NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams launched city first community hiring effort with $1.2 billion to connect undeserved New Yorkers with good paying jobs
Addressing an event, Mayor Adams said that 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,” he said.
“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,” Mayor Adams said.
He said that 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,” he said.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he remarked.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he pointed out.
He said that city 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,” he said.
“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,” he added.
“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, he said.
“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, Mayor Adams said.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he said.
Mayor Adams said that 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,” he said.
“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,” he added.
