Mayor Mamdani Appoints Delia Awusi as Mom-and-Pop Czar

 

New City Hall role delivers on campaign promise to support the smallest neighborhood businesses  

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced the appointment of Delia Awusi as the administration’s Mom-and-Pop Czar, delivering on a campaign promise to create a dedicated City Hall advocate for New York City’s smallest businesses.

The new role will focus on helping ultra-small businesses navigate city government and get the support they need not only to stay open, but to grow. Awusi applied for the role through City Hall’s transition hiring portal earlier this year.

Awusi will report directly to Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and work across City agencies, in close partnership with the Department of Small Business Services, to strengthen support for ultra-small businesses, family-run stores and intergenerational neighborhood businesses. The role is designed to help reduce the runaround small businesses often face across permits, inspections, fines and other city processes.

“Mom-and-pop businesses help hold neighborhoods together. But as they say, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. For years, small businesses have been pushed aside while corporate giants enjoyed unfettered access to City Hall. No longer,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “With Delia Awusi’s appointment, the smallest businesses will be represented at the highest levels of City government. Delia has spent her career alongside small business owners, understanding their struggles and their power. In this role, she’ll make sure City Hall answers to them, too.”

Awusi brings more than a decade of experience supporting small businesses in New York City. At the Business Outreach Center Network, she worked closely with neighborhood entrepreneurs to provide technical assistance, financial counseling and access to capital. She is also a small business owner herself.

Awusi has deep roots in community-based economic development, with experience supporting immigrant entrepreneurs and longstanding family businesses. A member of New York’s Ghanaian community, she has also been active in the African diaspora and community organizing.

“Mom-and-pop businesses give every block, every neighborhood, every borough its unique identity. Our smallest businesses have unique needs and now, they have a champion to look out for them in City Hall,” said Delia Awusi. “I’m honored to join the Mamdani administration and help make City Hall more responsive to the small business owners who keep our commercial corridors alive.”

In this role, Awusi will coordinate support across agencies, sharpen City Hall’s focus on very small businesses and ensure neighborhood business owners have a stronger voice in city government.

“Delia understands that mom-and-pop shop owners pour their hearts into their businesses and deserve government that respects and values them. That includes government agencies that are predictable, accessible, and consistent," said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. “Her role will help us better align government so neighborhood businesses can spend less time chasing City Hall and more time serving their communities.”