Maya Wiley (D)

Women’s Leadership
How will you ensure that women’s participation and leadership are fully integrated across New York City government and that every decision made is considered through an anti-racist, gender-focused lens?

I am a change-making leader. I am a nationally recognized racial justice and equity advocate with 25 years of experience creating change by bringing people together to develop and implement ideas to dismantle structural racism. I have worked as a civil rights litigator and lobbyist, a senior leader in program development in the world’s largest human rights foundation, founded and led a national racial justice advocacy organization and, after 25 years, joined senior leadership in NYC government, showing it could do more and deliver more to New Yorkers, particularly New Yorkers of color.

I know that in order for us to reimagine New York City, we must rebuild trust in government, and for that to happen, government must be participatory. This is why I have and will continue to have People’s Assemblies, to ensure that regular New Yorkers, and particularly New Yorkers who have been left behind, are part of the decision making process. I will hire leaders for my transition and administration who are representative of the diversity of the City both in demographics and expertise to help guide the future of the City.

In terms of my policy platforms, both my Small Business and Universal Community Care plans acknowledge and seek to directly address the severe wage gap between men and women, and especially between men and women of color. These plans were developed in collaboration with community based experts and leaders, and commit to investing in MWBEs and providing a $5,000 annual stipend to 100,000 families doing essential care work in our City. In addition, my education plan will elevate parent and student voices with an active role in decision making, so women can be at the center of our plans to heal after the pandemic, transform our schools into centers of creativity, and prioritize the rights and safety of students. Specifically, I will create a Commission on School Governance with parent, student, community, and advocacy representatives to establish stronger checks and balances and more methods for institutionalized parent, student and community input and decision-making.

Affordable and Safe Housing
Some women and families live in New York City’s homeless shelters for over a year because they cannot find safe, affordable places to live with the current rate of NYC rental subsidy. As mayor, how will you address this reality and help families build their lives outside of the shelter system?

My Housing Policy is based on a housing first approach and prioritizes moving families out of the shelter system and into permanent, affordable housing with wraparound community services. We will do this by investing in supportive housing, so there is a clear pipeline from shelters to stable housing, with the eventual goal of putting families on a clear path to individual homeownership and wealth. My plan commits $2 billion in emergency infrastructure repairs to NYCHA and promises to build 100% affordable housing on 100% public land. We will purchase vacant land and turn it over to nonprofit developers who will manage and build affordable housing. We will also invest in social housing, which will be the centerpiece of our initiative to end chronic homelessness, and commit to building sufficient capacity to meet the demand. Supportive housing, which combines affordable apartments with intensive case management, meals, and voluntary, life-improving services like healthcare and workforce development, is both a cost effective and humane solution

Fair Wages
While all women continue to earn less on average than men in New York City, women of color and immigrants, who are more likely to work in low-paid jobs in the public and private sectors, face significantly larger gaps and higher poverty rates. What are your plans for eliminating these disparities in New York City?

New York City is in crisis and the pandemic has had devastating impacts on women. This past year, women left the workforce in droves and were often forced to choose between going to the office and caring for their families. In December, employers cut 140,000 jobs with women accounting for all losses. Because of their overrepresentation in caregiving fields, Black and Latino women were disproportionately impacted. Failing to elect a historic, changemaking leader who understands this means losing a generation of progress for women. Furthermore, my Universal Community Care model will specifically target women of color and immigrants to ensure that their jobs in the care economy have fair wages and protections. Women of color made up 88% of the City’s paid care workforce in 2017 and my administration is committed to redirecting $300 million in resources from the NYPD and DOCCS to give 100,000 high need informal caregivers a $5,000 annual stipend to properly compensate them for their underappreciated labor.

My plan New Deal New York will inject the city with a $10 billion dollar investment that will be targeted through key metrics including racial disparities in income to ensure these capital dollars are utilized in underinvested communities first.

The next Mayor must be someone with a deep understanding of the challenges women face, which is why I have focused so much of my campaign on policies and plans that lift up women.

Accessible Caregiving
This pandemic has exacerbated the big holes in our caregiving systems, including childcare and long-term care. How do you propose addressing these issues and creating a fair and equitable system both for families and the caregiving workforce?

The centerpiece of my economic recovery plan is a permanent investment in the care economy and a permanent investment in the New Yorkers performing this essential care work that keeps our neighborhoods and communities afloat. My Universal Community Care Plan will give a $5,000 annual stipend to 100,000 low-income families doing care work in their communities. It will also build community care centers in high-needs neighborhoods across the City, which will provide free childcare, eldercare, and mental health resources, and also serve as a cultural hub to connect with CBOs, employment/workforce training opportunities, and of course, the people in our neighborhoods.

My K-12 Education Platform commits to transforming schools into centers of exploration, inclusion and creativity. As Mayor, I will work to keep school buildings open for recreation and other programming on evenings and weekends, especially in communities in need of safe gathering places. Making our public school buildings accessible to the community will provide a valuable community resource and will strengthen ties with the community. We will also expand access to outdoor play for children by making a $2.2 million investment in keeping school playgrounds open year-round.

Ending Gender-Based Violence
There has been a significant uptick in reports of sexual harassment and violence against women and gender expansive people during the pandemic. What is your plan to address gender-based violence in New York City in both the private and public sectors?

My Preventing Maternal Mortality Plan makes maternal health a Mayoral priority by:

Directing $4.35 million to create birthing centers in every city-owned H+H hospital, targeting communities of color that have had the highest instances of maternal mortality; and Expanding integrated midwifery services within the H+H hospital system and creating a council of midwives and doulas to help inform and craft maternal health policies.
My Housing Plan will be released shortly, and advocates specifically for women and Black women, who have been evicted at much higher rates. 80% of homeless mothers have experienced domestic violence as adults. The homelessness crisis is tied to the epidemic of domestic violence, and we must provide tailored support to survivors. I will end evictions and prevent domestic violence by:
Implementing a true eviction moratorium
We will pursue ambitious tax and rent relief programs to ease the burden on small and nonprofit landlords, who tend to be women
Put families back in homes, creating a rapid rehousing program and pressing for state action on application fees, security deposit relief and property tax forgiveness

Education
Cities across the country, including several in New York, have begun to take steps to remove police from schools. As mayor, would you remove police from schools in New York City, and if so, would you reinvest the money toward educational programs and support resources?

Yes. I have already committed to cutting $1 billion from the NYPD budget to reinvest the money into social programs and services that actually reduce violence and keep our communities safe. My education plan removes the school safety agent role from the NYPD and will reinvest $450 million dollars into building student support teams in each school. Each team will have at least one guidance counselor, social worker, and psychologist, reflecting the recommendations of the National Association of School Psychologists.

In addition, as part of my Gun Violence Prevention Plan, I have proposed creating an $18 million participatory justice fund in communities struggling to stem gun violence.
The fund would allocate funds to communities identified by their rates of gun violence, and support a democratic process to direct funds to existing and new programs that have proven track records or promising evaluations, including education programs. We will also double the number of slots allocated to youth at risk of involvement with violence in the Summer Youth Employment Program, resulting in 10,000 slots designated for young people at highest risk of being involved in gun violence.

Maternal Health
How will you use city agencies, the budget, and your role as a public figure to address the crisis of maternal mortality and specifically the disproportionate impact on Black women in NYC?

Deciding to have a child as a Black woman should not be a death sentence. In New York, Black women are 8 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women and are at 3 times greater risk to have a serious complication. The root causes are institutional racism and gender inequality. I have a maternal mortality plan that will direct over $4 million to build birthing centers at every city-owned H+H hospital as well as a freestanding center on the North Shore of Staten Island. There has been evidence that shows that birthing services lead to better birthing outcomes and constructing holistic birthing centers across the entire city will help us deliver high impact in particular in areas with high rates of maternal mortality. My plan will also expand the DOHMH’s home visit program so that all pregnant New Yorkers are guaranteed access to 1 prenatal visit and multiple postpartum visits.

Legal Justice
Low income New York City families, many headed by single mothers, continue to be impacted negatively by the lack of early civil legal representation in their interaction with City entities, such as the Administration for Children’s Services and Family Court. How would you reform the NYC civil justice system so that all NYC families have access to timely, competent legal assistance to protect their families, homes and livelihoods?

The pandemic has exacerbated the reality that for too long, students with disabilities have been denied their legally mandated services and protections due to DOE mismanagement and failure to comply with the ADA. 45% of special education administrative hearings filed nationwide in 2018-19 were from NYC. We will reduce the number and nature of these hearings by prioritizing a change in culture, and by ensuring that the process of developing and implementing IEPs and Section 504 plans is a true collaboration with families. My administration will ensure that the legal rights of students with disabilities are respected, and that they are provided with expanded programming, including methodologies such as Orton-Gillingham instruction for all who need it. As Mayor, I will address the current impartial hearing crisis, so that parents of students with disabilities will have a functional and timely mechanism for addressing concerns, partaking in evaluations, and receiving the appropriate academic interventions. I will save money in the education budget, by overhauling the DOE’s approach to delivering special education services within local schools, and by not contesting cases where a child clearly requires a highly specialized program that the DOE cannot provide.

My administration will provide immigrants with adequate legal services by increasing Action NYC’s budget to provide more funding to community-based nonprofits that offer legal services to immigrants. I will make these contracts more robust, so that government resources are reaching hard-to-reach communities through smaller CBOs that have a strong relationship with the community members. Lastly, I will prioritize eviction protections by increasing legal representation Supporting City Council Introduction 1104 which expands legal services to 55-70,000 more households each year, and creating a new partnership with area law schools and pro-bono legal partners to introduce a community lawyering model.

These questions and the responses from this candidate belong to PowHer and are being shared with their permission. This content in its original form can be found at: https://amayorfornycwomen.org/maya-wiley/

Replies

Emily VanVleck June 10, 2021 at 3:31pm

Women’s Leadership
How will you ensure that women’s participation and leadership are fully integrated across New York City government and that every decision made is considered through an anti-racist, gender-focused lens?

I am a change-making leader. I am a nationally recognized racial justice and equity advocate with 25 years of experience creating change by bringing people together to develop and implement ideas to dismantle structural racism. I have worked as a civil rights litigator and lobbyist, a senior leader in program development in the world’s largest human rights foundation, founded and led a national racial justice advocacy organization and, after 25 years, joined senior leadership in NYC government, showing it could do more and deliver more to New Yorkers, particularly New Yorkers of color.

I know that in order for us to reimagine New York City, we must rebuild trust in government, and for that to happen, government must be participatory. This is why I have and will continue to have People’s Assemblies, to ensure that regular New Yorkers, and particularly New Yorkers who have been left behind, are part of the decision making process. I will hire leaders for my transition and administration who are representative of the diversity of the City both in demographics and expertise to help guide the future of the City.

In terms of my policy platforms, both my Small Business and Universal Community Care plans acknowledge and seek to directly address the severe wage gap between men and women, and especially between men and women of color. These plans were developed in collaboration with community based experts and leaders, and commit to investing in MWBEs and providing a $5,000 annual stipend to 100,000 families doing essential care work in our City. In addition, my education plan will elevate parent and student voices with an active role in decision making, so women can be at the center of our plans to heal after the pandemic, transform our schools into centers of creativity, and prioritize the rights and safety of students. Specifically, I will create a Commission on School Governance with parent, student, community, and advocacy representatives to establish stronger checks and balances and more methods for institutionalized parent, student and community input and decision-making.

Affordable and Safe Housing
Some women and families live in New York City’s homeless shelters for over a year because they cannot find safe, affordable places to live with the current rate of NYC rental subsidy. As mayor, how will you address this reality and help families build their lives outside of the shelter system?

My Housing Policy is based on a housing first approach and prioritizes moving families out of the shelter system and into permanent, affordable housing with wraparound community services. We will do this by investing in supportive housing, so there is a clear pipeline from shelters to stable housing, with the eventual goal of putting families on a clear path to individual homeownership and wealth. My plan commits $2 billion in emergency infrastructure repairs to NYCHA and promises to build 100% affordable housing on 100% public land. We will purchase vacant land and turn it over to nonprofit developers who will manage and build affordable housing. We will also invest in social housing, which will be the centerpiece of our initiative to end chronic homelessness, and commit to building sufficient capacity to meet the demand. Supportive housing, which combines affordable apartments with intensive case management, meals, and voluntary, life-improving services like healthcare and workforce development, is both a cost effective and humane solution

Fair Wages
While all women continue to earn less on average than men in New York City, women of color and immigrants, who are more likely to work in low-paid jobs in the public and private sectors, face significantly larger gaps and higher poverty rates. What are your plans for eliminating these disparities in New York City?

New York City is in crisis and the pandemic has had devastating impacts on women. This past year, women left the workforce in droves and were often forced to choose between going to the office and caring for their families. In December, employers cut 140,000 jobs with women accounting for all losses. Because of their overrepresentation in caregiving fields, Black and Latino women were disproportionately impacted. Failing to elect a historic, changemaking leader who understands this means losing a generation of progress for women. Furthermore, my Universal Community Care model will specifically target women of color and immigrants to ensure that their jobs in the care economy have fair wages and protections. Women of color made up 88% of the City’s paid care workforce in 2017 and my administration is committed to redirecting $300 million in resources from the NYPD and DOCCS to give 100,000 high need informal caregivers a $5,000 annual stipend to properly compensate them for their underappreciated labor.

My plan New Deal New York will inject the city with a $10 billion dollar investment that will be targeted through key metrics including racial disparities in income to ensure these capital dollars are utilized in underinvested communities first.

The next Mayor must be someone with a deep understanding of the challenges women face, which is why I have focused so much of my campaign on policies and plans that lift up women.

Accessible Caregiving
This pandemic has exacerbated the big holes in our caregiving systems, including childcare and long-term care. How do you propose addressing these issues and creating a fair and equitable system both for families and the caregiving workforce?

The centerpiece of my economic recovery plan is a permanent investment in the care economy and a permanent investment in the New Yorkers performing this essential care work that keeps our neighborhoods and communities afloat. My Universal Community Care Plan will give a $5,000 annual stipend to 100,000 low-income families doing care work in their communities. It will also build community care centers in high-needs neighborhoods across the City, which will provide free childcare, eldercare, and mental health resources, and also serve as a cultural hub to connect with CBOs, employment/workforce training opportunities, and of course, the people in our neighborhoods.

My K-12 Education Platform commits to transforming schools into centers of exploration, inclusion and creativity. As Mayor, I will work to keep school buildings open for recreation and other programming on evenings and weekends, especially in communities in need of safe gathering places. Making our public school buildings accessible to the community will provide a valuable community resource and will strengthen ties with the community. We will also expand access to outdoor play for children by making a $2.2 million investment in keeping school playgrounds open year-round.

Ending Gender-Based Violence
There has been a significant uptick in reports of sexual harassment and violence against women and gender expansive people during the pandemic. What is your plan to address gender-based violence in New York City in both the private and public sectors?

My Preventing Maternal Mortality Plan makes maternal health a Mayoral priority by:

Directing $4.35 million to create birthing centers in every city-owned H+H hospital, targeting communities of color that have had the highest instances of maternal mortality; and Expanding integrated midwifery services within the H+H hospital system and creating a council of midwives and doulas to help inform and craft maternal health policies.
My Housing Plan will be released shortly, and advocates specifically for women and Black women, who have been evicted at much higher rates. 80% of homeless mothers have experienced domestic violence as adults. The homelessness crisis is tied to the epidemic of domestic violence, and we must provide tailored support to survivors. I will end evictions and prevent domestic violence by:
Implementing a true eviction moratorium
We will pursue ambitious tax and rent relief programs to ease the burden on small and nonprofit landlords, who tend to be women
Put families back in homes, creating a rapid rehousing program and pressing for state action on application fees, security deposit relief and property tax forgiveness

Education
Cities across the country, including several in New York, have begun to take steps to remove police from schools. As mayor, would you remove police from schools in New York City, and if so, would you reinvest the money toward educational programs and support resources?

Yes. I have already committed to cutting $1 billion from the NYPD budget to reinvest the money into social programs and services that actually reduce violence and keep our communities safe. My education plan removes the school safety agent role from the NYPD and will reinvest $450 million dollars into building student support teams in each school. Each team will have at least one guidance counselor, social worker, and psychologist, reflecting the recommendations of the National Association of School Psychologists.

In addition, as part of my Gun Violence Prevention Plan, I have proposed creating an $18 million participatory justice fund in communities struggling to stem gun violence.
The fund would allocate funds to communities identified by their rates of gun violence, and support a democratic process to direct funds to existing and new programs that have proven track records or promising evaluations, including education programs. We will also double the number of slots allocated to youth at risk of involvement with violence in the Summer Youth Employment Program, resulting in 10,000 slots designated for young people at highest risk of being involved in gun violence.

Maternal Health
How will you use city agencies, the budget, and your role as a public figure to address the crisis of maternal mortality and specifically the disproportionate impact on Black women in NYC?

Deciding to have a child as a Black woman should not be a death sentence. In New York, Black women are 8 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women and are at 3 times greater risk to have a serious complication. The root causes are institutional racism and gender inequality. I have a maternal mortality plan that will direct over $4 million to build birthing centers at every city-owned H+H hospital as well as a freestanding center on the North Shore of Staten Island. There has been evidence that shows that birthing services lead to better birthing outcomes and constructing holistic birthing centers across the entire city will help us deliver high impact in particular in areas with high rates of maternal mortality. My plan will also expand the DOHMH’s home visit program so that all pregnant New Yorkers are guaranteed access to 1 prenatal visit and multiple postpartum visits.

Legal Justice
Low income New York City families, many headed by single mothers, continue to be impacted negatively by the lack of early civil legal representation in their interaction with City entities, such as the Administration for Children’s Services and Family Court. How would you reform the NYC civil justice system so that all NYC families have access to timely, competent legal assistance to protect their families, homes and livelihoods?

The pandemic has exacerbated the reality that for too long, students with disabilities have been denied their legally mandated services and protections due to DOE mismanagement and failure to comply with the ADA. 45% of special education administrative hearings filed nationwide in 2018-19 were from NYC. We will reduce the number and nature of these hearings by prioritizing a change in culture, and by ensuring that the process of developing and implementing IEPs and Section 504 plans is a true collaboration with families. My administration will ensure that the legal rights of students with disabilities are respected, and that they are provided with expanded programming, including methodologies such as Orton-Gillingham instruction for all who need it. As Mayor, I will address the current impartial hearing crisis, so that parents of students with disabilities will have a functional and timely mechanism for addressing concerns, partaking in evaluations, and receiving the appropriate academic interventions. I will save money in the education budget, by overhauling the DOE’s approach to delivering special education services within local schools, and by not contesting cases where a child clearly requires a highly specialized program that the DOE cannot provide.

My administration will provide immigrants with adequate legal services by increasing Action NYC’s budget to provide more funding to community-based nonprofits that offer legal services to immigrants. I will make these contracts more robust, so that government resources are reaching hard-to-reach communities through smaller CBOs that have a strong relationship with the community members. Lastly, I will prioritize eviction protections by increasing legal representation Supporting City Council Introduction 1104 which expands legal services to 55-70,000 more households each year, and creating a new partnership with area law schools and pro-bono legal partners to introduce a community lawyering model.

These questions and the responses from this candidate belong to PowHer and are being shared with their permission. This content in its original form can be found at: https://amayorfornycwomen.org/maya-wiley/
Emily VanVleck May 5, 2021 at 10:53am

Maya Wiley discusses the importance of small businesses and minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBEs); however, her campaign materials lack specific mention of women-owned businesses or professional women. Wiley does have an interagency plan, the Universal Community Care Model, focused on economic growth in sectors dominated by women of color, particularly the care economy. The Universal Community Care Model intends to provide stipends to high-need informal care workers. Wiley does have a history of supporting business and professional women; while working as Counsel to Mayor de Blasio, Wiley advocated for MWBEs and increased women's leadership roles.

This reply was deleted.