language (primary language
spoken at home and English language ability), age (using age bands appropriate to an agency’s
function), and disability status (consistent with definitions under the Americans with Disabilities
Act), and Veteran status.
Advanced Methodologies for Equity Analysis
Methodologies that go deeper enable meaningful equity analysis. Advanced approaches are
essential to achieving levels of granularity that allow for identification of disparity among or within
groups.
This includes developing capacity to conduct intersectional analysis examining how multiple
demographic characteristics interact to produce compound disparities. Intersectionality is essential
for understanding the experiences of individuals who face compounded discrimination or
disadvantages.
Proposed Intersectional Dimensions
•
Race and Ethnicity × Gender Identity
•
Race and Ethnicity × Age
•
Race and Ethnicity × Geography (Neighborhood)
•
Race and Ethnicity × Income
•
Race and Ethnicity × Language Access
•
Race and Ethnicity × Disability Status
Responding to Disparity Findings
The collection and reporting of disaggregated data serves us well when it informs decisions that
advance racial equity.
When the City identifies a statistically significant disparity in an outcome indicator, the following
actions should be taken:
•
Investigate contributing factors through an operational lens, examining whether the
disparity stems from policy design, access or outreach patterns, geographic distribution of
services, eligibility criteria, or systemic factors
•
Document the finding and its contributing factors in the Racial Equity Plan (REP)
•
Connect the finding to a specific strategy or action in the Plan that addresses the identified
disparity
•
Report on progress in reducing the disparity in subsequent REP submissions. We should
use disparity findings to inform resource allocation, service delivery design, staffing
decisions, and geographic targeting of interventions.
Future Planning and Conclusion
MOERJ aims to remain on the racial equity planning schedule outlined in the New York City
Charter. In future planning cycles, we will engage our current agency partners to continuously
reflect and update their plans and, as City entities shift, evaluate including additional city agencies
to participate in the process.
The Citywide Racial Equity Plan marks the beginning of our City’s collective work to close
gaps in opportunity and outcomes for all New Yorkers. Although City agencies have initiated
processes and practices to address racial disparities in their lines of work, this plan, for the
first time, institutionalizes and streamlines existing and new commitments to racial equity
across agencies. The goal is to holistically deliver for New Yorkers since structural racism is a
cross-cutting and compounding issue.
Recognizing that we are far from overturning the intergenerational impact of over 400 years of
colonialism, slavery, and exploitation, we are committed to learning from others on this path
toward racial equity and listening to New Yorkers – particularly those most impacted by
structural racism – to hold our City accountable to this process.
Acknowledgments
The Citywide Racial Equity Plan illustrates the collective labor, commitment, and
perseverance of numerous communities, City leadership, MOERJ staff, City agency
staff, advisors, and the City entities that championed this work and paved the path for
us. We thank them for their monumental contribution to this plan and process.
New Yorkers
Thank you to the over one million New Yorkers who flipped their ballot and voted on
three historic ballot measures in November 2022. We appreciate their commitment to
civic engagement and want to uplift their decision to bring this process and plan to life.
We recognize that the ballot measures would not have been possible to vote on without
the work of New Yorkers, past and present, who fought for racial equity and social
justice. This plan is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who have
suffered and continue to do so in the name of freedom and equity.
We also thank every New Yorker who engaged in the public review process of the
Preliminary Racial Equity Plan and provided input on it. From providing feedback
through MOERJ’s public survey to attending townhalls organized by our Racial Equity
Plan accountability partner, the Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), the time, voice,
experience, and knowledge of every New Yorker who participated was and will continue
to be crucial to ensuring it speaks to the needs of the people.
Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice (MOERJ)
Afua Atta-Mensah,
NYC Chief Equity Officer and MOERJ Commissioner
Dabash Negash,
Deputy Commissioner
Maia Molina-Schaefer
, Chief of Staff
Peggy Chan,
Senior Operations Advisor
Shehab Chowdhury,
Senior Advisor
Zubair Merchant,
Policy Director
Nicole Joseph,
Program Manager
Tejaswi Thapa,
Data & Performance Manager
Equity Planning Managers
Jennaye Brown
Sarita Covington
Annisha Davis
Lauren Deering
Hagir Elzin
Charmaine Gentles
Lesley Santos
Jada Young
We also thank our many current and former MOERJ colleagues for their commitment to
racial equity and their valuable contributions to New York City’s first Racial Equity
Planning process, including Sideya Sherman, inaugural and former New York City Chief
Equity Officer & MOERJ Commissioner, and Drashti Brahmbhatt, former Director of
Equity Planning & Technical Assistance/Training.
NYC Agencies and Staff
We thank our City agencies and their staff for working diligently to develop their
agency’s first Racial Equity Plan and contributing to our City’s vision for racial equity.
Administration for Children's Services (ACS)
Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC)
Business Integrity Commission (BIC)
Civic Engagement Commission (CEC)
Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)
Department for the Aging (NYC Aging)
Department of Buildings (DOB)
Department of City Planning (DCP)
Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS)
Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP)
Department of Correction (DOC)
Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA)
Department of Design and Construction (DDC)
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
Department of Finance (DOF)
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)
Department of Investigation (DOI)
Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)
Department of Probation (DOP)
Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS)
Department of Sanitation (DSNY)
Department of Small Business Services (SBS)
Department of Social Services (DSS) / HRA / DHS
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Department of Veterans' Services (DVS)
Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)
Economic Development Corporation (EDC)
Fire Department (FDNY)
Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC)
Law Department (LAW)
Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS)
Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ)
Mayor's Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME)
NYC Emergency Management (NYCEM)
NYC Health and Hospitals (H+H)
NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA)
NYC Public Schools (NYCPS)
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH)
Office of Labor Relations (OLR)
Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI)
Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME)
Police Department (NYPD)
Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC)
City Agency/Office Advisors and Collaborators
We thank our other colleagues in NYC government who contributed to the racial equity
planning process and/or review of the preliminary plan.
Mayor’s Office of Operations
Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity
Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice
Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises
Office of the Chief Counsel to the Mayor
Law Department
We also thank the NYC Commission on Racial Equity (CORE) leadership, Chair & Executive
Director Linda Tigani and the Commissioners, as well as the staff for gathering and sharing
community input on the Preliminary Plan to inform the Final Racial Equity Plan.
Racial Equity Advisory Board
We thank our present and past board members who provided important guidance that
shaped NYC’s first Racial Equity Plan.
We especially honor the memory of the late Dr. Hazel Dukes, who served on the board
and was a tireless advocate for racial equity for over seven decades. We are forever
grateful for her courage, strength, and lifelong commitment to civil and racial justice.
Current Board Members
Ana Bermúdez,
Former Commissioner, New York City Department of Probation
Grace Bonilla,
President & CEO, The United Way of New York City
Fred Davie,
Senior Strategic Advisor to the President, Union Theological Seminary
Jennifer Jones Austin,
Chair, Civilian Complaint Review Board
Michael McAfee,
President & CEO, PolicyLink
Michael Nutter,
Former Mayor of Philadelphia
Udai Tambar,
CEO, New York Junior Tennis & Learning
Phil Thompson,
Former Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives
Carl Weisbrod,
Former Chairman, New York City Planning Commission
Jo-Ann Yoo,
Deputy Executive Director, Asian Americans for Equality
Former Board Members
Dr. Hazel Dukes,
Former President, NAACP New York State Conference
Dr. Torian Easterling,
Senior Vice President for Population & Community Health and
Chief Strategic & Innovation Officer, One Brooklyn Health
Jacques Jiha,
Former Director, New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget
Melva Miller,
Former CEO, Association for a Better New York
Racial Justice Commission (RJC)
Former Members
Jennifer Jones Austin,
Chair, Civilian Complaint Review Board (Chair, RJC)
Henry Garrido,
Executive Director, DC 37 AFSCME (Vice Chair, RJC)
K. Bain,
Founder and Executive Director, Community Capacity Development
Ana M. Bermúdez,
Former Commissioner, The New York City Department of Probation
Rev. Fred Davie,
Executive Vice President, Union Theological Seminary and Former
Chair, Civilian Complaint Review Board
Lurie Daniel Favors,
Executive Director, Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar
Evers College
Darrick Hamilton,
Founding Director, Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at
The New School and Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy
Christopher Kui,
President, Rise Now Inc.
Yesenia Mata,
Commissioner, NYC Department of Veterans’ Services
Phil Thompson,
Former Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives
Jo-Ann Yoo,
Deputy Executive Director, Asian Americans for Equality
Former Staff
Anusha Venkataraman,
Executive Director
Harold Miller,
Deputy Executive Director for External Affairs
Melanie Ash,
General Counsel
Erin Berry,
Deputy General Counsel
Bianca Isaias,
Associate General Counsel
Rachel Cato,
Chief of Operations
Tashawn Morgan,
Deputy Chief of Staff
Kapil Longani, Senior Advisor
Jimmy Pan,
Policy Director and Special Counsel
Sam Stanton,
Senior Policy Advisor and Legal Counsel
Eden Mulate,
Policy Advisor
Jacqueline Kennedy,
Public Engagement Director
Steph Halpin,
Communications Director
Chi Nguyễn,
Senior Advisor
Davina Lee,
Intern
Appendix
Appendix A: Glossary
Disaggregated data:
Charter § 3400 defines “disaggregated data” as follows:
Data collected from or about multiple persons or households, analyzed and
presented as separate categories by different characteristics, such as race,
cultural background, neighborhood, language, or gender, at a specified level of
detail or granularity.
Disparity
: “Disparity” means a lack of equality. As used in these preliminary plans, the
term refers to a disparity between the experiences, circumstances, or outcomes of white
New Yorkers and New Yorkers of color, except where the context indicates otherwise.
Diverse Workforce:
A “diverse” workforce is one that includes people with a broad
variety of backgrounds and experiences, relating to a wide range of characteristics,
which may include (among other things) race, national origin, gender (including gender
identity), economic status, education institutions attended, family circumstances,
languages spoken, neighborhood(s) of residence, cultural awareness, challenges faced,
prior work experiences.
Employee Resource Group (ERG):
Groups within an organization that allow
employees to connect around shared experiences and/or interests.
Equity
: Charter § 3400 defines “equity” as follows:
Equity as an outcome shall mean the achievement of a city where the worth,
talents, and contributions of all people are valued and recognized, irrespective of
race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, mental or physical
disability, national or ethnic origin, immigration status, education, or economic
status, and where these characteristics of identity, whether taken individually or
through the ways in which they intersect, are not predictors or determinants of
economic, political, social, or psychological outcomes, as they neither confer
privilege nor deny opportunities.
Equity as a process means the closing of gaps in policy, practice, and allocation
of city resources through the prioritization of access, opportunities, and resources
to those people and communities with the greatest need, whether due to
historical or current marginalization or oppression, underinvestment,
disinvestment, or under-resourcing of those people and communities, or due to
the way in which their intersecting characteristics of identity serve to magnify
inequities.
Local Law 30 Languages
: Charter § 15(c) and Administrative Code § 1102, enacted by
Local Law 30 of 2017, requires that city agencies provide language access
services in 10 designated languages: Spanish, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin,
and Formosan), Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, Arabic, Urdu, French,
and Polish.
Marginalization
: Charter § 3400 defines “marginalization” as follows:
The effects of past or current policies or actions that have had a long-term
negative impact on an individual, family, community, or neighborhood, including,
but not limited to, any collateral consequences of disproportionate law
enforcement, any underinvestment in neighborhoods, or any disproportionately
penalizing enforcement method. The term “anti-marginalization” means actions
and policies that reverse and prevent the effects of past or current
marginalization.
Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE):
Section 1304 of the Charter defines
“minority owned business enterprise” and “women owned business enterprise” as:
Business enterprises authorized to do business in this state, including sole
proprietorships, partnerships and corporations, in which (i) at least fifty-one
percent of the ownership interest is held by United States citizens or lawful
permanent residents who are either minority group members or women; (ii) the
ownership interest of such individuals is real, substantial and continuing; and (iii)
such individuals have and exercise the authority to control independently the day
to day business decisions of the enterprise.
M/WBE:
A term used to refer to MBEs and WBEs.
Occupational segregation:
Charter § 3400 defines “occupational segregation” as:
The under-representation or over-representation of a group, identified on the
basis of a shared characteristic protected by the employment related provisions
of the city's human rights law, in a position or field of work to the detriment of that
group's ability to obtain higher levels of pay, responsibility, flexibility, stability, or
other indicators of job desirability.
Racial Equity:
Charter § 3400 defines “racial equity” as follows:
The term “racial equity” shall mean, when referring to an outcome, the
achievement of equity with a particular focus on race or the intersection of race
with other characteristics of identity. When referring to a process, the term “racial
equity” shall mean the closing of gaps in policy, practice, and allocation of city
resources through the prioritization of access, opportunities, and resources to
those people and communities who, based on or at least in part due to race,
have historically faced or currently face marginalization or oppression,
underinvestment, disinvestment, or under-resourcing
Racial Equity Lens:
A data-driven analytical process created and used to identify how
policy, decisions, and programs might create intentional and unintentional
disparate impacts or reinforce historical inequities.
Racism:
The term racism can describe the idea that a particular racial group is better
than others and is commonly recognized as an individual or group’s negative
beliefs and/or behavior towards others motivated by such ideas
(interpersonal). But, just as often, it refers to policies and practices that create
unequal outcomes, whether or not those institutions intend to do so
(institutional), existing inequities that spread within a system of various
institutions (systemic), as well as different systems that interact to perpetuate
widespread racial inequality (structural).
Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) Neighborhoods
: The Taskforce on
Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) was established in 2020 in response to the
disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. In partnership
with the NYC Department of Health & Hygiene (DOHMH), and utilizing
pandemic, health as well as socioeconomic indicators, the Taskforce identified
33 neighborhoods
, now known as “TRIE neighborhoods”.
Underserved community:
As used in these Racial Equity Plans, “underserved
community” refers to a racial group that is employed or receiving a service or
benefit at a lower rate than the majority racial group.
Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE
)
:
See the definition of “minority-owned
business enterprise”.
Appendix B: Preamble and Statement of Values
In 2022, New Yorkers overwhelmingly passed three historic ballot measures that embed
racial equity and justice in City government. The first measure was the addition of a
preamble to the
New York City Charter
. A preamble is a statement at the beginning of a
legal document that explains its purpose or goals. By adding a preamble, New Yorkers
adopted a vision and statement of foundational values intended to guide City
government in fulfilling its duties. In other words, City agencies and officials need to
consider the preamble in carrying out their duties and mandates as they relate to
planning, programs, and audits.
The preamble outlines three core foundational values:
i.
Our government
Justly Values all Talents and Contributions
ii.
Our government
Ensures the Conditions of Thriving for Every Person
iii.
Our government
Embraces Vigilance, Remedy, and Reconstruction
The preamble reads:
We, the people of New York city, declare that our city is a multiracial democracy,
and that our diversity is our strength. We honor and respect the cultures, languages,
and histories of all who call and have called this land home, and we celebrate their
revolutionary imagination, courage, and resiliency.
We strive to be a city where the value, talents, and contributions of every New
Yorker are recognized and embraced, and where equity and inclusiveness,
community empowerment, accessibility, and opportunity for every New Yorker are
the unwavering standards to which we are held accountable in all aspects of
governance, business, and service delivery.
We endeavor to ensure that every person who resides in New York city has the
opportunity to thrive with:
i.
A safe, healthy, and sustainable living environment;
ii.
A resilient neighborhood served by quality and accessible infrastructure
and services as well as a robust local economy;
iii. Vibrant and welcoming public spaces throughout New York city, where
everyone belongs and can move freely;
iv. Resources necessary to prosper economically and build wealth;
v.
Safe, secure, and affordable housing;
vi. Quality and culturally-relevant child and youth supports, including early
childhood and pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade education;
vii. Compassionate and culturally-responsive health, trauma, and mental
health care;
viii. Access and opportunity to participate meaningfully in government
decision-making; and
ix. Humane, empathetic, and respectful treatment
We recognize that New York city sits on the traditional territories of the original
inhabitants, the Lenape, and we endeavor to honor their stewardship of the land by
protecting our environment and all living things.
We acknowledge the grave injustices and atrocities that form part of our country’s
history, including the forced labor of enslaved Africans, the colonialism that
displaced Indigenous people from their lands, the devaluing and underpaying of
immigrant workers, and the discrimination, racial segregation, mass incarceration,
and other forms of violence and systemic inequity that continue to be experienced
by marginalized groups, including, but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, Latinx,
Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and other People of Color, women, religious
minorities, immigrants, people who are LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities. We
also recognize that these systemic injustices are at the foundation of so many of
society’s structures and institutions, and have caused profound physical, emotional,
social, and psychological harm and trauma to individuals, families, and
communities. They have also resulted in widespread loss of economic opportunity
and intergenerational wealth. The effects of these harms are deeply engrained,
systemic, and continuing. We are ever mindful that vigilance is required to prevent
the recurrence of past or worsening of continuing harms. We must act intentionally
to remedy these past and continuing harms and to reconstruct, revise and
reimagine our foundations, structures, institutions, and laws to promote justice and
equity for all New Yorkers.
The collective values set out in this preamble will guide the operation of our city
government and inform and shape how the city carries out the duties, obligations,
and authorities, and upholds and protects the rights set out in the charter.
We, the people of New York city, united in our resolve to build a just and equitable
city for all, recognize the efforts of those New Yorkers, past and present, who fought
for racial equity and social justice, honor the contributions of those New Yorkers
who have suffered in the name of freedom, and acknowledge all who fought,
struggled, and dreamed for a better life and a better city. Together, we stand on
their shoulders as we move boldly toward a brighter tomorrow for ourselves, our
children, and future generations.
Appendix C: Historical Timeline
Note
: This timeline is not meant to be a comprehensive summary of all historical
events.
•
Pre-1624
:
Lenape People reside on Lenapehoking land
and have done so for
over 11,000 years. The Munsee tribe inhabited modern-day New York region.
Prior to European contact, the Lenape numbered 20,000. They traded, farmed,
and hunted, were closely connected with the land, and are its rightful stewards.
•
1624: The Dutch established settlement on Lenapehoking land.
Specifically,
the colony of New Amsterdam, colonizing Lenapehoking, the land of the Lenape
people. This marked the beginning of Dutch settlement in what is now NYC,
alongside the introduction of slavery in the region in 1626.
•
1653: New Amsterdam is chartered
and paves the way for the formal
establishment of the city of New York later.
•
1664
:
British colonize New Amsterdam
, seizing control from the Dutch and
renaming it New York. This expanded English colonial practices, including the
use of enslaved African labor, which became a key economic driver in the
growing colony.
•
1703
:
42% of NYC households
enslaved at least one person.
•
1712
:
First New York rebellion of enslaved Black People
to fight for their
abolition. Twenty percent of the NYC population were enslaved.
•
1741
:
New York rebellion of enslaved Black people
, involving a series of fires
and an alleged plot to revolt. Dozens were executed or exiled as a result.
•
1762: Wall Street Slave Market ends
, banning the public sale of enslaved
people. However, the economic entanglement of slavery with the financial
institutions in NYC persisted for decades.
•
1776-87
:
American Revolution and independence
. U.S. adopts the
Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring “All men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Slavery
continued to exist in NYC, contradicting stated ideals. Lenape people are fewer
than 3,000, killed through infectious diseases, war, and genocide. New York
briefly serves as the Nation’s first capital.
•
1801
:
Brooklyn Navy Yard
established as a federal navy shipyard.
•
1827
:
New York bans slavery
, following gradual emancipation laws.
Nevertheless, NYC remained a large hub for slavery.
•
1830: Department of Finance
established.
•
1838
:
Weeksville Free Community
established by free African Americans and
founded in Brooklyn, becoming one of the first self-sufficient Black communities
in the U.S. and offering refuge from racial discrimination and economic exclusion
in NYC.
•
1845
:
New York Police Department
established.
•
1849
:
City Law Department
established.
•
1857
:
Seneca Village, a predominantly Black community founded in the
1820s, razed.
Located in what is now Central Park, it was forcibly cleared by the
City under eminent domain to make way for the park’s construction.
•
1862
:
Department of Buildings
established.
•
1863
:
Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln
, declaring the
freedom of enslaved people in Confederate states and marking a turning point in
the national abolition of slavery.
•
1863: Draft Riots
, a violent response to the Civil War draft, during which mobs
attacked Black people, leading to the lynching of 11 Black men and widespread
destruction in African American neighborhoods.
•
1865: Fire Department
established.
•
1870
:
Department of Health
established.
•
1873
:
Department of Investigation
established.
•
1879
:
Tenement Housing Act passes
, mandating reforms in building design to
improve the health and safety conditions in urban housing, which were primarily
inhabited by the working poor, including many African Americans and
immigrants.
•
1880-1918
:
Immigration wave.
Nineteenth-century social, political, and
economic movements lead to waves from Ireland, Italy, and Western
Europe.
•
1881
:
Department of Sanitation
established.
•
1895
:
Department of Correction
established.
•
1896
:
Plessy v. Ferguson
. The Supreme Court rules segregation as a practice
is valid as long as public and private institutions can be separate but equal.
•
1898
:
Incorporation of NYC
, brought together Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens,
the Bronx and Staten Island into a single municipality and laid the groundwork
for modern urban planning, which would often disadvantage communities of
color.
•
1900-1920
:
Progressive Era Reforms
. Push to establish more open and
responsible government including expanded political rights for women and U.S.
workers, as well as other policy reforms that aimed to regulate industry and
protect consumers.
•
1911
:
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
, a fire in a garment factory that
employed mostly young, immigrant women, kills 146 workers. The lack of
accessible exits and sprinklers in the building, leading to the high death toll,
sparks a movement for better working conditions for sweatshop and factory
workers. The series of reforms included the establishment of the U.S.
Department of Labor in 1913 and a federal commitment to worker safety.
•
1910-40s
:
Great Migration,
a decades-long migration of Black Americans from
the South to the North due to Jim Crow practices and formalization of
segregation in the South.
•
1914-19
:
Influenza Crisis and World War I
.
•
1918
:
Department of Probation
and
Office of Chief Medical Examiner
formed.
•
1920s-30s
:
Harlem Renaissance
, centered in Harlem celebrating African American
arts, literature, and thought. It advanced and elevated Black voices, challenged
stereotypes, and fostered a sense of racial pride and identity. This
cultural flowering was intrinsically linked to the Great Migration, as the influx of
Black Americans from the South to Northern cities like New York provided the
critical mass of talent and energy to fuel the movement.
•
1929-1939
:
Wall Street Crash and Great Depression
, a period of severe
economic downturn that disproportionately affected marginalized communities in
New York, exacerbating unemployment and poverty among Black Americans.
•
1934
:
Department of Parks and Recreation
established.
•
1934
:
NYC Housing Authority
established. First Houses open in 1935.
•
1936: The City Planning Commission is created by the 1936 Charter;
the
Department of City Planning is established and begins operating in 1938.
•
1935 & 1943
:
Harlem Uprisings
: Community resistance by Black New Yorkers
protesting economic exploitation and racial injustice.
•
1940-45
:
World War II
. NYC became a key industrial and military hub, with
African Americans contributing significantly to the war effort. However, racial
segregation in housing and employment persisted, leading to tensions that would
contribute to the postwar civil rights movement.
•
1940s-1950: Black New Yorkers desegregate spaces
, engaging in direct
action campaigns to desegregate restaurants, theaters, and other public spaces,
and contributing to broader efforts to dismantle racial segregation in the North.
•
1947
:
Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers
, becoming the first African
American to play in the MLB in the modern era, breaking the sport’s racial
barrier, and symbolizing broader challenges to racial segregation.
•
1949: Federal Housing Act sparks urban renewal
, funding projects across
the U.S. and in NYC. Many of these projects displaced African American and
immigrant communities, perpetuating racial segregation.
•
1954
:
Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court ruling
, declaring
segregation in public schools unconstitutional and overturning
Plessy v.
Ferguson
.
•
1955: Commission on Human Rights
established.
•
1963
:
Cross Bronx Expressway completed
, creating a major highway that cut
through the heart of the Bronx and displacing at least 40,000 residents (largely
Black and immigrant communities) and businesses.
•
1964
:
Civil Rights Act
signed.
•
1964
:
NYC School Student Boycott
, where more than 400,000 students and
parents participated in a citywide boycott of public schools to protest the ongoing
de facto segregation in New York’s educational system, highlighting racial
inequities in schooling and the failure to adopt an effective racial integration plan.
•
1965
:
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 passes
, fundamentally
changing U.S. immigration policy by eliminating national-origin quotas and
prioritizing family reunification and skilled labor. This increased immigration from
Asia, Africa, and Latin America, shaping NYC neighborhoods for decades to
come.
•
1965: Landmarks Preservation Commission
established.
•
1965
:
NYC Human Rights Law
passes, expanding the jurisdiction of the City’s
Commission on Human Rights to address discrimination in housing, employment,
and public accommodations, particularly benefiting marginalized racial and ethnic
groups.
•
1966: Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services
established.
•
1966: The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) is established
in
response to growing demands for accountability, creating an independent body
to investigate police misconduct and make disciplinary recommendations to the
NYPD Commissioner.
•
1967: Office of Labor Relations
established.
•
1968-1970: NYC Mayor Lindsay signs executive orders
prohibiting
discrimination in City employment and contracting based on race, sex, age, and
disability.
•
1969
:
Stonewall Uprisings
led by LGBTQ+ people of color, particularly Black
and Latina Trans women. A series of spontaneous demonstrations against police
harassment which sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
•
1969: Students at City College (one of the earliest free public institutions of
higher education in the U.S.), occupy buildings
to protest admissions policies
and a curriculum that failed to acknowledge their histories and cultures,
demanding greater representation of Black and Puerto Rican students and
studies, given the school’s location in Harlem.
•
1969: Department of Consumer Affairs
and
the New York City Health &
Hospitals Corporation
established.
•
1969-76: Young Lords activism.
Led by Puerto Rican youth, African
Americans, and Latino New Yorkers, the group demanded better City services
like sanitation, education, and health care. In 1970, they occupied Lincoln
Hospital in the South Bronx to demand accessible and adequate care in what
they called “the Butcher Shop,” where patients of color experienced high
mortality rates. Their work drew national attention through its framing of racial
and economic justice as a public health issue.
•
1970s: NYC public school desegregation efforts through busing and other
measures face significant resistance
, highlighting the ongoing racial divide in
education despite legal mandates for integration.
•
1970s-80s: The Bronx is burning.
A wave of landlord arson, redlining, and City
disinvestment led to the intentional destruction of housing at a massive scale,
displacing Black and Brown residents and devastating entire neighborhoods.
•
1971: Taxi and Limousine Commission
established.
•
1973: DJ Kool Herc pioneers hip-hop
at Bronx party.
•
1975
:
NYC fiscal crisis
nearly bankrupts NYC, leading to severe cuts in public
services and programs, which disproportionately impact low-income and
marginalized communities.
•
1975-79: Department for the Aging, Department of Records & Information
Services, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of
Transportation, Department of Cultural Affairs, Department of Housing
Preservation & Development, Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings
all established.
•
1977: NYC Blackout.
A massive power outage during an economic recession
heavily impacts New York and struggling New Yorkers.
•
1978: NYC Mayor Koch
signs executive order prohibiting discrimination based
on sexual orientation in City employment, services and contracting.
•
1980s-90s
:
War on Drugs
, U.S. government campaign to reduce illegal drug
use through harsh law enforcement and penalties, disproportionately impacting
communities of color and leading to mass incarceration.
•
1981: First mainstream news on HIV/AIDS.
The New York Times
publishes
one of the first major articles on AIDS amid widespread government indifference.
While initially framed as a disease affecting only gay men, the epidemic
devastates Black and Brown communities, sex workers, and people who use
intravenous drugs. With little institutional support, people living with HIV/AIDS in
New York City organize their own care, advocacy, and survival, eventually
forming more than 200 grassroots organizations.
•
1988: Tompkins Square Uprising
, where clashes between police and
demonstrators in the park erupt over gentrification, homelessness, and police
brutality, exposing deep social tensions in the city.
•
1988: Mayor’s Office of Contract Services
established.
•
1989: Charter amendments adopted by referendum provide for the
establishment of the Equal Employment Practices Commission and an
Office of Financial and Economic Opportunity
authorized to establish
programs for minority and women owned businesses.
•
1989:
Central Park Five Case
, where five Black and Latino teenagers were
wrongfully convicted of rape in Central Park. The case was highly publicized, and
they were imprisoned based on coerced confessions. In 2002, they were
exonerated after another person confessed to the crime, raising significant
concerns about racial bias in the criminal justice system and the treatment of
youth of color.
•
1990: David Dinkins
becomes the first Black mayor of New York City.
•
1990: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is enacted,
expanding civil rights
protections for people with disabilities and reshaping access to New York City’s
public services, infrastructure, and employment.
•
1990s-2000s: Stop-and-Frisk policing
leads to disproportionate stops of Black
and Latino men for searches without probable cause. The majority of these stops
do not result in arrests or reductions in crime. Continuing a pattern of hyper
surveillance and racialized harm, the policy adds to growing mistrust between
communities of color and the NYPD.
•
1990s-Present: Gentrification in NYC.
Public policy changes and new private
developments lead to rising costs and the displacement of long-time, low-income
residents as higher-income newcomers transform neighborhoods.
•
1991: Economic Development Corporation
and
Department of Business
Services
established.
•
1992: The City’s first program for minority and women owned businesses
is established
by regulation.
•
1993: Department of Homeless Services
formed as separate agency.
•
1993: The CCRB is re-established
as an all-civilian agency independent of the
NYPD with authority to investigate misconduct and recommend discipline to the
police commissioner.
•
1994: Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications
(currently OTI)
established.
•
1996: Administration for Children’s Services, Department of Youth &
Community Development, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, Department
of Design & Construction,
and
Department of Citywide Administrative
Services
all established.
•
1999: Killing of Amadou Diallo.
An unarmed 23-year-old West African
immigrant is shot 41 times by four NYPD officers in the Bronx and killed. His
killing ignited widespread protests against police brutality and racial profiling.
•
2001
:
The September 11 terrorist attacks
kill nearly 3,000 people in New
York, including hundreds of firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical
workers who die in the response and recovery effort. In the years that follow,
Arab, South Asian, and Muslim communities raise concerns about surveillance
and civil rights violations.
•
2001-02: Business Integrity Commission
established,
Department of
Education
reorganized under mayoral control,
Department of Business
Services
renamed
Department of Small Business Services,
and
NYC
Emergency Management
granted departmental status.
•
2005: Local Law 129 enacted
. Participation goals created for M/WBE
program, increasing number of M/WBEs certified (700 to 3,500).
•
2006: Killing of Sean Bell.
An unarmed 23-year-old is killed by NYPD officers
after 50 shots are fired into his car in Queens. His killing sparks protests against
police brutality, impunity, and racial profiling.
•
2007-08: Great Recession
. Financial crisis triggered by the collapse of the
housing market leads to a deep recession that causes widespread job losses and
evictions, with Black and Brown communities disproportionately affected.
•
2010: Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment
established.
•
2011: The Occupy Wall Street movement emerges in Zuccotti Park
, driven
by widespread frustration with corporate power, high unemployment, and deep
economic inequality. The movement popularizes the slogan
“We are the 99%,”
highlighting extreme concentration of wealth in the United States.
•
2012: Superstorm Sandy
causes widespread destruction in NYC, particularly in
low-lying and coastal areas, with marginalized communities facing
disproportionate damage and slower recovery efforts.
•
2012: Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old Black teenager is fatally shot
in Florida by George Zimmerman, a civilian neighborhood watch volunteer. His
killing and Zimmerman’s 2013 acquittal spark national outrage and galvanize the
Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
•
2014: Killing of Eric Garner.
An unarmed 43-year-old Black man is killed by
NYPD officers during an arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. His killing is
captured on video, where he repeatedly says “I can’t breathe”.
•
2014: Killing of Mike Brown, Jr.
An unarmed 18-year-old Black teen is shot by
police in Ferguson, MO, sparking national protests, including in NYC, against
police violence and racial injustice fueling growth of the BLM movement.
•
2016: Department of Veterans’ Services
established.
•
2017: Local Law 30 enacted,
strengthening language access requirements
across NYC agencies to ensure meaningful access to services for New Yorkers
with limited English proficiency.
•
2017: Travel Ban.
The Trump administration restricts entry into the U.S. from
several Muslim-majority countries, sparking mass protests across the nation.
•
2018: Civic Engagement Commission
established.
•
2020: Killing of Breonna Taylor.
A 26-year-old Black woman is shot and killed
by police in Louisville, KY in her apartment during a nighttime police raid. Her
death and the delayed response to it sparks nationwide protests against
excessive force and drives momentum of the
Say Her Name
movement.
•
2020
:
NYC is the national epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic
, with Black,
Brown, and working-class communities disproportionately impacted due to
structural health and socioeconomic inequities. COVID-19 widens existing racial
gaps in life expectancy, making inequities in health outcomes more visible.
•
2020: NYC Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) forms
under former
NYC Mayor de Blasio and former NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray to identify
disparities and respond to disproportionate effects.
•
2020: Murder of George Floyd and protests
. An unarmed 46-year-old Black
man is murdered in Minneapolis, MN, when a police officer kneels on his neck for
over nine minutes. This sparks international protests, including in NYC,
demanding an end to police brutality.
•
2021: Stop Asian Hate Movement
, emerges in response to increased anti-
Asian racism and violence during the pandemic. It aims to raise awareness,
combat discrimination, and promote safety and equality for Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders in the U.S.
•
2021: NYC Racial Justice Commission, a charter revision commission
under Mayor de Blasio, tasked with examining structural racism and putting
forward ballot questions aimed at removing barriers and promoting racial equity.
•
2021: NYC Board of Health passes resolution officially declaring
racism a public health crisis
.
•
2022
:
NYC voters pass racial justice ballot measures
, marking a significant
step toward institutionalizing racial justice reforms in the City.
•
2023: Killing of Jordan Neely
. A 30-year-old Black man experiencing
homelessness and mental health distress dies after being placed in a chokehold
on the NYC subway by Daniel Penny, a civilian. His death, and Penny’s
subsequent acquittal, sparks protests and renewed debate over public safety,
vigilantism, and the criminalization of poverty and mental illness.
•
2023: Local Law 12
is enacted, requiring every NYC agency, in consultation with
the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD), to develop and implement
a five-year accessibility plan to ensure workplaces, services, programs, and
communications are accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities.
•
2023
:
Advisory board launched
under former NYC Mayor Adams to guide
implementation of Racial Justice Charter amendments;
NYC Mayor’s Office of
Equity & Racial Justice
and
Commission on Racial Equity
established.
•
2026
:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani releases New York City’s first-ever
Preliminary and Final Citywide Racial Equity Plan.
Figure C-1.
Communities Identified as Hardest-Hit by COVID-19 and Other Health and Socioeconomic Disparities,
by Community District.
Source:
Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity
Appendix D: NYC Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity
(TRIE) Neighborhood Map
The map below shows the communities identified by the NYC Taskforce on Racial
Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) as hardest hit by COVID-19 and facing significant health and
socioeconomic disparities. When the Taskforce was established, these communities
accounted for over 50 percent of New York City’s COVID-19 cases. This map provides
historical and geographic context for communities of focus through the TRIE
Neighborhood Initiative.
Figure C-2.
NYC Poverty Rates by Community District and TRIE Neighborhood Boundaries.
Source:
NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, NYCgov Poverty Measure, 2019.
NYC Poverty Rates and TRIE Neighborhood Map
The following map displays NYC poverty rates by community district, overlaid with NYC Taskforce on Racial Inclusion &
Equity (TRIE) neighborhood boundaries. The NYC poverty rate refers to the percentage of the city population in poverty, as
measured by the NYC Opportunity poverty measure, which accounts for housing and transportation costs, as well as benefits
such as SNAP, housing subsidies and tax credits.
Figure C-3.
NYC Premature Mortality Rates by Community District and TRIE Neighborhood Boundaries.
Source:
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2022.
NYC Premature Mortality and TRIE Neighborhood Map
The following map displays NYC premature mortality (age-adjusted rate of deaths under age 65 per 100,000 people) by
community district, overlaid with NYC Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) neighborhood boundaries.
Figure C-5.
Figure C-4.
NYC Unemployment Rates by Community District and TRIE Neighborhood Boundaries.
Source:
U.S. Census Bureau, 2021.
NYC Unemployment and TRIE Neighborhood Map
The following map displays the unemployment rate among residents ages 16 and older, excluding people serving in the
Armed Forces and those not in the labor force, by community district, overlaid with NYC Taskforce on Racial Inclusion &
Equity (TRIE) neighborhood boundaries.
Figure C-5.
NYC Neighborhood Financial Health Index by Neighborhood.
Source:
NYC Department of Consumer & Worker Protection, Office of Financial Empowerment, 2021.
NYC Neighborhood Financial Health Index
The Neighborhood Financial Health Index, developed by the NYC Department of Consumer & Worker Protection (DCWP)
Office of Financial Empowerment, assesses the financial health of New York City neighborhoods across
five distinct goals
using 2021 data. The map assigns each neighborhood an index score from zero (0) to ten (10) for each financial health
goal, with higher scores indicating better financial health. The map also displays an overall evaluation of neighborhood
financial health, which considers all five goals and neighborhood demographic information.
Appendix E: Citywide Policies on Employment
The City of New York is committed to incorporating equity principles in all of its
employment policies and practices. The City seeks to recruit individuals with the
knowledge and skills necessary to serve the extraordinarily diverse communities that
comprise its population. The City pursues this interest with outreach to all communities
where such talent may be found, and with a particular focus on communities that may
be underrepresented in parts of our workforce.
Through the New York City public schools, the community colleges and workforce
development programs run by several agencies, the City seeks to ensure opportunities
are available for all New Yorkers to pursue training that prepares them for a rewarding
career and equips them to compete successfully in both the public and private sectors.
The City strives to provide an employment environment where all employees feel that
they can succeed and that the life experiences and perspectives they bring to the job
are valued. Managers, supervisors and employees are trained in principles of
nondiscrimination, equity, and inclusion. Agencies are required to disseminate their
equal employment policies and to have internal complaint procedures that employees
may use to raise issues about any incidents of discrimination.
The City’s policies and practices are designed to respect the requirements of the Equal
Protection Clauses in our federal and State Constitutions, and the protections against
discrimination in federal and state laws and our own local laws. In accordance with
these laws, hiring decisions, promotion decisions and assignments are not to be made
on the basis of race or national origin, except in the very rare instances when the
Constitution and applicable laws allow those factors to be considered. Officers and
employees with roles in decisions about hiring and promotion, and those with other
managerial and supervisory responsibilities, must be knowledgeable about and
accountable for complying with laws and carrying out the City’s equal employment
policies, including those focused on racial equity.
New York City’s laws and policies address racial equity in the workplace in numerous
ways.
The New York City Human Rights Law
31
prohibits employment discrimination based on
race, ethnicity, national origin, and many other protected characteristics. It prohibits
intentional discrimination. It also regulates employment practices that appear to be
neutral but disproportionately impact one protected group more than others. Policies or
practices that have such an impact are unlawful unless they bear a significant
relationship to a significant business objective of the covered entity.
32
The Human
31
New York City Administrative Code § 8-101 et seq.
32
In addition, a policy with a disparate impact is unlawful if a challenger shows substantial evidence that
an alternative policy or practice with less disparate impact is available, and the covered entity fails to
prove that such alternative policy or practice would not serve the covered entity as well.
New York City
Administrative Code § 8- 107(17).
Rights Law regulates the circumstances when an employer may consider the criminal
history, unemployment history or credit record of an employee or job applicant. These
topics have been associated with disproportionate impact on particular racial groups.
The City Charter and Administrative Code establish a detailed framework to ensure the
City’s employment practices both comply with federal, state and local anti-discrimination
laws and advance the goal of racial equity. They address issues of policy and oversight;
messaging; data collection and analysis; recruitment, retention, promotion, job
segregation and pay equity, training, information sharing and accountability.
33
Throughout this plan, several agencies identify practices and proposed salary
adjustments that would further their equity goals. As changes to pay rates are among
the mandatory subjects of collective bargaining under the Taylor Law and New York
City Collective Bargaining Law, any adjustments to compensation or other terms and
conditions of employment must be consistent with applicable collective bargaining
agreements or negotiated with employees' collective bargaining representatives.
33
The provisions discussed in this section are found in New York City Charter § 814 (responsibilities of
DCAS); §814.1 (training on recruitment practices); §815 (responsibilities of agency heads); §815.1
(training); §830-832 (Equal Employment Practices Commission; and §3401 (Office of Racial Equity).
Appendix F: Community Equity Priorities
At the time of creating the Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan, the Commission on
Racial Equity (CORE) had developed
Draft Community Equity Priorities
through a
public engagement process. Those priorities were presented to MOERJ and city
agencies and they informed and were incorporated in the Preliminary Racial Equity
Plan.
Since then, a final set of Community Equity Priorities were released and MOERJ
worked with agencies to incorporate them in this final Racial Equity Plan, as they made
adjustments to their plans.
Fundamental Value in our NYC Charter: Our government justly values all talents
and contributions
1. Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city jobs. Ensure that government work and staff reflect the city's commitment to
equity and social justice.
2. Fund communities harmed by racism and injustice to shape and get updates on
NYC government plans.
3. Remove the gaps in race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability in
city pay, promotions, and contracts.
4. Ensure NYC offices and partners get funds for community-based language access
services in the city's most spoken languages.
5. Check for and remove any formulas and computer processes that may be biased
based on race, ethnicity, or poverty. This will prevent inequities in health care,
housing, policing, criminal justice, employment, social service and more.
6. Collect, analyze, and share data on access to government services with the public,
categorizing it by specific groups harmed by racism and social injustice.
New
Priority.
Fundamental Value in our NYC Charter: Our government ensures the condition of
thriving for every person
7. Expand access to safe, stable housing for those at risk of homelessness, eviction, and
deed theft without delay. Access should be available to individuals and families.
8. Evaluate and remove fines and fees to reduce the impact on low-income people of all
ages.
9. Use and expand non-punitive responses to mental health and all crises. These
responses should rely less on police where possible. People should be allowed to
decide or contribute to decisions about their own care.
10. Reduce racial and economic segregation and education gap by increasing support to
schools. Help every student and family with education and other health related social
needs.
11. Expand health, mental health, substance use, and disability services. They must meet
the needs of families and individuals harmed by racism and social injustice.
12. Remove costs and barriers to CUNY enrollment and retention.
13. Increase access and lower the cost to basic needs such as quality food, transportation,
medical, and housing.
New Priority.
Fundamental Value in our NYC Charter: Our government embraces vigilance,
remedy, and reconstruction
14. Expand access for those harmed by racial and social injustice to inform local
emergency planning. These include plans to prepare for, act in, and recover from
emergencies.
15. Remove barriers and increase access for people harmed by racial and social
injustice to learn about, buy, and keep ownership of property.
16. Ensure all city employees and their agencies, including the police and social service
providers, are held accountable for any harm and abuse of power.
17. Remove the gaps in racial, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability
access to job training and funds to start businesses.
18. Expand services to prevent, intervene, and provide care for people and families
harmed by policing, jails, and court supervision.
End Notes
1
National Archives. "The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription." U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration.
www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
.
2
New York City Racial Justice Commission, City of New York.
NYC for Racial Justice: The Final Report of the
Racial Justice Commission
. New York City, Dec. 2021.
https://racialjustice.cityofnewyork.us/wp-
content/uploads/2022/05/Final-Report-of-the-NYC-Racial-Justice-Commission.pdf
.
3
Herbert C. Kraft,
The Lenape: Archaeology, History, and Ethnography
(Newark, NJ: New Jersey Historical
Society, 1986).
4
Kyle Whyte, “Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Injustice,”
Environment and Society
9, no. 1
(2018): 125–44.
5
Sylvaine A. Diouf, “New York City’s Slave Market,” The New York Public Library, June 29, 2015.
https:/
www.nypl.org/blog/2015/06/29/slav-market.
6
Sylvaine A. Diouf, “New York City’s Slave Market,” The New York Public Library, June 29, 2015.
https:/
www.nypl.org/blog/2015/06/29/slav-market.
7
NYC Comptroller,
The Racial Wealth Gap in New York
(2023).
https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/the-racial-
wealth-gap-in-new-york/
.
8
NYC Charter, Preamble.
https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCcharter/0-0-0-4
.
9
NYC Commission on Racial Equity, “Community Equity Priorities and Outcome Indicators,” May 13, 2024,
https://www.nyc.gov/content/core/pages/community-equity-priorities-and-outcome-indicators
.
10
W. Li, C. Onyebeke, A. Castro, S. Gurung, G. Maduro, Y. Sun, K. Seil, and G. Van Wye, Summary of Vital
Statistics, 2021 (New York: Bureau of Vital Statistics, New York City Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene, 2021).
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/vs/2021sum.pdf
.
11
J. Bryant et al.,
Advancing Racial Equity in US Pre-K–12 Education
(McKinsey & Company, 2023).
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/advancing-racial-equity-in-us-pre-k-12-education
.
12
New York City Administration for Children’s Services, Demographics of Children and Parents at Steps in the
Child Welfare System, FY 2025 (New York: New York City Administration for Children’s Services, 2025).
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/acs/pdf/data-analysis/2025/demographics-of-children-and-parents-at-steps-in-
the-child-welfare-system-fy2025.pdf
.
13
New York City Administration for Children’s Services, Demographics of Children and Parents at Steps in the
Child Welfare System, FY 2023 (New York: New York City Administration for Children’s Services, 2023).
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/acs/pdf/data-analysis/2023/demographics-children-fy-2023.pdf
.
14
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NYC.
https://equity.nyc.gov/domains/personal-and-community-safety/youth-in-child-detention
.
15
Alma Carten and Maria Balinska,
How Racism Has Shaped Welfare Policy in America since 1935
, August
22, 2016.
https://theconversation.com/how-racism-has-shaped-welfare-policy-in-america-since-1935-63574
16
U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (S1701, DP05, and DP02),
2024.
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S1701
.
17
Poverty Tracker Research Group at Columbia University, The State of Poverty and Disadvantage in New
York City, Vol. 6 (New York: Robin Hood, 2024).
https://robinhood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Annual-
Poverty-Tracker-Report-2024.pdf
.
18
Steven W. Mumford, “Doing More with Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational
Resilience,” Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.20899/jpna.8.1.29-57
.
19
C. Jindasurat-Yasui, In Every County, Across All Budget Sizes: White Overrepresentation in the New York
City Area’s Nonprofit Leadership (New York: Nonprofit New York, 2023).
20
Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, Discretionary Injustice (West Haven, CT: Connecticut Veterans Legal
Center, 2022).
https://ctveteranslegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Discretionary-Injustice-Report.pdf
.
21
Baylee Crone et al., “Health Service Access among Homeless Veterans: Health Access Challenges Faced
by Homeless African American Veterans,” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 9, no. 5 (2022):
1828–44.
22
Samantha Friedman et al., “Spatial Variation in COVID-19 Mortality in New York City and Its Association
with Neighborhood Race, Ethnicity, and Nativity Status,” International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health 20, no. 17 (2023): 6702.
23
Solomon Danyelle et al., Systematic Inequality and Economic Opportunity, 2019.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/systematic-inequality-economic-opportunity/
.
24
Tiffany N. Ford, “Historical Unemployment for Black Women and Men in the United States: 1954-2021”
(2023).
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/historical-unemployment-for-black-women-and-men-in-the-united-
states-1954-2021/.
25
Christian E. Weller, “African Americans Face Systematic Obstacles to Getting Good Jobs,” Center for
American Progress, 2019, 1–10.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/african-americans-face-
systematic-obstacles-getting-good-jobs/.
26
U.S. Census Bureau, "SEX BY OCCUPATION FOR THE CIVILIAN EMPLOYED POPULATION 16
YEARS AND OVER," American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Selected Population Detailed
Tables, Table C24010.
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5YSPT2021.C24010?q=C24010&t=-04:-05:-09:-
0A:004:Occupation
.
27
Barbra Ramos, UCLA, Diversity Takes a Step Back in Theatrical Films – but Strides Forward in Streaming
(Mar. 30, 2023).
https://www.college.ucla.edu/2023/03/30/hollywood-diversity-report-spring-2023-movie-industry
.
28
Nancy Yuen, et al., USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, “The Prevalence and Portrayal of Asian and Pacific
Islanders across 1,300 Popular Films” (May 2021).
http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii_aapi-
representation-across-films-2021-05-18.pdf
.
29
Camilo Becdach et al., McKinsey & Co., “Latinos in Hollywood: Amplifying Voices, Expanding Horizons”
(Mar. 7, 2024).
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-
insights/latinos-in-hollywood-amplifying-voices-expanding-horizons
.
30
Stacy L. Smith & The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, “Native American Representation Across 1,600
Popular Films: The Lily Gladstone Effect, USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative” (Oct. 2023).
https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-native-american-rep-1600-popularfilms-20231017.pdf
.
31
Black Theatre Coalition, (n.d.).
https://blacktheatrecoalition.org
.
32
Stacy L. Smith et al., “USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Inclusion in the Music Business: Gender &
Race/Ethnicity Across Executives, Artists & Talent Teams” (June 2021).
https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inclusion-music-industry-2021-06-14.pdf
.
33
Stacy L. Smith et al., “USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Inclusion in the Recording Studio? Gender &
Race/Ethnicity of Artists, Songwriters & Producers across 1,200 Popular Songs from 2012 to 2023” (Jan.
2024).
https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inclusion-recording-studio-20240130.pdf
.
34
Press Release, Int’l Game Developers Assoc., The IGDA and Western University Release 2023 Developer
Satisfaction Survey (May 2, 2024).
https://igda.org/news-archive/press-release-the-igda-and- western-
university-release-2023-developer-satisfaction-survey
.
35
Van Green T, Walker M. “U.S. journalists' beats vary widely by gender and other factors.” Pew Research
Center. Published April 4, 2023.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/04/us-journalists- beats-
vary-widely-by-gender-and-other-factors/
.
36
Pew Research Center, “Black Americans’ Experiences with News” (Sep. 26, 2023).
https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2023/09/26/black-americans-experiences
.
37
Black Entrepreneurs NYC (BE NYC). (n.d.).
https://nyc-business.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/business-
services/initiatives/black-entrepreneurs-nyc-be-nyc
.
38
National Community Reinvestment Coalition, “HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps: The Persistent Structure of
Segregation and Economic Inequality,” March 8, 2022.
https://ncrc.org/holc/
39
NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development “2021 New York City Housing and Vacancy
Survey Selected Initial Findings.”
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdfs/services/2021-nychvs-
selected-initial-findings.pdf
.
40
Shelley v. Kraemer
, 334 U.S.1 (1948). LII / Legal Information Institute.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/shelley_v_kraemer_(1948)
.
41
Perry, A. M., & Rothwell, J. “ How racial bias in appraisals affects the devaluation of homes in majority-
Black neighborhoods.” Brookings. (December 5, 2022).
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-racial- bias-in-
appraisals-affects-the-devaluation-of-homes-in-majority-black-neighborhoods/.
42
The racial wealth gap in New York. (n.d.). Office of the New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/the-racial-wealth-gap-in-new-york/
.
43
NYC Department of City Planning, Population FactFinder. US Census 2022 American Community Survey 1-
Year Estimates.
https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/cities/NYC?acsTopics=%2Cecon-
incomeAndBenefits%2Cecon-earnings&compareTo=1&source=acs-current
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