Press Room

Today, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams sent a letter to Mayor Adams demanding swift action to uphold the city’s legal and moral commitments to racial equity and economic justice. The letter underscores the administration’s failure to release the legally mandated 2024 Racial Equity Plans and to implement the True Cost of Living standard, both of which are critical to addressing systemic disparities and ensuring a fair distribution of city resources.

The letter follows prior notifications from the New York City Commission on Racial Equity (CORE) and the New York City Progressive Caucus highlighting the administration’s noncompliance with its obligation to publish the 2024 Racial Equity Plans, warning that further delays are not just bureaucratic failures but active barriers to transparency, accountability, and equity in governance. 

“The administration’s continued failure to release these plans obstructs the Council’s ability to conduct a truly equitable and informed budget review,” said the Public Advocate. “New Yorkers—especially working-class and low-income communities of color—deserve leadership that takes their struggles seriously and prioritizes justice over neglect.”

Read the Public Advocate’s full letter below:  March 20, 2025     

Mayor Adams,

I write today to express my deep concern and frustration regarding the administration’s failure to uphold New York City’s legal and moral commitments to racial equity and economic justice. 

As outlined in a previous letter from the New York City Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), the administration has failed to release the 2024 Racial Equity Plans, a legally mandated step to ensure city agencies address systemic disparities. This failure is unacceptable, and undermines the very principles of justice and opportunity that New York City must uphold. 

Additionally, the administration has yet to implement the True Cost of Living standard, a critical measure designed to ensure our policies reflect the real economic burdens faced by New Yorkers. The lack of action on this front further exacerbates inequities, leaving working-class and low-income communities—particularly communities of more color—without the transparency and resources they deserve. This inaction is particularly urgent given that the New York City Council has demanded the preliminary 2024 Racial Equity Plans this week. Without these plans, the Council cannot conduct a truly equitable and informed budget review. 

The failure to provide necessary racial equity data and assessments obstructs the Council’s ability to evaluate whether city resources are being allocated fairly, further entrenching disparities in housing, education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. These delays are not just bureaucratic oversights—they actively prevent elected officials from ensuring that the budget serves all New Yorkers equitably.

New Yorkers deserve leadership that prioritizes transparency, accountability, and justice. I implore you to immediately release the required Racial Equity Plans and implement the True Cost of Living standard. The communities most affected by inequality cannot wait any longer for leadership that takes their struggles seriously. New York City’s future depends on real action—not just rhetoric—when it comes to building a more just and equitable city.

Sincerely,

Jumaane D. Williams

After the White House announced it would be firing 1,300 Department of Education employees, cutting the unit in half, the Public Advocate defended the need for education investment within the city school systems.  At a budget hearing of the Committee on Education, he stressed the importance of funding programs and initiatives aimed at equitable education services, including for students with disabilities.

“New York City is currently failing many of its students with disabilities—in particular, preschoolers with disabilities. Though the mayor promised a special education preschool seat for every child who needs one—and is legally entitled to one—it has yet to materialize for many children with disabilities,” stated Public Advocate Williams to open the hearing. “There are about 450 children who are sitting at home instead of in a classroom where they will receive the support and services they need.” Without the renewed funding, many of these students could possibly fall behind. 

The Public Advocate also emphasized the importance for undocumented students  having access to the services and support they need within the school system. One program, Promise NYC, was budgeted $25 million to help undocumented families in the city with education, but is set to expire in June of this year if it is not renewed. These services allow the youngest, newest New Yorkers to have access to early childhood education, since many are English language learners, already experiencing trauma on their way into the city. 

Trauma and mental health issues resound throughout the school system, and addressing these challenges must be central to the budget. The Public Advocate argued that “Public schools are the main youth mental health system in our city, and an audit published last year by the State Comptroller found that too many public schools are understaffed with mental health professionals, are not adequately training staff, and only a few have services readily available.”

Cuts to education programs have a deep, lasting negative impact on the future of New York and its youngest residents – noting the impact of previous reductions, he said that “Education, our young people's services were defunded. We’ve never had a conversation about the impact of that but we have an opportunity here to really make some folks whole.”

Read the Public Advocate’s full comments below. STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION MARCH 13, 2025

Good morning,

My name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. I would like to thank Chairs Joseph and Brannan and the members of the Committees on Education and Finance for holding this hearing.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge that the federal relief funding given to schools during the pandemic—Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief—expired last year. This funding was crucial for a number of school programs, and the city stepped up to provide continued funding that otherwise would have been scaled down or ended. While some programs were baselined, others were only extended for a year. The mayor’s preliminary FY26 budget extended funding for Learning to Work and summer programming for another year, but does not include long-term funding. 

New York City is currently failing many of its students with disabilities—in particular, preschoolers with disabilities. Though the mayor promised a special education preschool seat for every child who needs one—and is legally entitled to one—it has yet to materialize for many children with disabilities. There are about 450 children who are sitting at home instead of in a classroom where they will receive the support and services they need—though NYC public schools confirmed this number, the preliminary budget does not renew $55 million in funding for new classrooms. It is important to reiterate that these seats are legally required, and students’ rights are being violated every day that they are not receiving special education services. Last year, more than 14,400 preschoolers with disabilities ended the school year without ever receiving at least one of the types of services the city was legally required to provide, and that is unacceptable.

It is now more urgent than ever to ensure that our undocumented students and newest New Yorkers have access to the services and support they need. In January 2023, the city launched Promise NYC, which helps families who previously didn’t qualify for other state or federal programs due to their immigration status, including undocumented parents and asylum-seekers. It is especially important for recently arrived children to have access to early childhood services, as many are English language learners, and many have experienced significant stress and trauma on their way to New York. The city increased funding in FY25 for Promise NYC, extending access to 1,000 children, but the full $25 million funding will expire at the end of June if not renewed in the budget.

In August of 2023, Advocates for Children found that only 31.1 percent of NYC schools are fully accessible for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that governments ensure people with disabilities have equal access to public programs and services, including public education. However, many students with disabilities are barred from attending their neighborhood schools because of inaccessible infrastructure. The city must allocate $450 million in addition to the $750 million investment in the 2020–2024 Capital Plan, totaling $1.25 billion to make at least 45 percent of buildings that serve as the primary location for a school fully accessible by 2030.

Public schools are the main youth mental health system in our city, and an audit published last year by the State Comptroller found that too many public schools are understaffed with mental health professionals, are not adequately training staff, and only a few have services readily available. School-based mental health clinics provide a range of on-site mental health services to students during the school day, and most of their current funding comes from Medicaid, which is insufficient to cover the range of supports and services that students and schools need. To cover this gap, the city should invest and baseline at least $3.75 million. Additionally, the Mental Health Continuum, a cross-agency partnership to serve students with the greatest mental health needs, requires a renewal of $5 million in the FY26 budget.

I look forward to working with the Department of Education, the Mayor’s Office, and the City Council to ensure our city’s students have the supports and services they need to learn and be successful.

I also hope this is an opportunity for the mayor to step up against what’s happening in Washington as the Chair alluded to. He hasn’t said much. But I do know that money speaks even louder. And so if he is opposed to some of these things this is an opportunity for us to step up and protect our young people. 

I also just want to mention that the NYPD was never defunded, but most other services were. Education, our young people's services were defunded. We’ve never had a conversation about the impact of that but we have an opportunity here to really make some folks whole. And as I said the NYPD is speaking about their plans to deal with quality of life issues. I know with services like this that we’re talking about here today, we can do some stuff on the front end and not have to ask NYPD to do stuff on the back end. Those need to be fully funded and structured even though we have a difficult time and I just want to make sure I mention, I understand how difficult it is but we have to make the best decisions for our young people so they can be safe and grow to be good adults.

      Thank you so much. Peace and blessings. Thank you Commissioner for being here. 

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today called for smarter, more targeted investment in public health and safety in the city budget. At a hearing of the City Council Committees on Public Safety and Finance, he pushed for strategies and spending that do not rely entirely on law enforcement.

“...This is a cycle that happens, and I’m hoping at some point, we can stop the cycle by agreeing where we agree, but backing that up with funding to other agencies and other organizations that can do the jobs that we’re asking our NYPD to do,” argued the Public Advocate. “It causes unnecessary tension, unnecessary conversations, unnecessary pressures that the public sees. So I’m pleading with the Commissioner to rethink some of the strategies they’re trying to do, and make the law, the NYPD the last resort, not the first resort.” On police overtime, which increased to over $1.1 billion during the last fiscal year, he said that “Excessive overtime does not only drain resources that could be used to invest in what we know makes us safer: housing support, mental health services, employment opportunities, crisis intervention, credible messengers, and education – It also harms officer retention…For an agency that struggles with recruitment and retention, it is in the NYPD’s best interest to ensure that officers are not putting in excessive overtime.” He also addressed the expenses associated with police misconduct settlements, saying that “In 2024, the city paid over $205 million in police misconduct lawsuit settlements, the most since 2018… In September of last year, the NYPD shot a person accused of holding a knife pursued for fare evasion, as well as bystanders and one of their own officers—leaving one bystander in critical condition with a gunshot to the head. Two of the victims announced their intentions to sue the city for $80 million and $70 million, respectively. It bears repeating that the fare for the subway is $2.90.”  The Public Advocate pushed for sufficient funding for public defender services as essential to the city’s safety as well.  Read the Public Advocate’s full comments as delivered below.

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS

TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND FINANCE

MARCH 11, 2025  

Thank you Mr. Chair, Commissioner, First Deputy and Deputy Commissioners .

As mentioned, my name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. I want to thank Chairs Salaam and the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Finance for holding this important hearing.

I do want to mention that wherever I go, I ask three questions that are answered the same, whether it’s the most Republican district or the most Democratic district. 

1. How many people think that crime is an issue? Raise your hand – they normally do. 

2. How many people think that police are part of trying to address that crime? Most folks usually raise their hand. 

3. How many people think they can do it alone? Most people don’t raise their hand.

Those questions are answered, all over, the same, and I feel like that third question is where we have a lot of difficulty, as no matter where we agree, most of the weight of public safety is always falling on our law enforcement. 

And so I’m hoping to have a public safety discussion that goes outside of law enforcement so we have a better understanding of what public safety is. With that, I do also want to mention, even throughout the defund movement, ‘Defund the Police,’ which I said then and now was not the best phrasing of what I think they were trying to do – the NYPD was never defunded. Many other agencies were, and I don’t know if we’ll be able to discuss the impact of those agencies being defunded. 

I do think the NYPD should not be leading in providing assistance and services to people experiencing homelessness or mental health crises. Having NYPD lead to remove public perceived as being homeless or experiencing symptoms of mental illness into the hospital  is not the best use of city resources. The city instead must invest in non-police responses to help in mental health crisis and affordable community based mental health services, subsidized housing, respite and drop-in centers, things that dramatically decrease the likelihood of need for intervention in the subway in the first place. The PD can be available if necessary. 

The NYPD spent nearly $1.1 billion on overtime during the 2024 fiscal year—$141 million more than the previous year. I was just with the Comptroller who presented a report about the community-based violence interruption programs, and while the Department has $1.1 billion just in overtime, they can’t even get paid on time. And I can’t imagine what kind of services we’d be able to provide from the police department if they had to wait three, four, five, almost a year to get paid. Police overtime has always been the subject of debate, but recent events—including allegations that the former Chief of Department traded overtime pay for sexual acts —have emphasized the need for reform. I want to say I am heartened to see NYPD Commissioner Tisch taking steps to address excessive overtime and overtime abuse.

Excessive overtime does not only drain resources that could be used to invest in what we know makes us safer: housing support, mental health services, employment opportunities, crisis intervention, credible messengers, and education – It also harms officer retention. Officers have cited mandatory long hours as reasons they left their jobs, reporting that it left little time to see their spouses and start families. Making tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime in a year also incentivizes retirement: for officers who have reached their 20th year of service, their pensions will be based on their 2024 salaries, inclusive of overtime. Many officers will, and have, chosen to retire rather than risk retiring with a smaller pension in a few years. For an agency that struggles with recruitment and retention, it is in the NYPD’s best interest to ensure that officers are not putting in excessive overtime.

In 2024, the city paid over $205 million in police misconduct lawsuit settlements, the most since 2018. This number is not inclusive of matters that were settled with the Comptroller’s Office prior to formal litigation. Though more than half of the cases settled were around 20 years old, predating this administration, we continue to see cases seeking millions of dollars in damages as a result of police misconduct. In September of last year, the NYPD shot a person accused of holding a knife pursued for fare evasion, as well as bystanders and one of their own officers—leaving one bystander in critical condition with a gunshot to the head. Two of the victims announced their intentions to sue the city for $80 million and $70 million, respectively. It bears repeating that the fare for the subway is $2.90. The NYPD also injured numerous people last year in crackdowns on protests, including the occupation of a building on Columbia University’s campus.

It is also vital to adequately and robustly fund our public defender services. While free legal defense services for anyone who needs them are mandated by federal law and local law, these organizations are consistently underfunded. It is low-income New Yorkers who ultimately face the consequences of a budget that favors district attorneys’ offices, deprived of the robust legal representation that they need and deserve. A broad range of non-profits that have city contracts to provide services to New Yorkers, including those that provide legal services, have repeatedly reported that the city makes payments far too late, or sometimes not at all. The city budget must ensure a high standard of quality legal representation for low-income New Yorkers.

I just wanted to add, based on some of the things that I’ve heard, that sound a lot like returning to some broken windows-type  policing. I sat and met with George Kelling during the height of the abuses of stop, question, and frisk, to get an understanding of what he was thinking, and he agreed with me that broken windows do not have to be fixed by police, meaning that police do not have to be the ones sent there all the time, and  he was concerned about the reputation it was getting. 

Recidivism has always been an issue. I’d be interested to see where it was before 2018, most interested to see what recidivism is doing across the nation, just like violence and crime across the nation that occurred after the pandemic rise. Our laws had nothing to do with rising crimes or recidivism across the nation, and there are places in the state, like Buffalo, that have seen historic drops in shootings and murders as well. 

We also know that many times, judges who are not setting some of the bail they had available to them, it had nothing to do with the law. We should be pushing to invest in other things, because inevitably, it happens every single time and it will happen now – the more we put this weight on our police, there will be interactions that will be damaging and often feel like we’re setting our officers up for failure by asking them to do things that other people should be doing. That is not good for them and it’s not good for community.

But this is a cycle that happens, and I’m hoping at some point, we can stop the cycle by agreeing where we agree, but backing that up with funding to other agencies and other organizations that can do the jobs that we’re asking our NYPD to do. It causes unnecessary tension, unnecessary conversations, unnecessary pressures that the public sees. So I’m pleading with the Commissioner to rethink some of the strategies they’re trying to do, and make the law, the NYPD the last resort, not the first resort. And let’s figure out some other agencies and other organizations that can be the first resort to try to address a lot of these issues, because I don’t want them ignored. 

But this playbook has been seen over and over, city after city, and I know what the result is going to be and I’m concerned for all of us if that is that path we take. 

Thank you so much, and I appreciate it.

After Mayor Adams failed to defend vulnerable New Yorkers from lies and hate while testifying before Congress on Wednesday, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams spoke out in defense of immigrant communities. At a budget hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Immigration, the Public Advocate called for a rejection of false narratives and support for key services for our city of immigrants, regardless of when one arrived in New York.

“I would like to make one thing very clear,” declared Public Advocate Williams. “The funding of services for our newest New Yorkers has been wielded by our mayor and now the President as a political weapon that seeks to distort a simple reality: even in the face of the billions of dollars the city has spent on asylum seeker services, this number pales in comparison to the cost of Trump’s immigration agenda… The answer is simple. The resources we devote to our most vulnerable New Yorkers is a fraction of the cost of what the Mayor-President, sorry, the mayor AND president, are proposing.”

The Public Advocate emphasized both the moral and legal right to fund housing – and to maintain baseline capacity for this shelter infrastructure even after some emergency shelters have closed as the number of arrivals ebbs. He also emphasized the importance of legal services, saying “During times of heightened exclusion, federally-sponsored racism, and scapegoating, our lawyers are our frontline workers. They deserve to have funding that is adequate and flexible enough to make sure that long term legal care for individuals in need can be funded.”

“To the detriment of our city and its goods and services, the Mayor has continuously overbudgeted for asylum seeker services, and often make cuts to city goods and services based on that…” continued the Public Advocate. “... His tactics to scapegoat our vulnerable communities and manufacture a fraudulent picture of the use of tax payer dollars is both regrettable and misleading. This is the same overbudgeting scheme that blames the closure of libraries, crucial programs, and now childcare facilities on our newest New Yorkers. In fact, we should be blaming the Mayor.”

Read the Public Advocate’s full comments below. Video is available here.

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION MARCH 6, 2025

Thank you very much Madame Chair.

As mentioned, My name is Jumaane D. Williams and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. Thank you very much Chair Aviles for holding today’s hearing and allowing me the opportunity to provide a statement.

First I just want to say the mayor was in D.C. yesterday. I think he’s now a national embarrassment, as he had the opportunity to step up and lead but became the face of capitulation. I’m saying that, not you. But I want to make sure that you know that we understand that we don’t have the mayor that we need at this moment in time. So I just want to thank the Commissioner, Director, and hopefully, you’ll continue to do what you can, under some very difficult circumstances. But also I think there are some things the City Council is asking that can help that go a little easier. I just wanted to acknowledge that you’re working under a mayor that I think has oppositional views to most of us, including yourselves, and I acknowledge that.

In advance of the discussions being held at today’s hearing, I would like to make one thing very clear. The funding of services for our newest New Yorkers has been wielded by our mayor and now the President as a political weapon that seeks to distort a simple reality: even in the face of the billions of dollars the city has spent on asylum seeker services, this number pales in comparison to the cost of Trump’s immigration agenda. For everyone who might object to the expenditure of city and state resources to welcome our newest New Yorkers, please think about the cost of chartered planes, or private detention facilities, and of ever-expanding law enforcement. Thank you for the contributions that our immigrant communities make to our city’s economy and what a loss of labor, goods, and tax dollars will cost our city. Just to be clear, seeking asylum is perfectly legal in this country, at least it is today.

The answer is simple. The resources we devote to our most vulnerable New Yorkers is a fraction of the cost of what the Mayor-President, sorry, the mayor AND president, are proposing. The conservative estimate put forth by pro-Trump think tanks estimates the national cost at $500 billion, more than two-hundred times the cost of our city’s budget this year. In fact, peer-reviewed economists have predicted that the true cost of Trump’s immigration agenda, combined with the loss of labor and tax payer dollars, is over $6 trillion.

To the detriment of our city and its goods and services, the Mayor has continuously overbudgeted for asylum seeker services, and often make cuts to city goods and services based on that. You will hear him boast about saving more than $2 billion dollars in this year’s budget. This is money that was allocated for asylum seekers and never properly spent, yet, the Mayor is still insisting that we require more State funds for these operations. His tactics to scapegoat our vulnerable communities and manufacture a fraudulent picture of the use of tax payer dollars is both regrettable and misleading. This is the same overbudgeting scheme that blames the closure of libraries, crucial programs, and now childcare facilities on our newest New Yorkers. In fact, we should be blaming the Mayor. And I do want to have a message to long-term New Yorkers who have not gotten what they needed and they’ve been here for decades and decades. I just want to be clear that the money that has been spent thus far has always been here. We have always had the money to provide everything that everyone needed. Please do not allow people who chose not to spend that money on people who were in crisis long before the migrants were here to now blame the migrants for decisions that they haven’t made.

As the number of asylum seekers in our shelters continues to decrease, we must now become intentional about retaining our baseline of necessary asylum seeking services while also addressing the increased danger being imposed on our communities. We must ensure that NYC’s Department of Homeless Services can fill the void left by closing emergency facilities for those still in need of shelter.

Besides housing - which I believe is a right and not an optional service - the most critical lifeline for our non-citizen communities are our rapid legal services, something that the city should have paid attention to a long time ago, and we would have had some folks here seeking asylum legally have more ability to work. I am calling on the Mayor and the Council to answer the call of the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative for an additional $33 million, just over $11 million per organization. During times of heightened exclusion, federally-sponsored racism, and scapegoating, our lawyers are our frontline workers. They deserve to have funding that is adequate and flexible enough to make sure that long term legal care for individuals in need can be funded.

New York City is, and always will be, a city of immigrants. I focused my testimony today mostly on asylum seekers and migrants as they are at heightened risk, but we are a city of immigrants, all immigrants, and newest New Yorkers are no different from our city’s many grandparents and great-grandparents who landed on Ellis Island. We have a fiduciary responsibility as public servants, family members, and humans to continue to care for our vulnerable communities and that means putting our money where our heart is – and to be clear this was never about criminals or crimes. Sanctuary cities are safer than other cities, and we already have laws that help deal with people who are convicted of particular crimes.

It was never about being legal or illegal. They are now turning people over who were here legally like Haitian brothers and sisters, our Venezuelan brothers and sisters, who were here legally on TPS taking away that status and sometimes always left out, Black immigrants are the highest percentage to be deported based on their presence here and once again we see anti-Blackness rear its head. Lastly, I just want to remind folks that the mayor himself practically dared people to send the buses here, saying that he’d be able to handle the problem. So I’m just very disappointed with where we are, but I’m thankful to the chair, the Speaker, to this City Council and for so many others trying to stand in the gap where this mayor is not. And I’m thankful to the public servants who are doing the best they can in some very difficult situations. With that, I yield back

Thank you so much.

"Mayor Adams had an opportunity today to push back, to stand up to hateful rhetoric and harmful policies directed at immigrant New Yorkers. Instead, he refused to speak out, or speak much at all. His presence and silence gave credibility to the lies of conservative officials. With a chance to expose the hypocrisy and harm of anti-immigrant sentiment from the president and his allies, the mayor tacitly endorsed it. He did not forcefully defend our city, its values, or its people.  "Mayor Adams spent years urging elected officials to go to DC and stand up for vulnerable New Yorkers. But on his own trip there today, he did little more than stand by. The mayor of New York is now an embarrassment on a national stage – but with or without him, New York itself must be a national beacon of light for sanctuary, safety, and human dignity.”

"It was refreshing to hear from a leader who is focused on service rather than self, and effectiveness rather than ego. I am heartened by the agenda that the Speaker put forward for the Council — strengthening public health and safety, expanding housing access and affordability, and protecting all New Yorkers, regardless of status. 

"Like my office, the Speaker emphasized ways to make our city’s systems work, closing gaps left by the mayor’s administration. This address laid out what good we can do when government is focused on the good of the people, not a person."