Dianne Morales
Mayoral Candidate Questionnaire
Rebuilding New York City
Question 1
Please describe what steps you will take to rebuild the economy.
My vision for New York City’s recovery and economic development is premised on dignity, care, and solidarity. I believe we must shift away from the conventional model that only acknowledges value if there are private profits to be made. We must reimagine and rebuild the public imagination and our public institutions to rise to the challenge posed by climate change and hundreds of years of environmental injustices. Major investments in the Blue economy is critical to addressing both of these challenges. The harbor and maritime sector represent tremendous opportunities for public purpose and infrastructure that must be inclusive and participatory. A sustainable Blue economy in the 21st century must embrace the principles of qualitative growth, cooperation, adaptability and community well being.
When my administration hits the ground on January 1, 2022, my priorities for the first 100 days will be to focus on our Dignity Now platform to ensure that every New Yorker has the right to be valued and respected, not just through words but actions. This includes advocating for basic income relief for every household (and especially our excluded workers who were left out on the Federal & State level), advancing a local small business recovery strategy which includes grant support, immediate housing to end homlessness, the launch of NYC5000 which is a health navigators strategy to connect New Yorkers to COVID-19 education & testing & vaccines, and the creation of a municipal green jobs agenda by focusing on investing in lower carbon emissions in NYC and investing in thousands of jobs at the same time to combat climate change.
I will boost investment in our public services by reorienting our budget and priorities. Under my Administration, I will divest from the NYPD budget and invest in the community. This means removing police from schools and significantly reducing the militarized police headcount. I will prioritize funding for existing staff and eliminate contracts with external consultants. I will move away from corporate and real estate tax subsidies and instead invest those dollars in our communities and the workers that operate the City. Once I have recouped those dollars, I will
work with the newly elected State Senate Supermajority to remind the Governor that NYC generates the majority of the state’s revenue and ensure that the City gets its fair share of support from the state. Where NYC goes, so too does the state!
Question 2
There has been a seismic shift in female representation in the workforce due to COVID-19. Particularly, women of color have lost jobs or have been left to care for their families. What is your plan to spur job growth and small business ownership for women?
There will be no growth in our city if women are not a part of our workforce. I will work to help women find employment and proper training by expanding initiatives and programs. such as women.NYC. I will also make sure that we strengthen our gender equity legislation, and put forth know-your-rights campaigns about protections in the workplace — especially for women who are vulnerable to workplace harassment and mistreatment. Further, my administration will expand 3K and Pre-K, alongside EarlyLearn and other accessible childcare options available from birth. I will also make sure the City provides universal afterschool programs. I envision these programs as a way to reduce childcare-related barriers to women re-entering the workforce.
I will also work to bolster small businesses, especially MWBEs. Small businesses in New York City were suffering far before the pandemic, but the pandemic has deepened the problem. We must directly aid small businesses by putting a moratorium on their commercial rent payments, while we explore permanent commercial rent stabilization. We must make sure that small businesses owners are able to remain in their neighborhoods to continue creating jobs and building community.
Additionally, I would strengthen the resources and capacity of Small Business Services and improve and expand public contracts to minority and women owned businesses. I would ensure these resources are targeted at the communities hit hardest by the pandemic to jumpstart the recovery. My administration will also seek to establish a public bank for the city, which would provide reasonable and fair loans to small businesses and could target efforts at minority and women owned businesses. When women and minorities succeed, our whole city succeeds.
Question 3
How would you have handled the Amazon deal differently? Please describe your approach to recruiting companies to NYC.
I would have fought giving any City or State money to Amazon, or any other large corporation. In order to build a new NYC, we must invest in our local economy and community. For too long, NYC’s economy and employment has been framed in the context of relying on outside businesses and corporations to provide jobs and “stimulate the economy.” We must prioritize the creation and establishment of a local circular economy that invests and grows our economy from within. The dollars that have traditionally gone to outsiders in the form of tax incentives/subsidies must be invested in our local economy instead. These dollars can be prioritized to support small & mid-sized businesses as well as City agencies and services. That is what will actually make the city a vibrant place to live and work.
Question 4
Municipalities across the country have had systems and data held hostage for ransom, do you think NYC is sufficiently protected? If not, what is your plan and what is your position on paying ransom?
Municipalities are an increasingly popular target for hackers, and my administration would work to ensure our city’s systems are as secure as possible. I would evaluate the work of DOITT’s Information Security Division to understand what systems we have in place, and collaborate with the leaders in this division to determine what steps need to be taken to ensure our ongoing security. The federal government prohibits municipalities from paying ransom in many circumstances, and I would follow federal law and guidance on this matter.
Question 5
How do you plan to address the issue of affordable housing when nearly 30 percent of people are spending half their income on rent? How do you define affordable housing?
The Morales Administration would declare housing a right. In the midst of an unprecedented health crisis, high unemployment and our city’s failure to address chronic homelessness, it is imperative to our collective safety and security that every New Yorker has a place to call home—and that home must be dignified, peaceful and safe. But having a roof over one’s head is not where the crisis ends. New York City has been in the middle of a housing and rent affordability crisis for decades. The status quo prioritizes speculation and powerful private interests and has led to displacement, homelessness and exorbitantly high burdens on renters and the city’s working class. This is unacceptable and will change under a Morales administration.
Within the first 100 days of taking office, my administration will provide more secure and guaranteed pathways toward permanent housing for homeless New Yorkers, including the prompt conversion of hotels into permanent support housing and services for families of our 100,000 unhoused school-aged youth. I will also expand the city’s ability to purchase vacant apartments, hotels, commercial and office spaces facing foreclosures and turn them into housing, with a priority for permanent housing for homeless families and individuals. I will support utilizing eminent domain, when necessary, especially for buildings with significant OATH/ECB fines, to create more supportive housing. Further, my administration will prohibit the City from selling or leasing city-owned land to private developers and require the City to review all public land for social housing development purposes. Additionally, I will require the City’s development partnerships to favor nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, Community Development Corporations, and supportive housing, tenants groups and alliances.
I would also appoint a Deputy Mayor responsible for leading and coordinating a citywide, cross-sector effort addressing housing, opportunity and social mobility, including shifting the $3 billion annual shelter budget towards preventative measures, and implementing preventative models that effectively respond to housing displacement and vulnerability. I would bring together a commission tasked with providing a pathway to totally eliminate homelessness in New York City within a reasonable timeframe. We will work with the newly elected Super Majority at the state level to renew the Empire State Supportive Housing Program and integrate its services into our Housing for All policy platform. This consists of bringing a substantial part of housing development out of the speculative for profit market and instead centering mixed income social housing initiatives. I will also fight for adequate rent stabilization and tenant protections to avoid displacement. We will ensure that the city’s supportive housing works side by side with an expansion of public healthcare services including mental health and disability services for the displaced and former homeless. We must also work through economic development policy to support employment programs and a basic income program.
Question 6
How will you reinvest in and expand public housing, ensuring that all have a decent home? What are your specific plans to expand and revitalize public housing in NYC?
Housing for All is not just about a roof and four walls; it’s about living in dignity. Public housing, historically, has been discriminatorily underfunded for over 50 decades on a federal level. As incoming Mayor, I will work hard with the incoming Biden administration, and the incoming Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Hon. Marcia Fudge, to ensure that the funding schemes equitably prioritize New York City. Our policies must reflect housing as a human rights issue, and I will work with the New York City Human Rights Commission to design a human rights framework around that. In alignment with the Green New Deal for public housing efforts, I believe in fully funding NYCHA as needed, including employing NYCHA residents in retrofitting and upgrading NYCHA stock as part of a climate adaptation and resiliency program. I am opposed to the privatization of NYCHA and further support the democratization of NYCHA governance by putting more decision-making authority and power in the hands of tenants.
Question 7
With the cost of living rising at nearly three times the rate of wages, 2.5 million working-age New Yorkers are struggling to provide food, housing, and other basic necessities for their families. What specific plans do you have to address poverty and the vulnerability of the working poor in NYC?
My administration will be shaped by the understanding that our biggest challenges are systemic. My platform is built on the belief that politics should work for all the people and that we are best able to grow when vulnerable New Yorkers are prioritized, oppressive systems are eliminated and barriers are removed. The pandemic has only worsened the problems I have dedicated my life to solving. Housing, economic and health disparities were all present but have deepened. We cannot and must not continue to ignore that our city is built on the backs of Black and brown women, immigrants, disabled people, the LGBTQ+ community, and the working poor. They have been the invisible drivers keeping the city going, yet continue to be left behind by our policymakers.
My immediate priorities, and my guiding principles for my mayoralty, are about creating economic justice and centering working-class Black and brown New Yorkers, particularly women, who are the backbone of our city. I plan to enshrine housing as a human right by creating more permanent supportive housing, making evictions more difficult and less frequent, and strengthening NYCHA.
As a former teacher and mom to two public school students, integrating our schools and creating educational equity is near to my heart and a top priority for my administration. I will fully fund schools, in part by removing police from schools and directing that money towards services, in order to make capital improvements to schools, reduce class sizes, and expand pre-K and 3-K. Most critically, I will work to desegregate our schools by ending all racist and inequitable admissions tests and processes, reducing charter schools’ power, and assessing and addressing inequitable funding. Women are much more likely to be primary caregivers to children, and safer, better funded, more equitable schools is a critical part of gender equity.
I will also work to protect and expand workers’ right, by protecting city workers, who are predominately women, from layoffs, aggressively monitoring and enforcing pay equity laws, decriminalizing sex work, expanding the Freelance Isn’t Free Act with increased protections for gig, domestic, nail salon, for hire and street vendors, and extending Just Cause employment protections to as many workers as possible.
Additionally, I will work to undo the health inequities, caused by systemic racism and economic injustice, that pervade our city. I’m committed to increasing public health access, education, and support, especially for Black mothers. In NYC, a Black mother is 12 times more likely to die we’re 12 times more likely to die during pregnancy (worse than the national average), and this is unacceptable. I will ensure funding for programs that continue to increase reproductive and maternal healthcare, especially in our communities of color, and will also continue the funding for the Abortion Access Fund. Though our best healthcare facilities are among the best in the world, access to those hospitals and resources is not equitable. As mayor I would move to ensure coverage of every New Yorker, starting with those who are hardest hit by our current inequities.
This is only a portion of my policy platform that addresses economic injustice — in fact, the entirety of my plans and campaign are dedicated to addressing this root inequity. The people who help keep New York City afloat, in and out of a pandemic, are the same ones struggling because our system was designed for them to struggle. Every action I take as Mayor will work to combat that.
Public Health & Safety
Question 8
How do you plan to address the rise of hate crime incidents in NYC? How will your office engage with communities to promote hate crime reporting and prevention? Do you consider gender-based violence a hate crime? If so, how will you reduce and prevent it?
The rise in religious discrimination and hate crimes in recent years is horrifying and unacceptable. These issues stem from white supremacy which must be denounced explicitly and clearly. I am committed to basing city safety and policy on solidarity rather than giving into white supremacist-driven fear. Under my administration, I will work to bridge the gaps between communities that have been targets of hate. I will work to bring us together to create true safety rather than using more policing, surveillance, or blame to create a false sense of safety. Anti-muslim bias, and every form of bigotry, is designed to keep people from uniting in common cause. My entire campaign is built on the notion that we can have a better city for all people if we work together in our shared self-interest. This is about setting a culture of solidarity.
I will expand funding to work with the NYC Human Rights Commission to fully investigate claims of discrimination in a timely manner. In my role, I would also amplify and support the work of the Human Rights Commission Community Relations Bureau, and more specifically their Bias Response Team. Solidifying these relationships would help launch engaging information campaigns and visibility of the Commission. I would also advocate for an expansion of the Bias Response Team to allow their on the ground work to happen on a regular basis, not just following an incident of discrimination. Additionally, I will encourage a high level of collaboration between the NYC Human Rights Commission and affected communities. I would do this by appointing high-level members to the Commission and its staff that are from impacted communities, and by ensuring that the NYC Human Rights Commission holds resource fairs, events, and town halls in directly impacted communities so that people feel comfortable reaching out to the commission if need be.
I will not increase funding to the NYPD. I am committed to defunding the police by $3 billion—police do not keep us safe. Instead I would invest that money in services that do keep us safe and stable. For example, I would establish a Community First Response Department to be first responders to community public safety concerns related to non-criminal activity such as homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, emotional distress and other behavioral health issues. The department would be staffed by trained, professional first responders, including social workers, medics, and mental health counselors, all of whom would be trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation. They will connect people to healthcare, social services, mental health services and other critical supports. I also believe that a critical part of public safety is ensuring that everyone, regardless of immigration status or language preference, is comfortable interacting with City services. Our communal safety as a city depends on everyone being able to access all available resources.
Question 9
What is your vision for preventing and reducing the crimes of sexual assault and rape? Other than improving the transparency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system, what multidimensional and innovative plans of action will you specifically implement?
Despite increased attention in the past few years, rape and sexual assault and harassment are pervasive. No workplace, community group, or organizing space is immune to creating an environment where this behavior is possible, and we must all remain vigilant and committed to continually learning and improving. Sexual education, including learning about consent, harassment, and bodily autonomy, can and should begin at a young age. As Mayor, I would require age-appropriate sexual education to begin as early as possible in our schools.
I would also review, update, and improve City agencies’ procedures for handling sexual violence. This would also mean ensuring there is an accessible way for survivors to access City services without filing a police report. Additionally, I would work to set an example in City government by improving the current sexual harassment training for city employees. A two hour presentation once a year is not enough time to impart this critical information. I will work with educators and advocates to evaluate the current training’s success and revamp the program to improve efficacy. Further, I will not hesitate to hold senior leaders accountable to these standards. As Governor Cuomo has taught us, bad behavior at the top, even when it is masked behind the right public stances, can create a toxic environment.
Question 10
Violent crime has risen to alarming levels, and home burglaries are up. What is your plan for reducing gun violence, sex crimes, and assaults/muggings that instill fear in the public and harm quality of life for city residents?
I will not give credence to law and order rhetoric. As we have seen for decades, reactionary policies to perceived high crime rates lead to racist policies that oppress, detain, and kill Black and Brown people. Crime has been declining overall for decades, and the recent spike makes it more clear than ever that crime rates are tied to people’s social stability. Crime rates spiked during COVID because New Yorkers lost jobs, were worried about their housing, anf faced tremendous health concerns. I will make this clear in both my rhetoric and my policy.
I will work to do everything in my power to house everyone in long-term supportive, social, and fully-funded public housing and to bolster the city’s social net. Real safety comes with ensuring that all New Yorkers are seen as human and given this basic dignity and right. This would allow us to start envisioning the real needs of our city from there.
Question 11
How will you work to rebuild trust between the community and law enforcement, while also ensuring accountability for police misconduct, police brutality and sexual assault?
As Mayor of New York, I will move to end the long history of police brutality against communities of color, especially Black people. Inexcusable acts of violence that have taken place for generations. We will not allow the NYPD or the Police Benevolent Association to protect their members from accountability. To create accountability, we will implement an Early Intervention System. Infractions by officers must be tracked, reviewed, be made public, and officers must be held accountable to the public they serve. This system must identify patterns of inappropriate, violent behavior by officers, and report regularly to the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and the District Attorney’s office. However, so far the Civilian Complaint Review Board has been demonstrably inadequate in its ability to hold police accountable. It should become an elected body, and be given powers to investigate and discipline police officers. District Attorney’s offices must create separate, independent divisions responsible solely for criminal prosecution of police. Along with the CCRB, this division will build and maintain a comprehensive, verified list of police officers who are accused and found guilty of misconduct. When a police officer violates the public trust, they will be forced to forfeit any privileges afforded to them by the public, including salaries, pensions and other benefits. We will end placard abuse, and officers will face the same consequences as any other person. Offending officers and their benevolent association will be held financially liable for any restitution owed to their victims.
But I intend to do more than increase officer accountability. Reforming the police won’t work — we must remake public safety. We have to get to the root cause of why crime happens in the first place rather than relying on the carceral system. I was the first candidate for Mayor to call for defunding the police by $3B. When I am Mayor we will divest from policing and reinvest in communities towards community based resources like youth support programs and childcare, safe community spaces and parks, transportation, and other public infrastructure. These resources play an essential role in uplifting Black and brown families and creating a New York that works for us all. By investing funds into housing for the homeless, healthcare, subway modernization, and revitalization of the arts, our money is being directed towards the needs of the people rather than a system that enforces racism and violence. There is always somehow enough money for more police, while the services that actually keep us safe and secure fight off budget cuts. Under a Morales administration, we’re focused on correcting the root issue with resources and funding, not addressing the symptom with more policing.
To further divest from the harmful carceral approach that our city takes, I have proposed the establishment of a Community First Response Department that is separate from the NYPD. The Community First Response Department would serve as first responders to community public safety issues related to non-criminal public safety issues: homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, emotional distress, and other behavioral health issues. The department would be staffed by trained professional first responders including social workers, crisis response workers, medics, mental health counselors and others, all of whom would be trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation. They will connect people to healthcare, social services, mental health services, and other critical supports, rather than criminalize them.
Question 12
In 2019 alone there was a 52% increase in DV homicides and 911 received upwards of 800 DV calls a day. What is your plan to prevent, identify and keep women safe from abusive intimate partners?
I strongly believe that survivors of domestic violence deserve opportunities to access anti-carceral resources that help facilitate healing without interference from police or other enforcement agencies, so that these women feel more comfortable reaching out for help before violence becomes life-threatening. I would move response and outreach to survivors of domestic violence and abuse away from the NYPD and towards a domestic violence prevention unit of my Community First Responders Department, which would be staffed by social workers and other individuals with experience in gender based violence. For many survivors, keeping police involvement in domestic violence responses creates additional barriers to accessing support and assistance, as many survivors face further violence and/or harassment at the hands of the police, when they should be supported and cared for. Our Community First Responders Department would establish a new hotline number for those experiencing domestic violence to call, and would help provide survivors with necessary resources, such as safe, non-congregate housing, so that women can leave dangerous situations. Our department would also provide survivors with the opportunity to undertake transformative justice proceedings with their abusers, if they are willing to do so, to create structures of accountability for the abuser and allow both partners to understand the level of harm that has been caused to the survivor.
Question 13
Opioid deaths have ravished communities throughout NYC. In the first two months of 2020, 440 people died. How will you tackle this continuing public health crisis? What will you do differently than the outgoing administration to save lives?
I have worked in human services for over 25 years and, if there is one thing my experience has taught me it is that criminalization and punishment never help individuals become safer or healthier. In a city that is majority people of color, immigrants, and the working class, it is imperative that we finally address the root causes of drug use and reject the idea that policing will stop people using drugs (or keep any of us safe).
As Mayor, I will reallocate $3 billion of NYPD’s overall budget towards services that actually keep us safe by improving our quality of life, such as addiction treatment services. But the most pressing thing is to end as many people’s contact with the criminal justice system as possible. I will move to decriminalize all drug use within the city and decriminalize the possession of a limited amount of drugs. This means instructing the NYPD to cease all arrests for this behavior and violation-level enforcement for drugs (e.g., cease issuing summonses for marijuana use). I will heavily pressure all city District Attorneys to decline to prosecute drug charges and advocate at the state level for all drug use to be decriminalized. I will also remove police from social services, including in outreach to homeless New Yorkers and in drug intervention.
I will also work to create a network of integrated community health clinics across the city to provide preventative primary care. These clinics could help prevent addiction by providing accessible, high-quality care and help connect people struggling with addiction to specialized city resources. Further, I plan to use money from the NYPD and other revenue streams to bolster and expand the city’s existing treatment services.
Question 14
NYPD and EMT responded to all 154,000 mental health calls in 2020, how will you expand and strengthen Mayor de Blasio’s test programs to keep NYC police out of mental health crisis calls?
I strongly support the ‘de-coupling” of mental health crises from policing. NYC must establish a Community First Response Department, separate from the NYPD. This team would serve as first responders to community public safety issues related to non-criminal public safety issues: homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, emotional distress and other behavioral health issues. The department would be staffed by trained professional first responders including social workers, crisis response workers, medics, mental health counselors and others, all of whom would be trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation. They will connect people to healthcare, social services, mental health services and other critical supports that can help remedy the root causes of crises. Other situations such as traffic enforcement (previously held under DOT) will be removed from NYPD jurisdiction, too.
Question 15
According to the Coalition for the Homeless, “In January 2021, there were 55,915 homeless people, including 17,645 homeless children, sleeping each night in the New York City municipal shelter system”. What do you plan to do differently than the current administration to combat the issue of homelessness, particularly houselessness among women and households headed by single women with children in NYC?
As a former non-profit leader who worked within and helped expand the supportive housing system in the city, I deeply understand how inadequate the availability of this housing is. New York City must reorient our homelessness policies towards supportive housing and, if we are serious about reducing homelessness, dramatically increase funding for this type of housing. Within the first 100 days of taking office, my administration will provide more secure and guaranteed pathways toward permanent residence, including the prompt conversion of hotels into permanent support housing and services for families of our 100,000 unhoused school-aged youth, many of which are headed by women.
I will also expand the city’s ability to purchase vacant apartments, hotels, commercial and office spaces facing foreclosures and turn them into housing, with a priority for permanent housing for homeless families and individuals. I will support utilizing eminent domain, when necessary, especially for buildings with significant OATH/ECB fines, to create more supportive housing. Further, my administration will prohibit the City from selling or leasing city-owned land to private developers and require the City to review all public land for social housing development purposes. Additionally, I will require the City’s development partnerships to favor nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, Community Development Corporations, and supportive housing, tenants groups and alliances.
Education & Childcare
Question 16
In NYC, less than half of 3rd to 8th grade students are meeting proficiency standards on ELA or Math state exams. Rates are far lower for Black and Hispanic students. What is your plan for achieving an educational system where all public school students are meeting or exceeding basic standards, regardless of race, income or zip code?
Every child deserves the opportunity to live up to their potential and choose their own path in life. Our children need equal access to excellent education. But this opportunity has not been equally secured for all. The biggest social issues and challenges we face as a city and country stretch back to the inequalities and injustices faced by children throughout their educational Experiences.
Creating a more equitable school system is one of my top 3 priorities as Mayor and, in my first 100 days, I will execute an Educational Equity Executive Order to finally desegregate schools, eliminate disparities, and hold agencies accountable for inequitable educational outcomes. A primary part of eliminating disparities and increasing equity is addressing imbalances and injustices in school funding. Low-income and predominantly Black and brown schools need the most funding and, too often, they get the least. As Mayor, I will immediately direct my administration to examine disparities in funding, resources, and services in relation to demographics and socioeconomic status, so that we can quickly rectify those gaps and build a funding scheme that corrects these inequities in the long term. I will also marshal revenue streams, including rerouting funds from the NYPD, to fully fund the school capital plan to allow for the elimination of school overcrowding; for class size reduction; to eliminate all facilities to be free of mold, asbestos, and lead; and upgrade each building to be properly ventilated and accessible to students with disabilities. These issues are disproportionately present in Black and brown schools, and full funding is an important step in addressing these injustices.
Additionally, addressing the inequities in our school system necessarily means that it is time for a comprehensive citywide school integration involving zoning reform and open enrollment so that Black and brown kids do not have limited access to high quality schools in our city. This plan includes practical and immediate changes such as eliminating all admissions screening mechanisms at all levels, redrawing elementary school zones to maximize social and racial integration, replacing gifted and talented programs with school-wide enrichment programs, and working to improve and expand D15’s middle school integration plan. I will also be centering the voices of BIPOC parents and students in these conversations. It’s not enough to just shepherd Black and Brown students into white schools — it’s imperative to create an equitable framework where all schools are thriving and have diverse teachers with appropriate training, and that this movement is led by those directly impacted.
Question 17
Five years after graduates filed a complaint that their Yeshivas didn’t provide a basic education as required by law, the city produced a report that found 26 of 28 Yeshivas investigated still did not meet Substantial Equivalency standards. Beyond “working with Yeshiva leaders” what will you do differently than Mayor De Blasio to get compliance?
I believe it is important to ensure that every child, regardless or background, gets a standard basic education, and yeshiva students are no exception to this. However, Bill deBlasio’s response to yeshivas has been haphazard, and at times, insensitive. As Mayor, I would work with Orthodox community groups on the ground that are organizing for education reform, such as YAFFED (link in original Q), which were founded by Orthodox and Haredi community members who are working to ensure that yeshiva students also receive a secular education. By working alongside community members who have been educated at yeshivas instead of just yeshiva leaders, I believe my administration will have more success in guaranteeing that yeshiva students obtain a quality basic education in both secular and religious topics.
Question 18
Teen pregnancy, dating violence, prostitution and online sex harassment continue to derail students’ abilities to learn and live free of violence and abuse. What is your plan to ensure age-appropriate sex education and a healthy relationships curriculum is mandated and delivered to every NYC child?
Years of studies have clearly shown that abstinence-only sex education does not work, and ultimately leads young people to engage in more unhealthy and/or risky sexual behaviors. Furthermore, students in New York City schools deserve the ability to learn about safe relationships, so that individuals who may find themselves in an unhealthy relationship down the line have the resources they need to keep themselves safe. Additionally, sex education should be inclusive of LGBTQIA+ and trans students, who deserve access to education that is reflective of their own identity and orientation. To accomplish this, I will direct the Department of Education to conduct an overview of the current sex education curriculum, and will take executive action to guarantee that all educational standards are in line with my goals to ensure that all public school students graduate with an understanding of what safe sex and safe intimate relationships look like.
Question 19
What will you do to address the child care crisis that hinders women’s workforce participation, economic stability for families, and access to quality and affordable early education for children?
To ensure that people are able to return to work and regular activity, we need a different type of economic growth that centers the well being and quality of life of all New Yorkers. This includes building upon New York City’s existing pre-K and 3-K programs to ensure that children of all ages have access to safe, accessible, and educationally enriching child care regardless of a family’s ability to pay. However, my administration knows we must go further than that. As Mayor, I will build out the care economy with quality, universal public child care and paid family leave, so that women (and all parents) are able to remain in the workforce while caring for young children. This is a key priority of mine, and one I look forward to advancing as mayor.
Question 20
Please describe what steps you will take to address the disproportionate amount of Black and Brown girls who are pushed out of school and into the juvenile detention system. What do you intend to do to stop the school to prison pipeline?
Policing in schools represents the inception of the school-to-prison pipeline and has been proven to disproportionately harm, violate, and criminalize Black and Brown youth— particularly Black girls. Not only are Black students expelled three times more than white students, they are also three times more likely to face the juvenile justice system. In choosing to police our schools, public officials have abdicated their responsibility to meet the social and mental health needs of our youth.
I will remove police from schools and use that funding (about $450 million) to hire more teachers, counselors, social workers, and support staff. chools should be staffed with mental health professionals who are available to provide initial, low-level interventions and support to students in need. These personnel should have established relationships with students, staff and parents, increasing the likelihood of successful intervention. In higher need, crisis situations, Community First Responders Department (CFRD) could serve as a partner and provide additional support. This department will be staffed by trained professional first responders including social workers, crisis response workers, medics, mental health counselors and others, all of whom would be trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation. They will connect people to healthcare, social services, mental health services and other critical supports. Public schools will be provided with adequate investment in order to expand access to psychologists, counselors, social workers, and mental health professionals that would be able to collaborate with a CFRD to address school issues appropriately.
Question 21
Do you support decriminalizing sex buying and promoting prostitution, and why? If decriminalized, would you designate a sex trade zone? Would you license brothels and collect taxes? What would be the process to decide which neighborhoods would be deemed commercial sex districts?
As part of my decareral agenda, I will be heavily focusing on decriminalizing sex work and creating a sex workers protection bill of rights under the Department of Consumer & Worker Protection. I will also eliminate the NYPD Vice Squad which, alongside the recently repealed Walking While Trans law, has harmed and trapped many trans women of color and sex workers in a cycle of arrests and incarceration. In terms of the mechanics of decriminalizing sex work, I support the infrastructure of the full-decriminalization model proposed in the State Legislature by State Senators Julia Salazar and Jessica Ramos, which calls for the creation of red light districts outside of school zones. This is an urgent priority; trans women of color and sex workers have faced decades of harrassment due to the criminalization of sex work, and I look forward to ending this harmful criminalization of my own neighbors as Mayor of New York City.
Question 22
Please describe what makes you uniquely qualified to lead New York City at this time.
I am a first generation college graduate, born in Bed-Stuy to two working class parents from Puerto Rico who believed in the American Dream — that success was possible for everyone and that those who attained success had a responsibility to lift others as they climbed. I’m also the single mother of two college students, and the first Afro-Latina candidate for Mayor of New York.
My personal experiences, combined with 25 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector have given me a deep understanding of our city’s dysfunctional education, justice, and health/mental health systems. Throughout my career, I served as founding member of Jumpstart – a national early childhood organization, Executive Director of The Door and most recently, Phipps Neighborhoods in the South Bronx. My leadership and advocacy in education, employment, and social justice have improved the lives of New Yorkers in some of the most under-resourced neighborhoods, and created permanent pathways out of poverty for single moms, LGBTQIA+ youth, the formerly incarcerated, and the homeless.
The pandemic has worsened the problems I have dedicated my life to solving: housing, economic and health disparities were all present before, but have drastically deepened. As we continue to experience the devastating consequences of our nation’s failed pandemic response, the rich have gotten richer while the poor have gotten poorer. We cannot, and must not, continue to ignore that our city is built on the backs of Black and brown women, immigrants, disabled people, the LGBTQIA+ community, and the working poor. They have been the invisible drivers keeping the city going, yet continue to be left behind by our policymakers.
I decided to run for Mayor because I have the experience to understand the root causes of our problems — and I am prepared to make the radical changes we need to fix them. No one like me has ever led our city. My lived experience as a single mother, a woman of color, and my leadership and advocacy experience means I can be a uniquely effective and insightful mayor. As the pandemic has unfolded, and the fabric of our society frays, it has become clear that this is our moment to make massive structural changes that will make real improvements in the lives of all New Yorkers, starting with our most vulnerable and under-resourced.