NEW YORK CITY RELEASES FINAL “WHERE WE LIVE NYC” PLAN, A BLUEPRINT TO ADVANCE FAIR HOUSING IN THE RECOVERY FROM COVID-19

 

Today, Mayor de Blasio and Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been released the final Where We Live NYC Plan, the City’s blueprint for fair housing in the five boroughs. The plan is a culmination of a two-year planning process led by the Deputy Mayor’s office, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and involved more than 30 City agencies. Where We Live NYC is the City’s five-year plan to break down barriers to opportunity and build more integrated, equitable neighborhoods. Updated to reflect the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on low-income communities of color, the plan includes enhanced metrics, strategies, policy proposals, and new priorities to address a legacy of housing segregation and build a more inclusive city.

 

“Rebuilding a fairer, better city starts with listening to New Yorkers. I’m grateful for feedback from residents, advocates, and New Yorkers across the five boroughs as we find more ways to make our city more affordable and inclusive than ever,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

 

“Because of our incredible diversity, the role we play in welcoming and providing opportunity for so many people from around the country and the world, and our commitment to make NYC the fairest big city in the nation, we New Yorkers have a moral obligation to lead the nation in addressing structural racism and housing discrimination. The pandemic and the movement for racial justice have made that obligation more urgent and important than ever,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been. “The Where We Live NYC Plan lays out specifics about how we will double down on our work to make New York City fairer and more just. I am grateful to everyone who participated in the multi-year effort to make this plan an ambitious but concrete and achievable agenda, and I look forward in advancing the plan together.”

 

“To rise above our nation’s long legacy of racial injustice, and the ensuing deep-rooted inequities, the City needs a shared vision. Where We Live NYC is a balanced blueprint for addressing generations of housing disparities and fostering the neighborhood conditions that lead to better jobs and educational opportunities for all New Yorkers. With the coronavirus taking a greater toll on the city’s communities of color, it is clearer than ever that we cannot take our foot off the gas when it comes to building a fairer city,” said HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll. “I want to thank the amazing teams at HPD, our fellow City agencies, our many community partners and every New Yorker who shared their experiences and helped to shape this plan for a more integrated, equitable, and inclusive city.” 

 

“NYCHA is a vital resource for low-income New Yorkers – many of whom are people of color – and we are working tirelessly to drastically improve the living conditions for residents who have been disproportionately impacted by decades of disinvestment in public housing,” said NYCHA Chair & CEO Greg Russ. “The comprehensive renovations and operational improvements the Authority is spearheading are central to the goal of creating a more equitable city – an effort that will be more crucial than ever as New York City continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

 

“New York City’s greatest strength is our diversity. It’s imperative that we tackle a legacy of discrimination and inequality, so as to build a city that works for everyone. Where We Live NYC gets us one step closer to creating affordability across all our neighborhoods. With this plan, we’re setting the city on a path to a brighter future,” said DCP Director Marisa Lago.

 

Where We Live NYC is the City’s response to the 2015 rule issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Obama to guide cities and counties in interpreting what it means to “affirmatively further” the goals of the federal Fair Housing Act. While recent regulatory changes at HUD have all but erased these requirements, the City of New York moved forward with the Where We Live NYC process, drawing upon the 2015 rule as a guiding framework.

 

Through Where We Live NYC, the City has worked collaboratively with residents and community leaders to better understand their housing challenges and identify goals, strategies, and actions to advance fair housing. In developing the plan, the City engaged hundreds of residents, over 150 community-based and advocacy organizations, and the full range of governmental agencies whose work affects housing and neighborhood quality. Since releasing a draft of the plan in January, the city has collected public comments via a city-wide listening tour and incorporated feedback into the final version.

 

The city has also faced an unprecedented health and economic crisis that has heightened deeply embedded disparities. COVID-19 has laid bare the continued significance of neighborhood-based inequities and racial inequality. The final plan will advance fair housing in the recovery from COVID-19.

 

The plan lays out the City’s commitments over the next five years. Key goals of the plan include:

 

• Fight housing discrimination by pursuing increased resources and protections.
• Promote development that opens up more communities to low-income families.
• Preserve low-cost housing and prevent displacement of long-standing residents through stronger tenant protections and new affordable housing investments.
• Empower families receiving rental assistance and expand use of these benefits in amenity-rich neighborhoods.
• Create better and more integrated living options for people with disabilities.
• Align investments to address segregation, discrimination, and concentrated poverty.

 

New Actions in Where We Live NYC Plan

 

• Incentivize more affordable housing and increase neighborhood diversity in amenity-rich neighborhoods like Gowanus and SoHo/NoHo that have exceptional access to transit, schools, and job centers. The final plan follows the City’s recent announcements that the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan and SoHo/NoHo Neighborhood Plan will both advance into the City’s public land use review process.
• Expand housing options in low density zoning districts to encourage the development of low-cost housing options in neighborhoods across the City. This could open up a wider variety of neighborhoods to more New Yorkers and give small homeowners more flexibility to create extra space and income. Analysis of data and regulations will identify specific provisions that can achieve this.
• Propose changes to the Zoning Resolution to allow for an increase in density for affordable housing across the city. Preferential floor-area-ratio (FAR) for affordable housing would apply to income-restricted housing for all populations, including housing for seniors and special needs populations.
• Create a citywide housing growth framework that takes into account an equity-centered and race-forward approach to planning. The City will analyze housing trends and demographic changes to pursue growth, affordability and equity.
• Incorporate lessons from Where We Live NYC into decisions about affordable housing financing. Data and metrics collected through the fair housing initiative will help inform HPD’s allocation of annual capital funding and Section 8 resources to ensure that affordable housing projects serve a greater diversity of neighborhoods.

 

The de Blasio Administration has worked to ensure that the city’s growth and prosperity includes all neighborhoods and made substantial investments toward creating a fairer city. The City has worked to advance fair housing by preserving and creating affordable housing, preventing displacement, investing in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and fostering opportunities for households of all races, ethnicities, national origins, religions, genders, family status, and abilities. This progress includes:

 

• Financed unprecedented numbers of affordable homes for the lowest income and most vulnerable New Yorkers. Almost 13,000 homes reserved for formerly homeless households, more than 9,000 reserved for seniors, and more than 72,000 targeted to households with extremely low or very low-incomes, less than $30,720 or $51,200 for a family of three, respectively.
• Moved more than 100,000 households from the City’s homeless shelters into permanent housing and provided 260,000 individuals emergency rental arrears assistance grants.
• Helped more than 72,000 seniors and renters with disabilities afford rent in 2019 by freezing their rent payments and paying the difference to their landlords.
• Enacted the nation’s first universal access to counsel legislation, and provided free legal assistance to more than 100,00 households. Eviction filings and completed evictions have fallen by over 40% percent since legal assistance was expanded in 2014. 
• In rezoned neighborhoods, ensured housing builders dedicate 20% to 30% of units to affordable housing. New York City’s aggressive Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program has produced over 2,700 new permanently affordable homes in 18 Community Districts.
• Created affordable space for commercial and industrial businesses, particularly in high poverty communities and communities of color including the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, Downtown Far Rockaway, and the East New York Industrial Business Zone.
• Financed more than 165,000 affordable units – enough to house about 350,000 New Yorkers through the Mayor’s ambitious affordable housing plan, with tens of thousands of more units on the way.

Governor Cuomo Announces Travel Advisory Requiring 14-Day Quarantine

 

Arizona, Maryland Added to NY's COVID-19 Travel Advisory; No Areas Are Removed

Non-Essential Interstate Travel Between Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Discouraged

Statewide Positivity Rate is 1.3 Percent 

Positive Testing Rate in Hot Spot Areas is 2.91 Percent; New York State Positivity Without Red Zone Focus Areas Included is 1.25 Percent 

12 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday 

Expanded Community Testing Continues This Week in Southern Tier, Western New York Counties Along PA Border 

 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Arizona and Maryland have been added to New York's COVID-19 travel advisory. No areas have been removed. The advisory requires individuals who have traveled to New York from areas with significant community spread to quarantine for 14 days. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from an area with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or an area with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. 

Neighboring states Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania now meet the criteria for the travel advisory -- however, given the interconnected nature of the region and mode of transport between us, a quarantine on these states is not practically viable. That said, New York State highly discourages, to the extent practical, non-essential travel to and from these states while they meet the travel advisory criteria.

"We are now in a situation where 43 states meet the criteria for our travel advisory. This is really a bizarre outcome, considering New York once had the highest infection rate," Governor Cuomo said. "There is no practical way to quarantine New York from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut. There are just too many interchanges, interconnections, and people who live in one place and work in the other. It would have a disastrous effect on the economy, and remember while we're fighting this public health pandemic we're also fighting to open up the economy. However, to the extent travel between the states is not essential, it should be avoided." 

In "Red Zone" focus areas included as part of the Governor's Cluster Action Initiative, the positivity rate for test results reported yesterday is 2.91 percent - down from 3.31 percent the day before. 

Within the "Red Zone" focus areas, 3,955 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 115 positives or a 2.91 percent positivity rate. In the remainder of the state, not counting these "Red Zone" focus areas, 86,585 test results were reported, yielding 1,086 positives or a 1.25 percent positivity rate. The state's overall positivity rate is 1.32 percent with focus areas included. The "Red Zone" focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of the state population yet had 9.6 percent of all positive test results reported to the state yesterday. 

Today's data is summarized briefly below: 

• Patient Hospitalization - 942 (+8) 
• Patients Newly Admitted - 113  
• Hospital Counties - 42 
• Number ICU - 194 (-4) 
• Number ICU with Intubation - 99 (-7) 
• Total Discharges - 78,530 (+88) 
• Deaths - 12 
• Total Deaths - 25,672  

No 202.70: Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws Relating to the Disaster Emergency

 

No. 202.70

E X E C U T I V E  O R D E R 

Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws

Relating to the Disaster Emergency

WHEREAS, on March 7, 2020, I issued Executive Order Number 202, declaring a State disaster emergency for the entire State of New York; and

WHEREAS, both travel-related cases and community contact transmission of COVID-19 have been documented in New York State and are expected to continue:

NOW THEREFORE, I, Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article 2-B of the Executive Law to temporarily suspend or modify any statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation, or parts thereof, of any agency during a State disaster emergency, if compliance with such statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation would prevent, hinder, or delay action necessary to cope with the disaster emergency or if necessary to assist or aid in coping with such disaster, or to provide any directive necessary to respond to the disaster, do hereby continue the suspensions and modifications of law, and any directives not superseded by a subsequent directive contained in Executive Orders 202.36, 202.37, 202.46, 202.47, 202.54, 202.58, and 202.59, as continued and contained in Executive Order 202.65 for another thirty days through November 19, 2020;

IN ADDITION, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article 2-B of the Executive Law to issue any directive during a disaster emergency necessary to cope with the disaster, I do hereby issue the following directive through November 19, 2020:

• The directive contained in Executive Order 202.64, which modified the directive in Executive Order in 202.28 that relates to eviction of any commercial tenant for nonpayment of rent or a foreclosure of any commercial mortgage for nonpayment of such mortgage is continued through January 1, 2021.

• The directive contained in Executive Order 202.3, as extended, that closed movie theatres, is hereby modified to provide that movie theatres shall be allowed to open effective October 23, 2020 at 25% capacity with up to 50 people maximum per screen, subject to adherence to Department of Health guidance, provided that movie theatres in the New York City region, in counties with infection rates above 2% over a 14-day average, and in counties with red cluster zones continue to be closed.

G I V E N   under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State in the City of Albany this twentieth day of October in the year two thousand twenty.

BY THE GOVERNOR           

Secretary to the Governor

Attorney General James Announces Bipartisan Antitrust Investigation Into Google Will Continue

 

 New York Attorney General Letitia James and the attorneys general of Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an antitrust lawsuit against tech giant Google:

“Over the last year, both the U.S. DOJ and state attorneys general have conducted separate but parallel investigations into Google’s anticompetitive market behavior. We appreciate the strong bipartisan cooperation among the states and the good working relationship with the DOJ on these serious issues. This is a historic time for both federal and state antitrust authorities, as we work to protect competition and innovation in our technology markets. We plan to conclude parts of our investigation of Google in the coming weeks. If we decide to file a complaint, we would file a motion to consolidate our case with the DOJ’s. We would then litigate the consolidated case cooperatively, much as we did in the Microsoft case.”

Last September, Attorney General James announced that she and a bipartisan coalition — that included almost every attorney general in the nation — had initiated a bipartisan investigation into Google for potentially anticompetitive conduct.

The investigation continues to focus on Google’s dominance in search and related industries, as well as the potential harm caused to consumers and the economy from any anticompetitive conduct.

Separately, last September, Attorney General James announced that she was leading a bipartisan, multistate investigation into Facebook for antitrust issues, which continues today.

Attorney General James Secures $200,000 From Contractor Who Faked Diversity Metrics for a Billion-Dollar Public Works Project

 

While Working on Rochester Schools Modernization Program, Bell Mechanical Deceptively Claimed to Meet Project’s Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses Subcontracting Goals

  Attorney General Letitia James today announced an agreement with Rochester-based contractor Bell Mechanical Contractor, Inc, after the company falsely claimed to meet state diversity requirements in order to win and maintain contracts on the $1.2 billion Rochester Schools Modernization Program (RSMP) — the largest public project in the city’s history.

Bell Mechanical is required to pay $200,000 in monetary restitution.

“Women- and minority-owned businesses are the backbone of the state of New York,” said Attorney General James. “The diversity standards put in place by local and state governments exist to provide equal opportunities to New York businesses, but those standards cannot be effective when companies like Bell Mechanical attempt to game the system. My office will continue to root out companies that defraud New Yorkers and take advantage of its opportunities.”

State and local law requires contractors to meet certain minimum diversity standards for the hiring of Eligible Business Enterprises (EBEs) as sub-contractors. The RSMP’s Diversity Plan, as adopted by the Rochester Joint School Construction Board (RJSCB), required contractors to subcontract 20 percent of their work to EBEs (15 percent of their work to Minority Business Enterprises and five percent of their work to Women Business Enterprises) or to obtain waivers for these requirements. The Diversity Plan was incorporated by reference into the contracts with every prime contractor; prime contracts were awarded only to contractors that certified that they would meet the diversity sub-contracting requirements.

The Attorney General’s investigation found that the contractors engaged in “labor pass-throughs,” where contractors would hire non-EBEs to perform work, but then run the money and paperwork through EBEs to create the appearance that an EBE had performed the labor.

As part of the agreement, the Attorney General secured commitments from Bell Mechanical to submit to extensive, multi-year compliance, remediation, and training requirements. The Attorney General’s Civil Rights Bureau will actively monitor the contractors’ adherence to these requirements.

In October 2016, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced $825,000 in settlement agreements with five other Rochester-area companies that faked the compliance of state diversity requirements for the RSMP. In 2018, three more contractors reached an agreement with OAG, making the overall settlement amount more than $1 million.

The monetary terms of each settlement agreement are as follows:

• Concord Electric Corporation ($350,000);
• Manning Squires Hennig ($200,000);
• Hewitt Young Electric, LLC ($160,000);
• Michael A. Ferrauilo Plumbing & Heating, Inc. ($90,000);
• Mark Cerrone, Inc. ($25,000);
• Kaplan Schmidt Electric Inc. ($100,000);
• Landry Mechanical Contractors, Inc. ($117,000); and
• Nairy Mechanical, LLC ($12,000).

“I want to thank Attorney General Letitia James and her office for their work investigating and exposing efforts to subvert the Rochester Joint Schools Construction Board’s Diversity Plan,” said Norman H. Jones, chair, Rochester Joint Schools Construction Board. “We are proud of our Diversity Plan, which has ensured that minority-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises, as well as women and minorities in the workplace, have meaningful opportunities to participate in the Rochester Schools Modernization Program. Efforts to defeat these important requirements by circumventing the Board’s workforce and business participation goals will not be tolerated. We continue to actively monitor our diversity requirements to ensure that contractors are in compliance and that no further wrongdoing occurs. We do this to ensure that minority-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises are given a fair opportunity bid and work on our construction projects.”

SING SING PRISON GUARD ARRESTED FOR FALSIFYING DOCUMENTS TO GET MORE THAN 3 MONTHS IN WORKERS’ COMP LEAVE

 

New York State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro and Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. today announced the arrest of a Sing Sing Correctional Facility correction officer who allegedly submitted fake medical documentation over the course of 16 months to obtain more than 100 days in Workers’ Compensation leave and at least $16,000 in wages.

Darquis Wright, 39, of Staten Island, was arraigned today in Ossining Town Court before Hon. Michael Tawil on nine counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 1^st Degree (E Felony). 

If injured on the job, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) employees may go on leave and collect Workers’ Compensation benefits by submitting appropriate medical documentation to their facility and the Workers’ Compensation Board on an ongoing basis. Between March 2018 and September 2019, Wright claimed multiple separate injuries while on duty and submitted applications for Workers’ Compensation leave benefits. The injuries included:

• Left shoulder and lower back on March 24, 2018.
• Right hand and right wrist on February 12, 2019.
• Right knee, back, right hand and left shoulder on August 4, 2019. 

To support the claims, Wright repeatedly submitted medical documentation to Sing Sing purportedly from a Staten Island-based orthopedic surgeon and another Staten Island-based physician. The documentation falsely stated, based upon medical examinations allegedly performed by the physicians, that Wright was unable to work. This enabled Wright to obtain Workers’ Compensation leave and collect wage benefits for multiple periods. In fact, the examinations were never performed. Both the orthopedic surgeon and the physician later confirmed to the Inspector General that the documentation was fraudulent. 

In total, Wright received more than 100 days of Workers’ Compensation leave and at least $16,000 in wages to which he was not entitled.

“This individual’s repeated fraudulent acts were an attempt to take advantage of the Workers’ Compensation system and rip off taxpayers,” said Inspector General Tagliafierro. “He brazenly kept up his scheme for more than a year and illegally obtained more than 3-months’ worth of leave from his job. He will now pay for his crimes.”

 

“When a public employee is charged with cheating the State, especially one in law enforcement, it hurts the people of New York,” said District Attorney Scarpino. “We are proud to work closely with New York State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro to root out such corruption. We will prosecute this case based on the facts and bring this defendant to justice.”

 

Inspector General Tagliafierro thanked DOCCS for their cooperation and assistance in the matter, as well as the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. She also thanked the Westchester County District Attorney for prosecuting the case and conducting the arrest. 

 

The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.? 

NEW YORK CITY ACHIEVES HISTORIC CENSUS SELF-RESPONSE RATE IN 2020

 

City will remain vigilant regarding final census results and ongoing litigation attempting to exclude immigrants from the congressional apportionment count

 Mayor de Blasio and NYC Census 2020 Director Julie Menin announced today preliminary self-response data based on the City of New York’s first-of-its-kind campaign to ensure a complete and accurate count of all New Yorkers in a decennial census.

 

As of Saturday, October 17, 2020, New York City registered a historic 61.8 percent self-response rate to the 2020 Census, a figure that far outpaced most major cities in the United States, as well as the Census Bureau’s own pre-COVID estimate for self-response in the New York City area,  which was 58 percent. New York City’s self-response rate is higher than most demographically similar cities in the United States, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Houston, and Dallas, among others.

 

“New York City was not intimidated. Thanks to our efforts and the power of grassroots organizing, we stood and were counted, even in the face of COVID and presidential obstruction,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This campaign was an important reflection of our values, and we will continue to remain vigilant as the Census Bureau delivers its state population counts.”

 

“A complete census count can serve as a powerful step to right systemic wrongs that have robbed Black, Brown, and immigrant communities of their fair share of representation and funding, which makes a complete census count one of the great civil rights battles of today,” said J. Philip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. “Our city’s effort was innovative at every turn, despite every obstacle that was thrown our way. We have made an important first step toward a complete count, and now we must stand guard as the Trump administration continues to oversee the Census Bureau’s processing of 2020 data.”

 

“We are very proud of the strong finish for New York in this national contest for resources and representation.  Given the dire fiscal situation our city faces post COVID, every household of more than two persons who responded to the census means approximately $7,000 for our city,” said Julie Menin, Director of NYC Census 2020 and Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel, NYC Law Department. “That’s why we will very closely monitor final census results when they’re released on December 31. We know that cutting the census short created a number of challenges for the U.S. Census Bureau’s door-knocking operation and we will fight to ensure that New Yorkers receive their fair share of federal funding and political representation.”

 

“We are deeply grateful for each individual who helped us reach all corners of the five boroughs to inform immigrant New Yorkers of their right to be counted in the census and to exercise their power. We celebrate New York City’s self-response rate and recognize that it’s a testament to the incredible mobilization made possible by the tireless efforts of so many,” said Bitta Mostofi, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs. “New York City was proud to join the litigation to keep the citizenship question off the census, so it is safe for all. We will continue to fight the Trump administration’s relentless, anti-democratic attempts to stoke fear and misinformation about the census so we will ensure that every New Yorker, regardless of their immigration status, is seen and heard.”

 

Key Census Campaign Achievements:

 

• Historic self-response: 61.8 percent self-response, surpassing no fewer than a dozen major cities in the U.S., as well as the Census Bureau’s pre-COVID estimate for self-response in the New York City area.
• More than seven million text messages: More than seven million texts have been sent to New Yorkers reminding them to complete the census and/or assisting them with completing the census
• More than four million calls: More than four million calls have been made to New Yorkers reminding them to complete the census and/or assisting them with completing the census
• Close to one million New Yorkers clicked: Close to one million New Yorkers directly clicked on our digital advertisements directly linking viewers to the Census Bureau’s self-response page
• Approximately half-a-million households: More than 470,000 New York City households, representing no less than 1.23 million New Yorkers, have been counted or directly assisted as a result of NYC Census 2020’s Campaign. This does not include New Yorkers who completed the census after seeing or hearing a NYC Census 2020 ad campaign.
• More than 1,000 events: NYC Census 2020 and its partners organized or participated in more than 1,000 events in under a year, both in-person and virtual, regarding census participation
• 34 media campaigns in 27 languages: NYC Census designed and launched a record-breaking 34 media campaigns in 27 languages - the most the City has ever done - to reach all New Yorkers. PSAs featured figures like Cardi B and Alicia Keys.
• Three out of five boroughs surpassed their 2010 response: Number of boroughs surpassing their 2010 response rates (Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island).
• 157 awardees: Number of NYC Complete Count Fund awardees - collectively, the recipients of $16 million funding for census education, outreach, organizing, and advocacy
• More than 80: Number of languages in which NYC Complete Count Fund awardees serve New Yorkers
• 16: Number of Citywide Partners - key partners responsible for developing strategy, identifying resources and tactics, as well as implementation and amplification

 

The de Blasio administration expresses its special thanks to the Citywide Partner Group, which consists of 15 organizations funded discretionarily by the City Council, as well as the City University of New York, with which the City worked to develop a citywide strategy for turning out self-response and implemented tactics across various sectors and communities to ensure increases in self-response were achieved.

 

ABNY (Melva Miller, Aliya Bhatia, and Steven Rubenstein)		City University of New York (Chancellor Matos Rodríguez, John Mogulescu, Gary Dine, John Mollenkopf, and Colette Labrador)
Asian American Foundation (Jo-Ann Yoo, Howard Shih, and Mariam Rauf)		FPWA (Jennifer Jones Austin and Yolanda Richard)
Asian Americans for Equality (Jennifer Sun and Thomas Yu)		Hester Street (Betsy MacLean and Vanessa Monique Smith)
Brooklyn NAACP (L. Joy Williams)		Hispanic Federation (Frankie Miranda and Emely Paez)
Center for Law & Social Justice, Medgar Evers College (Lurie Daniel Favors and Esmeralda Simmons)		Make the Road - NY (Tony Alarcon, Javier Valdés, Deborah Axt, Theo Oshiro, and Daniel Altschuler)
Chinese-American Planning Council (Wayne Ho and Amy Torres)		New York Immigration Coalition (Meeta Anand, Natalie Bernstein, Murad Awawdeh, Steve Choi, Betsy Plum)
Community Resource Exchange (Katie Leonberger, Louisa Hackett, and George Hsieh)		NALEO Educational Fund (Juan Rosa)
United Neighborhood Houses   (Susan Stamler, Lena Cohen, and Nora Moran)		United Way of New York City (Sheena Wright, Lemuria Alawode-El, Lesleigh Irish-Underwood, Rucha Gadre, Melina Pope)

 

 

The de Blasio administration also expresses gratitude to the New York City Council Census Task Force, convened by Speaker Johnson and co-chaired by Council Members Carlina Rivera and Carlos Menchaca, which was particularly active in helping to achieve our historic self-response rate.

 

New York City remains vigilant about the next steps for the census, which is not yet over, and ongoing litigation attempting to exclude immigrants from the congressional apportionment count. The Census Bureau’s rushed data processing timeline of just two months is a cause for real concern.

 

The de Blasio administration has previously called on Congress to extend the reporting deadline for census data, a move that is all the more necessary and urgent, considering that there is reportedly a large amount of door-knocking data that is thought to be inconsistent, incomplete, or inaccurate as a result of the shortened timeline.

 

About NYC Census 2020

NYC Census 2020 is a first-of-its-kind organizing initiative that was established by Mayor de Blasio in January 2019 to ensure a complete and accurate count of all New Yorkers in the 2020 Census. This $40 million program is built on four pillars: (1) a $19 million community-based awards program, The New York City Complete Count Fund, empowering 157 community-based organizations and CUNY to engage historically undercounted communities around the 2020 Census; (2) an in-house “Get Out the Count” field campaign supported by the smart use of cutting-edge data and organizing technology, and a volunteer organizing program to promote a complete count in each of the city’s 245 neighborhoods; (3) an innovative, multilingual, tailored messaging and marketing campaign, including a $3 million commitment to investing in community and ethnic media to reach every New York City community; as well as (4) an in-depth Agency and Partnerships engagement plan, including libraries, hospitals, faith-based communities, cultural institutions, and more.