Transcript: Mayor Adams Launches City's First Community Hiring Effort With $1.2 Billion to Connect Underserved New Yorkers With Good-Paying Jobs

June 20, 2024

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright: Good morning, good morning, everyone. Good morning, my name is Sheena Wright. I'm the first deputy mayor of the City of New York. 

I'm so happy this morning to be joined by my colleagues, my sister deputy mayor, Maria Torres-Springer. Yes, let's give her a round of applause for the leadership that she gives our administration every day. We also have representatives from Small Business Services. Dynishal is here, DCAS, Beatrice, as well as I think Doug Lipari is here. There he is, our head of our community hiring. 

Since day one, since January 1st, 2022, this mayor and this administration has been focused on economic opportunity and economic mobility for all New Yorkers. This mayor has said from day one, jobs. Jobs up, crime down, right? Jobs are the key to get our city back on its feet, but more importantly, to move it forward. 

We could not do it without the partnership of union. Is 32BJ in the house? 

Audience: 32! 

First Deputy Mayor Wright: All right, all right. What you're seeing here, so today we are reaching another really important milestone in the mayor's vision for making sure that every New Yorker has opportunity to really live into all of their talent and achieve their potential. Without further ado, I want to introduce Mayor Eric Adams, the 110th mayor of the City of New York.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much, Deputy Mayor Wright and the entire team that's here. I don't know if it was lost on everyone when First Deputy Mayor Wright stated “All, prosperity for all.” When we came in, there was a real analysis that the equitable distribution of resources and wealth was one-sided. 

We inherited an unemployment rate of Blacks that was four times the rates of whites. We cut it in half. For the first time, unemployment is at its lowest level since 2022. For the first time since 2019, we're less than 8 percent unemployment for Blacks in this city. At the same time, we knew we had a lot of work and it was some real partnerships. Partnerships with our unions like 32BJ and also with all of our agencies. 

Everyone had to be laser focused on how do we ensure that we increase the number of jobs in the city and make the city more affordable. We had strong leaders in the area. Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer looking over our entire portfolio from Small Business Services, making sure it was easy to do business in the city, stopping the unnecessary citations and stop work orders and how we were slowing businesses down. 

Then we had an amazing leader over at Small Business Services and Commissioner Kim, who did not stay in a sterilized environment of his office. He went into the streets and he spoke with businesses one-on-one to show people how to increase their capacity. What was the result of that? The largest number of small businesses in this city, in the city's history. Largest number of businesses in general and jobs, I should say, in the city, in the city's history. 

Partnering with our corporate leaders, the large corporation and the small jobs. Making sure we improved on outdoor dining to expand operation, job training. Justice involved young people, those who had criminal interactions or interactions with law enforcement. We want them to be employable at the same time. Investing in our foster care children, summer youth jobs, over 100,000 summer youth jobs. Not only having our children do the jobs, but developing their full personhood on how they learn financial literacy, interaction, exploring the city. 

We are laser focused on making sure the popularity of this brand of New York turns into prosperity for every New Yorker. That is what we've been focused on. That's what we continue to ensure that our city is safe and it prospers. That's why we have coined a phrase because it's a true one. Crime is down and jobs are up. 

We are looking at overall crime numbers across the city. The numbers are down or will increasingly be down. Listen, we know it plays on our psyche when we see horrific actions of criminal behavior, but we are laser focused on finding ways to continue to see our city safe. That is what we're focused on. Despite our historic progress, we know that too many New Yorkers have been left behind. 

We partnered with DC 37 during the first hiring hauls. We saw the result, thousands of people showing up, looking for jobs like some of the folks who are here. We cannot thank our team that's here, our staffers that are here who have been moving around the city, showing people how to get it done, DCAS and all my other agencies that are here are making sure that we can employ New Yorkers. 

Our administration has set out to lead by example, visiting these hiring halls, interacting with individuals who are looking for employment. People want a good job. No one wants to be unemployed. Employment is more than where you go for a nine to five. I like to say it's the precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American Dream. Without it, you're living in a nightmarish reality that you're not enjoying the city that you want to be a part of. 

We're also thinking about how to be smarter, more inclusive, and more equitable with our contracts and engage communities most in need as we work to create even more pathways to good careers. Today we are announcing the first step in our groundbreaking efforts to leverage billions of dollars in city contracts to advance community hiring. 

The folks in Harlem, South Jamaica Queens, Brownsville, East New York, Midtown, Uptown, you pay your tax dollars. They go into our coffers, but far too often when we put out city contracts, you are not being hired to be part of the jobs that are available. Today that stops. We are looking at a concept called community hiring. It's a new initiative and puts New Yorkers first. 

We want to thank Senator Parker and Assemblywoman Zinerman who pushed this bill through Albany. This was such an important bill. We were excited. It was one of our big wins out of Albany. It uses the city's purchasing power to create jobs. It's a smart way of recycling our tax dollars. It drives new economic opportunities to communities across the five boroughs, including our neighbors in NYCHA. 

We have done so much to invest in NYCHA from the NYCHA Land Trust, to having NYCHA part of our housing agenda, to giving free high-speed broadband to every NYCHA resident so our children can do remote learning. We have been focused on NYCHA, and we also are focused on those zip codes that have been forgotten for far too long under the community hiring program. They're going to come into the fold. 

City vendors and contractors must provide employment and apprenticeship opportunities to working people in low-income neighborhoods. You're not being passed up any longer. You're going to be included. This is not just a theory. This is not a theoretical policy that's taking place. No, we're hitting the ground right away. Today, DCAS. DCAS is the agency that probably has the largest portfolio of buying, purchasing, sending out contracts. You don't realize the impact it has on your life, but DCAS has a huge impact on your life. 

DCAS is releasing the city's first group of contracts subject to community hiring. This is the power behind the program. What are we talking about? Are we talking about a million dollars? Are we talking about $2 million, $5 million? No, $1.2 billion into community hiring. It will require that nearly half of the labor be performed by NYCHA residents or those who live in low-income neighborhoods, creating good-paying jobs, security jobs, fire safety personnel, many of which the union jobs with our good friends at 32BJ who fought hard for contracts to make sure that our security officers are paid the salaries they deserve. 

It's a big deal for working-class New Yorkers, and it's a big deal for New York City. I'm a blue-collar mayor, I'm one of you. Being one of you, I know what it is to struggle every day, and we must make sure that we have employment for everyone in this city. That is what city dollars should be doing, creating opportunities for New Yorkers who need them the most. Because we want everyone to have a fair shot, community hiring is just one part of our whole-of-government effort to meet New Yorkers where they are and bring opportunities to communities across the five boroughs that have been overlooked for so long. 

Today's announcement also concludes our Spring Jobs Sprint, where we created opportunities for thousands of New Yorkers over the past few weeks, from revitalizing Red Hook Marine Terminal to growing our Apprenticeship Accelerator to launching a new fund to grow small businesses to create an offshore wind hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. All of this builds on our Run This Town campaign, advertising campaign around jobs, as well as JobsNYC. 

We need an easy way for people to have an entry ramp to employment, and that is with JobsNYC. You can go to the portal, jobs.nyc.gov. This portal helps New Yorkers find jobs and job training. Really, I want to thank the team. They put a lot of effort behind this. First Deputy Mayor Wright, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, my elected officials that are here, and our real partners that understand the power of employment. 

DC37, and the union that is here with us today, 32BJ, Local 79. 79, I ain't seeing you guys. You know what momma said? You be quiet, you get missed, all I got to do is say 32 – 

Audience: B-J! 

Mayor Adams: 79 is in the house, everything from our laborers and what they're doing. This is the partnership that we're talking about, and we're really excited about this because this is something that is going to hit home and continue our improvement of unemployment that we've seen for far too long in our city. 

We don't want you hanging out in the corner. We want you hanging out dry walls and do part of the building in our city. Really excited about this. Thank you, team.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you so much, mayor. One of the things, as the mayor sat back and really looked at the challenges and the opportunities, he looked at neighborhoods like the South Bronx, like Harlem, where there was record investment happening in those communities, and also very high unemployment. 

The mayor asked us a simple question, why? How can we hardwire those opportunities and make sure that the people that live in those neighborhoods get access to those opportunities? This groundbreaking legislation, that is community hiring, makes us lead by example. 

The City of New York is now going to be requiring, if you're doing business with us, you've got to hire from the community. As I said, we could not do it without our partners and union, 79 and 32 – 

Audience: B-J! 

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Here to talk to us this morning is Israel Melendez, the vice president of 32BJ.

Israel Melendez, Vice President, 32BJ: All right, we're very excited this morning. I think we're excited for the initiative. the membership's excitement with this. I want to thank the mayor, I want to thank Deputy Mayor Wright, all the commissioners and everything for this initiative. 

My name's Israel Melendez, I'm the vice president of 32BJ. I run the security division here that represents 20,000 security officers here in the city, more than 5,000 that work under city agencies. This initiative is something that we really much are in concert and together with the administration to see succeed. 

More than 5,000 security officers in 32BJ work under city agencies. These security officers put their lives on the line, protect public employees, public property, and fellow New Yorkers at the municipal buildings surrounding City Hall, HRA centers, DHS, stand on and ferry terminals and more. This morning, we are celebrating the city's announcement of a new request for proposals for security vendors to provide guard services across New York City. 

I'm going to get a little bit away from the talking points because I'm very excited for this initiative. I'm very happy to partner with the city on this. As a former security officer myself, I would have never seen myself in this position, but being part of 32BJ, seeing the commitment that they've made across the city to lift standards in this industry, I'm a living example of a New Yorker, a kid from High Bridge in the Bronx that was able to come here, be vice president, and represent 20,000 members that look like me, that sound like me, that live where I live. I'm very happy to be able to be part of this. 

We also have some minority businesses that came by that partnered with 32BJ. Under 32BJ's leadership, we've made a concentrated effort to expand the women business and minority business bench to make sure that more opportunities, union opportunities are given to these companies to be able to have an opportunity to bid and win contracts across the 900 different work locations that we represent. I'm very happy to be able to say that. 

I want to thank the partnership that we have with City Hall and making sure that these are family-sustaining jobs. I think people don't understand how important that is. I was able to send my daughter through college on a security officer's salary, and my wife was a school teacher, so we struggled together, but we also was able to do it. I had an opportunity to go to the union school, be able to be a fire safety director, and then almost double my salary from when I came in. 

The 32BJ Training Fund is a school state-of-the-art facility. We have over 4,000 members that work security that come every year to be able to take these courses. I'm just very happy that with this new RFP, we're going to be able to expand that, be able to give every security officer an opportunity to be like Izzy here and be able to sit here and have a similar story. That's the goal that we have at 32BJ. 

Again, I just want to thank Mayor Adams, the entire administration, for committing to providing stable jobs for security officers by making sure security officers keep their jobs and continue to serve the city of New York. The city agency's transition to vendors is very important. Again, we're both aligned. I'm very happy to be part of this. I want to thank everybody for inviting 32BJ and other labor leaders to be here. That's right, 79, I got you. I got you, I got you. All the labor leaders. That's right, you're right, you're sure. 

The last thing I want to say before stepping is the community hiring component of this is very important. We have to be able to get people from the community to be invested in the community. Again, as one of you young kids in the Bronx that was on the street with a bunch of my friends, I said, I have to do something more than this. I did do something more, and I give plenty of people opportunities to be able to come and get union jobs. Thank you again for everything that you've done and I'll follow up.

Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you so much, Israel. 

Audience: BJ! BJ! 79!

First Deputy Mayor Wright: 79, 79. Thank you so much, Israel. I also want to really point out that this mayor has settled, but I think it's 99.9 percent of union contracts, making sure that the city workforce has fair wages. Can we get a shout out for that? In addition to a historic investment in the human services community and workforce, which is predominantly women and women of color, to date about $1.4 billion put in that workforce. 

This is just a part of that. He has been laser focused on working New Yorkers, making sure that they have access to opportunity and fair wages. This is one RFP. This RFP is a $1.2 billion RFP. We've got about $80 billion of RFPs that are coming online in the next several years that will require all of our vendors, all of the partners to hire from these communities. It will generate an additional 36,000 jobs and over a billion dollars of wages, money in people's pockets, so that they can achieve their goals and reach their full potential. 

This is a really important first step and we're looking forward to the many more. To close this out, this is why we do what we do. I want to introduce Tammy Murray. She is a 32BJ member and a security guard. We're so grateful for your being here today. Tammy.

Tammy Murray: I love y'all guys. Hello, my name is Tammy Murray. I currently work as a security supervisor at a private shelter for families with children. Yes, it's hard out here now. I am also a proud member of 32BJ.

My job has allowed me to help and protect these families. Then also, they also need help in getting wages with jobs that they're working, or even trying to get a job. Because a lot of these families are trying to get out of the shelter. If they don't have a job, how can they? I'm also excited about Mayor Adams's community hiring program to bring more opportunities to New Yorkers like me, yourself, our friends, our family. Thank you, Mayor Adams. Yes. 32 – 

Audience: B-J! 

Murray: 32 –

Audience: B-J! 

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you. One last thing to add is the mayor's commitment to MWBE. We are also joined by Michael Gardner, our chief business diversity officer for the City of New York, the first of its kind. 

We have huge goals, and we know that small businesses and MWBEs are the largest employers of people from the communities that we're targeting today. Thank you for that as well. I think at this point, where is Ryan? There he is. We're going to take some on-topic questions.

Mayor Adams: Michael, what's going on?

Question: All right. I was wondering if somebody could get into the weeds, the details, in terms of the mechanics of how this works. It's, was it 1.8 or 1.2 billion?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: This contract is a $1.2 billion contract for security services across the city from DCAS, this one contract. This is the first one that now has goals where you have to have 40 percent from communities or from NYCHA.

Question: How do you, when you're doing that, right, the 40 percent part, how are you determining, NYCHA's easy, right, it's residency, but, low-income, is it the neighborhood's threshold or is it the person's threshold? Could you just –

First Deputy Mayor Wright: It's neighborhoods. It's specific neighborhoods. I think there's 17, is it, Doug? Zip codes. Yes.

Question: Okay, so it's just anybody from those neighborhoods from NYCHA are in the pool for 40 percent of those jobs for that contract.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Yes.

Question: You mentioned more money down the road in the pipeline. Could you, are those all for contracts? Are those for like, city jobs?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Those are RFPs that are coming online. Across our 77 agencies will have requests for proposals that are coming out for a variety of things, right? We do everything in the city. Many of those contracts will also, not all of them, but many of them will have a requirement for MWBE, but also to hire from these communities in these specific zip codes.

Question: They won't all have a community?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: They won't all.

Question: Okay, and what's the timeframe on those RFPs going out? What years are we talking about?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Yes, there are RFPs going out just about every day, so ongoing. The hiring legislation just got finalized, was it last week? May 15th, and we just released our rules. Doug, why don't you step up here? He's our expert. He's the head of the Office of Community Hiring. Our rules were just released. This is our first implementation of the actual legislation.

Question: Okay, are we talking five years for those RFPs to be put out? Are we talking two years? 

Doug Lipari, Executive Director, Office of Community Hiring: Yes, so our legislation authorizes us, that just went into effect, to put out contracts. This is the first one. We will have, this is the first building services contract, but we're going to have construction contracts, technology contracts, consulting, design, engineering, human services contracts, like daycares, mental health programs. 

As those contracts go out by city agencies, we can begin to put community hiring goals on those contracts as we roll out. They will, we hope that this is a program that is here forever, right? The first deputy mayor said. This is the first one of many.

Question: How large is your product money, like how long does that last? I guess that's what I'm trying to get at.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: It's about the next five, three or four years. That number that I gave is about, those are RFPs that are coming online, about 80 billion over the next three or four years.

Question: Oh, hey, one more question. This is, it sounds like 32BJ is pretty happy about this. You're expecting an endorsement from the union. Have you guys talked about that? Your grand free election next year?

Mayor Adams: Listen. As it was stated, it's not on topic. I would not be standing here calling myself mayor right now if it wasn't for the endorsement of 32BJ, HTC, DC 37, Local 79. It's clear being the first probably union member to ever be the mayor of the City of New York, these guys just said he's one of us, 

I'm just a blue collar guy, being a blue collar mayor. We're going to keep doing good stuff like this, and I think over time, the Daily News won't make a mistake this next time around, either. They'll come the right way.

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