Mayor Bill de Blasio today appointed Julie Menin as Director of the Census for New York City. She also will serve as Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy. In her new roles, Menin will organize extensive outreach efforts to encourage every New York City resident to participate in the upcoming 2020 Census. An accurate census count will ensure that New York receives its fair share of education, healthcare, housing and infrastructure funding and its proper electoral representation in Congress.
As Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy, Menin has been tasked to aggressively pursue innovative strategies to protect New Yorkers who may be hurt by federal actions, including exploring avenues for litigation, legislation and rule-making. In this role, she will collaborate with partners including other cities and advocacy groups to change the legal landscape on a wide range of issues from immigrant rights and citizenship, to voter protections, gerrymandering and critical federal funding grants directed toward the City and our most vulnerable New Yorkers. In addition, she will use her many years of legal experience in consumer protection to advise on affirmative litigation against companies that are preying on New Yorkers.
“Julie Menin has been able to get the job done very effectively in every single role she’s held,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “From her time chairing Community Board 1 to her outstanding work leading two city agencies, Julie has been able to leverage government, legal and the not for profit and private sectors to put low-income New Yorkers, small businesses and marginalized communities first. I’m confident Julie will help protect New York from the Trump Administration’s attacks on a fair census effort and help build confidence among all New York City communities so that every New Yorker participates in the upcoming 2020 Census.”
“Having an accurate count of the population is vital for a fair share and distribution of resources and equitable political representation, especially under a federal administration consistently attacking immigrants. We must all work together and ensure that every New Yorker is counted in the Census 2020,” said Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
“Nothing is more important for a fair distribution of resources and access to economic opportunities in our democratic society than making sure everyone is counted by the census,” said Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives J. Phillip Thompson. “The de Blasio Administration is working hard to fight any attempts to undercount New Yorkers, and I look forward to working with a leader with extraordinary managerial experience and community savvy like Julie Menin to ensure that historically disenfranchised and marginalized communities in our city won’t be scared into silence.”
“Because of Julie’s experience as a consumer advocate, litigator, regulatory attorney and civic leader, she is uniquely qualified to provide focused executive level oversight of the Law Department’s strategic advocacy initiative and aggressively pursue opportunities to advance the City’s policy objectives through litigation, legislation and rulemaking,” said Corporation Counsel Zachary W. Carter.
“I am thrilled to take on this new dual role as Census Director and Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy at this critical juncture for our city when it has never been more important to fight the threats to democracy and immigration that our city faces. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that every New Yorker is counted so our city receives the billions in funding it deserves for public schools, health care, child care, senior centers and infrastructure and that we will use every legal avenue to protect our democratic ideals and make sure justice is served,” said Julie Menin, Director of the Census for New York City and Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy.
Many federal programs rely on the population figures collected by the census to distribute federal funds among states and local governments. A total of approximately $700 billion is distributed annually to States across the country through approximately 300 different census-guided federal grant and funding programs. These programs support essential services including healthcare, public education, social services and infrastructure development. Inaccurate population counts resulting from the Trump Administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census could harm cities by depriving them of their fair share of federal funding and removing crucial resources for important government services. New York State alone also stands to lose one congressional seat if the 2020 Census count is inaccurate.
As a result, the de Blasio Administration joined the Attorney General’s Office and other cities in a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from including the question in the Census. The de Blasio Administration also allocated approximately $4.3 million dollars for its census efforts to build out a citywide public awareness campaign for communities across New York City. In September, the Department of City Planning submitted addresses for more than 122,000 housing units that the Census Bureau did not have on its address list for the 2020 Census. Approximately 300,000 additional New Yorkers could now be counted as a result of this update.
The Mayor also charged Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson to oversee and lead the Administration’s census efforts. Deputy Mayor Thompson also appointed Nisha Agarwal as his Senior Advisor and Jorge Fanjul as his Senior Advisor for DemocracyNYC and Deputy Director of Census Outreach and Organizing. Julie Menin will bring her government and legal expertise and community organizing skills to this team to further expand these outreach efforts and will work closely with the Department of City Planning and the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit. The City will also work closely with the Census Bureau’s Regional Office on preparations for the 2020 Census to ensure that the special challenges in enumerating New York City’s population are addressed.
About Julie Menin
Julie Menin is an attorney and civic leader who has over two decades of experience in the legal, regulatory and public sectors. Menin also brings years of experience organizing, advocating and securing funding in the non-profit, private and government sectors for a number of initiatives, including her work as a leading force in the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11. In addition, Menin chaired Community Board 1 for seven years in the aftermath of 9/11 and was a strong and vocal advocate for the community. During her time as chair, she spearheaded the approval of the Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque. Menin also served as Commissioner of the Redistricting Commission in 2001 where she led a non-partisan effort to set new City Council district lines.
Menin most recently served as the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and launched dozens of new initiatives that promote equality in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to her time at MOME, Menin served as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, where she was instrumental in implementing many of the Mayor’s signature projects, including the Paid Sick Leave Law, the Small Business Relief Package to reduce fines on businesses, and the implementation of the Living Wage Executive Order. In addition, she launched the City's first expanded Earned Income Tax initiative, creating an outreach program that resulted in an extraordinary 50 percent increase in New Yorkers using the City's free tax centers and returning $260 million to low-income New Yorkers. As Commissioner of DCA, Menin tackled bureaucratic barriers that stymied economic growth and resulted in a one-third reduction in fines on small businesses and 70 percent increase in consumer restitution. She also launched investigations into not-for-profit colleges, fraudulent auto loans, debt collectors, and other industries preying on New Yorkers.
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