All-Male Top Leadership is Unacceptable
Adrienne will hold NYPD Accountable for Reforming SVD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY — The National Organization for Women is urging NYC Council members to pledge their vote today to Adrienne Adams. “An all-male top leadership in NYC just isn’t acceptable,” said Sonia Ossorio, Executive Director of NOW-NYC, which works to advance women’s rights, policy, and leadership.
Citing the lawmaker’s expansive background in policy, business and management, NOW-NYC has been lobbying members to support the Queens council woman.
“Adrienne is ready to lead and ready to hold her own. She won’t be a rubber stamp for the Mayor,” Ossorio said. “That balance of power is critical. We urge council members to pledge their support for her.”
Adams has been deeply involved in exposing the failed response to sexual assault survivors by the NYPD. The hearings she led galvanized New Yorkers to action. NOW-NYC and Women’s Justice NOW are pushing for change inside the Special Victims Division. View our latest survey of direct service providers, and rape crisis programs across NYC on what they observe, and read our recommendations for the essential reforms we are taking action to implement. A DOI report found that the division was in need of more staff, more training, better investigations, and culture change, to name a few.
“We urge incoming NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell to put a laser focus on SVD and turn the division around,” Ossorio said. “It must be a top priority for incoming Mayor Eric Adams. The public must be reassured that sex crimes are taken with the utmost seriousness in an Adams administration.
“We believe with Adrienne Adams as Speaker, the chances for real reform can happen,” Ossorio said.
NOW-NYC advocates for laws that defend our rights and break barriers for women and girls. We work to advance economic opportunity and fairness in the workplace, protect and expand reproductive rights, and strengthen our criminal justice system for victims of gender-based violence.
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