Scott M. Stringer (60) - NYC Comptroller, who believes his management experience will lead the city out of the pandemic.
Double City spend with minority- and women-owned businesses
- Harness the City’s $20 billion procurement budget to better support minority- and women-owned businesses — doubling current spend within his first term in office.
- Appoint Chief Diversity Officers in every City agency and empower them to track and oversee M/WBE programs, as well as ensure the City utilizes diverse suppliers, institutes equitable workplace policies, ensures diverse representation across Mayoral appointments, implements true language access across City agencies, and launches a new generation of the City’s Local Law 1 MWBE program.
- Ensure MWBE utilization in all climate-oriented public works projects.
- Create a Minority Business Accelerator program pairing local MWBEs with locally headquartered corporations to diversity private sector supply chains.
We are reaching out to Mr. Stringer for his position on Business and Professional Women, and will post the response(s) we receive.
Replies
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?
The next mayor of this city has to do more than say the right thing — they have to back up their progressive words with progressive deeds because these next four years will set the future for our next generation.
As Mayor, I would be an enthusiastic champion of gender justice and ensure truly representative diversity at the highest levels and throughout City government — it’s what I’ve done my entire career, and you can look at the leadership at the Comptroller’s office as an example. With a truly representative City government, we can mobilize across the five boroughs to ensure equity in our COVID-19 recovery that closes the systemic disparities.
As Comptroller, I created the city’s first-ever Chief Diversity Officer position because systems of accountability matter. I’ll bring that approach to City Hall by expanding CDOs to all of City government, and incorporating gender and racial equity studies into city policymaking.
In the Comptroller’s office, the CDO was primarily charged with evaluating and improving the City’s partnership with certified businesses owned by women and people of color (aka M/WBEs) – and improved our office’s spending with M/WBEs from 13% of all contract spending to 50% over seven years.
As Mayor, I will expand the role of the Chief Diversity Officer in every agency to drive diversity and equity accountability more broadly in M/WBE equity, but also in employment practices and processes throughout City government with an anti-racist and gender-focused lens. In that same spirit, I support the use of racial impact studies and audits to ensure city policymaking — such as the development of affordable housing — does not perpetuate or exacerbate racial disparities, but closes gaps and advances justice. All policy must be crafted and based in community engagement, with all stakeholders at the table.
More info: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/making-the-grade/reports/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?
As a former housing organizer, I understand that the crisis of homelessness in our city is a product of decades of policy failure by all levels of government to build the housing we need. Housing is a right, not a privilege, and I’ve laid out a 27-point mayoral agenda to fight the housing crisis and end homelessness with a new generation of social housing and a Universal Affordable Housing program.
Most immediately, the City must ensure that permanently vacant hotels and office spaces that will not come back online after the pandemic do not get converted into luxury and market rate housing — but safe, truly affordable housing and supportive housing for homeless New Yorkers, and creating permanent homes not temporary shelter. In addition to creating at least 30,000 supportive housing beds in the next 10 years, as Mayor, I would also expand the number of low-barrier Safe Haven beds and drop-in sites. I would also reform the City voucher system so that CityFHEPS vouchers reflect actual market rates and can be easily used, by both New Yorkers in shelter and those who live on the streets, and prioritize reducing the shelter population by setting aside a minimum of 15% of all affordable housing units for those in the shelter system.
One of the leading drivers of homelessness in New York City today is domestic violence, accounting for 41% of the family shelter population. To address this challenge, the City and State must take a comprehensive approach that increases the capacity of the domestic violence emergency shelter system, addresses gaps in our laws so survivors who can remain safely in their homes are able to maintain their housing and provide rapid financial assistance to meet immediate needs through a Survivor Housing Stability Fund and new statewide rent supplement.
More info: https://stringerformayor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/housing_fin...
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?
I have been a fierce advocate for raising wages, pay equity, and expanded paid family and sick leave throughout my time in public office and have prioritized these issues as Comptroller, releasing original analyses on the gender and racial wage gap and benefits of raising the minimum wage, returning millions in prevailing wages stolen from workers, and twice surveying New Yorkers about their experiences navigating unpaid caregiving responsibilities to better understand the gaps in our safety net.
The pandemic has magnified the importance of access to inclusive paid family and medical leave as well as workplace flexibility. And I was proud to partner with A Better Balance to conduct a survey on these challenges in the fall of 2020, which found that low-wage workers and women, especially women of color, disproportionately lack access to these key workplace protections and supports. We recently released a report advancing a set of recommendations to increase economic security, including expanding the City’s existing right-to-request law. As mayor, I will support executive, legislative, and regulatory changes to ensure New Yorkers are able to take the time they need to tend to their health and that of their loved ones while maintaining their livelihoods.
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?
New York City is facing an unprecedented crisis of care. COVID exposed the toll of accumulating caregiving responsibilities as family members battle the virus, child care programs close, and many children transition to remote learning – and the lack of investment in the caregiving workforce nationwide. And it is low-income New Yorkers, New Yorkers of color, and women – overrepresented in frontline jobs, among part-time workers, and caregivers – who have disproportionately borne the brunt of this crisis. We cannot reopen the economy the same way we closed, because we need to prioritize the people who care for our children, our seniors, and everyone in need.
The City should convene a taskforce on work and care, bringing together employees, employers, advocates, and experts to develop further recommendations on how best to support employers and employees as they adapt to the changing nature of work and care during and after the pandemic.
As Mayor, I would pursue legislation to specifically accommodate the needs of caregivers with dependents with disabilities so they can care for their loved ones and maintain their livelihoods. I would seek to expand paid leave benefits and rights for City employees as well. I would also support the passage of the New York Health Act with full inclusion of long-term care from day one, increasing wages for home care workers, and growing the Department of Aging funding to a full 1% of the City’s budget with expanded supports for both the growing aging population and the caregiving workforce.
My plan, NYC Under 3, would invest hundreds of millions of new dollars in building out our child care system and guaranteeing living-wage jobs for the care workforce — comprised overwhelmingly of low-wage women of color, nearly a quarter of whom are currently living in poverty.
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?
I have an extensive record in taking on gender-based violence and protecting survivors stretching back to my days in the State Assembly. As an Assemblymember, I was the original sponsor on landmark bills requiring police to serve restraining orders on behalf of abuse survivors, prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating against survivors, the Clinic Access and Anti-Stalking Act of 1999, and legislation that enabled incarcerated domestic violence survivors to participate in work release. As Comptroller, I worked with the Manhattan District Attorney and Mayor’s Office to establish the Manhattan Family Justice Center, and as Comptroller, I have shined a light on how gender-based and domestic violence fuels our crisis of homelessness.
As Mayor, I will require employers to provide multiple avenues for reporting harassment, including anonymously, both to encourage reporting and prevent retaliation. I will also expand resources for enforcement because the City’s Human Rights Law is among the strongest in the country, but it must be backed up by strong enforcement to ensure employers are in compliance and more victims of harassment are able to obtain relief. That should include more funding for the Commission’s Law Enforcement Bureau.
To confront the systemic roots of harassment and interpersonal violence, I will also require anti-sexual harassment education and upstander intervention training in our schools, while taking steps to expand sexual health education, including mandating that sexual health and wellness be included in health curriculum beginning in kindergarten following National Sexuality Education Standards — a recommendation I first made in 2017. I am honored to have worker with incredible advocates in Albany for survivors, including in the successful passage of the Child Victims Act and landmark sexual harassment protections. I will partner with them to fight for justice for all survivors and to combat sexual harassment in all its forms.
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?
The presence of law enforcement in schools undermines efforts to make our educational environments inclusive, trauma-informed, and supportive places for all students. Too often, tactics used by police in schools cause harm and trauma, particularly for students of color, children, and youth; and their presence can also be perceived by students as threatening or a signal that school is a dangerous place to be.
The first step towards addressing school climate is the removal of all armed NYPD officers currently assigned to public schools. In their place, as Mayor, I’ll ensure every public school is fully staffed with full-time mental health professionals, including social workers and school psychologists, to achieve the national-standard ratios of 1:250 — shifting the responsibilities school safety agents have too often been given due to a lack of alternative support in the school to professionals who are dedicated and trained to guide behavioral interventions, respond to crisis events in a trauma-informed way, and work one-on-one with students as needed.
Decades of disinvestment from our communities and over-policing have failed young people, disproportionately youth of color, and swept far too many into our criminal legal system. To fundamentally dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, we must provide real services and opportunities to our youth, both inside and outside of the school building. Schools must shift their emphasis to restorative justice and behavioral health — not suspensions, summonses, and arrests.
More broadly, helping our youngest get back on track after one of the toughest years imaginable will be my number one priority. I’ve outlined a 27-point plan that will put $1 billion into our kids’ education, transform early childhood education, put two teachers in every K-5 classroom, confront inequities across the system and expand college and career opportunities for all.
More info: https://stringerformayor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/educationFi...
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?
Our country has the highest maternal mortality rate of our peers — and this crisis disproportionately hurts Black women. Black women giving birth in New York City are 8 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. It’s a shameful disparity that is driven by many factors, including anti-Black racism, as well as disparities in access to preventive health care and prenatal care, and an overall lack of investment in maternal health.
As a City, we need to draw on and elevate the expertise of community-based doulas and midwives — many of whom are Black women and have been filling gaps in prenatal care services without any public support. I would work to expand access to these community-based caregivers, making sure we are reaching Black women early, providing individualized support during pregnancy and labor, and providing culturally competent care through the postpartum period. A critical step both in reaching New Yorkers who are among the most vulnerable to pregnancy-related complications, and in addressing economic insecurity among community-based providers, is to ensure doulas are adequately reimbursed by Medicaid.
We should invest in maternal health workforce training and rid our public health system of biases that result in disparate treatment, diagnoses, and outcomes. Moreover, our hospitals need to be better prepared to address life-threatening complications from childbirth, ensuring standardized protocols are applied equally for all patients, regardless of race or background.
And we must reevaluate how our health system intersects with the legal system, which can push New Yorkers away from care they need. A first step is to end the drug testing by H+H that has entangled Black women and their families in the child welfare system, and led some Black women to delay accessing prenatal care.
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?
On the whole, we need to reduce caseloads, and invest in training, supports, and fair wages for caseworkers. The sad reality is that child removals often go up in New York City after high-profile cases of deaths involving children, as The New School has shown. In these heightened environments, frontline staff are more likely to bring their cases to court, and judges are more likely to order removals. There is no easy solution to this problem, but certainly the addition of more case workers and more Family Court judges would be a step in the right direction that as Mayor, I would prioritize. Too often today, case workers are overloaded, which leads to burn-out and a constant churn of new, case workers stepping into the fray. If we are going to properly protect our children, we need to invest in making sure we have enough properly trained and supported adults in place to do the job safely and effectively.
Our approach to child services has too often focused on enforcing a definition of “neglect” without working with families to improve care. To keep families together, ACS and the broader child services system needs to be responsive to parents’ needs, but the City also has to make meaningful investments upstream to increase access to all the resources necessary to provide for a child’s safety and wellbeing — health care, subsidized child care, TANF, SNAP, affordable housing, and more.
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/scott-stringer/
Double City spend with minority- and women-owned businesses
Harness the City’s $20 billion procurement budget to better support minority- and women-owned businesses — doubling current spend within his first term in office.
Appoint Chief Diversity Officers in every City agency and empower them to track and oversee M/WBE programs, as well as ensure the City utilizes diverse suppliers, institutes equitable workplace policies, ensures diverse representation across Mayoral appointments, implements true language access across City agencies, and launches a new generation of the City’s Local Law 1 MWBE program.
Ensure MWBE utilization in all climate-oriented public works projects.
Create a Minority Business Accelerator program pairing local MWBEs with locally headquartered corporations to diversity private sector supply chains.
For working families, Stringer plans to increase childcare assistance for children under 3 for families making less than $100,000 a year. Stringer has already been an advocate for stronger paid sick and family leave policies to help working families. In a 2008 report he noted the disadvantages working women, writing:
“Today, three out of four women with dependent children are in the work force, while only thirty years ago fewer than half of women with minor children (under the age of six) had paid jobs. The largest increase in working mothers with dependents has been among those with children under age three, a trend that may reflect the fact that fewer women can afford to opt out of paid work in order to care for their baby or toddler. Similarly, a large number of working Americans - 21 million full-time and 5 million part-time workers - are providing care to an elderly disabled or chronically ill family member or friend, and their numbers are expected to rise by 85 percent between 2000 and 2050.”