Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams joined Mayor Bill de Blasio today to announce a pilot program to prevent gun violence in New York City under the Advance Peace model. In this model, the City will conduct outreach in areas with elevated levels of gun violence to identify youth and pair them with mentors who provide them with tangible goals for the next 18 months, such as a drivers' license or a GED. Participants who achieve their goals receive a monetary stipend. The Public Advocate first proposed introducing this strategy in the summer of 2020.

Public Advocate Williams released the following statement on the announcement of the pilot program, which will launch in July of 2021 in five precincts citywide: the 46th Precinct in the Bronx, the 114th Precinct in Queens, the 26th Precinct in Manhattan, the 73rd Precinct in Brooklyn, and the 120th Precinct in Staten Island.

"We all have a part to play in co-producing public safety, and healing old wounds and building new partnerships will require bold actions. It is not enough to react to violence, we need to advance peace, and this pilot program is an opportunity to demonstrate the power of not only this program, but these principles of public safety. I thank the Mayor for agreeing to fund this initiative, and recognizing the need to implement strategies that will support community safety, treat community trauma, and build community strength. The Advance Peace Model is an important next step in our efforts to reduce violence in our city by creating a deeper level of mentorship between our violence interrupters and young New Yorkers and providing tangible opportunities and incentives. It has seen great success in other cities, and I believe that by building on New York's existing crisis management infrastructure we can see even greater benefit."

"The last year has demonstrated in stark and tragic terms the intersection of public health and public safety. As COVID-19 has exposed and exploited ingrained failures of our healthcare systems, in the streets and on our screens we have seen the demand to completely reimagine public safety. After witnessing the incredible results achieved through the Crisis Management System, we must continue to innovate in our work toward this goal, and I'm eager to put this model into action and save lives. Investing in this program right now isn't only a moral obligation, it's a governing imperative."

The Advance Peace model has seen great success in other cities around the country including Stockton and Sacramento, California.  A peer-reviewed study of the implementation of Advance Peace in Sacramento demonstrates a 27% reduction in gun violence in the program's catchment area over 2 years. Statistical analysis shows that this reduction was a direct causation, rather than a correlation.

Further, the study demonstrates that the program created significant budget savings for Sacramento. When evaluating the number of gun violence incidents the program prevented, the study found that the program's $1.4 million expenditure over 2 years created a minimum of $25 million in City savings. Early results in Stockton and Richmond show similarly encouraging results.  Since the Richmond program's inception, the City has seen a 60-82% reduction in gun related deaths and injuries.

"It is with great optimism and enthusiasm that we embrace this most recent addition to our arsenal of community focused public safety tools. We look forward to the inclusion of the Advance Peace, evidence-based model into our human justice and cure violence work. We, the leadership of the anti-gun violence movement across the City of New York would like to thank both our Mayor and our Public Advocate for being both innovative and forward thinking and making this important investment into keeping New York the safest big city in the nation," said K. Bain, Co-Founder of the NYC Crisis Management System and Executive Director of  Community Capacity Development.

"The Advance Peace Model is much of what we hold dear in the work we do: relationship building, changing norms, redirecting resources, and creating support systems for people from all walks of life. Integrating this program would reinforce and enhance the principles we've been loyal to for years. I am looking forward to welcoming it into NYC," said Iesha Sekou, CEO and Founder at Street Corner Resources.

"Advance Peace seeks to bridge the gap between anti-violence programs and reaching highest risk youth; I believe exploring this opportunity in the New York City for the Crisis Management System to operationalize could potentially be a turning point in the right direction," said David Caba, Director of Programs at B.R.A.G.

"In a country where the number one cause of  death for young black males is homicide, we need to continue to  implement new strategies from across the country like Advance Peace. This model incentivizes personal development and career driven goals, so gun violence is not only unnecessary but is out of question," said AT Mitchell, Co-Founder of the NYC Crisis Management System Founder/ Executive Director at Man Up! Inc.

"The key point of Advance Peace is understanding that creating transformational opportunities for young people can break the cycle of resorting to violence. We need more anti-gun violence initiatives, I'm in full support," said 'Iron Mike' Perry, Program Manager of True 2 Life Staten Island.

"Confronted with the prospect of having to face true accountability, Governor Cuomo has continued to reveal who he has always been behind the made-for-TV image he hopes people will believe. He has adopted a strategy of deflecting questions, denying responsibility, and dodging accountability - and today, seemingly daring to impugn the motives of the courageous survivors who have come forward. It was grotesquely Trumpian, inexcusable, and entirely expected.

"Every day, the Governor shows more clearly why he cannot lead our state - a rapid acceleration of a revelation that has been ongoing for weeks, months, and years. In creating and then covering up the nursing home crisis as part of a failed pandemic response that made New York the epicenter of the epicenter and disproportionately impacted Black and brown New Yorkers, in setting up the Buffalo Billion and shutting down the Moreland Commission, in expediting the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge at the expense of safety, and in moving to undermine any checks on his own authority, he has long demonstrated that he prioritizes acquiring and abusing power, no matter who is hurt or how. As we face this critical moment for New York, with crises compounding and a budget looming, he must relinquish that power or have it taken from him."

"I applaud the legislators who voted to pass the American Rescue Plan today, and look forward to President Biden quickly signing this bill that will provide urgent relief to a nation grieving and grievously wounded by the pandemic. While it is disappointing that some key provisions were removed, this remains one of the most consequential progressive pieces of legislation in recent history, and the fight for other progressive goals remains ahead of us.

"In addition to allocating critical funding for testing and vaccinations, expanding unemployment benefits and issuing direct payments to Americans, funding schools and small businesses, giving tenants support, drastically reducing poverty, and many more progressive federal initiatives, this legislation will allocate about $100 billion in state and local aid to New York at a time when it is desperately needed. I want to thank our Congressional representatives who helped secure this funding. Disturbingly and unsurprisingly, every Republican voted against this bill, but it is especially frustrating that even some intraparty negotiations weakened the benefits that some New Yorkers could have received.

"I want to be clear that the passage of the American Rescue Plan represents the beginning of New York's recovery efforts, not the end. To facilitate and sustain growth rooted in equity, state and local governments need to enact revenue raising measures on the wealthiest New Yorkers and drive a just economy. For a just recovery, we need our city and state budgets to reflect the scope of the crisis faced by New Yorkers and the scale of the solutions needed in a Renewed Deal. The federal investments in the bill passed today recall Roosevelt's New Deal, and it is those principles of investment, not austerity, that we must model in New York."

"We all want to be able to reopen schools safely. What we do not want, and cannot have, is the existence of a vaccine creating a false sense of safety. I am apprehensive, but if re-opening schools is to move forward, it must be paired with increased vaccination for educators and strict adherence to safety standards, with a commitment to following science to protect students and parents, teachers and school staff.

It is also critical that the move to reopen schools to some students does not detract from the effort or resources needed to support and improve remote learning for the vast majority of students learning from home - throughout this past year, a focus on in-person learning for a third of students has impeded work to enhance remote education for all students. Reopening buildings will require intentional, collaborative community engagement by the city in order to renovate old systems, innovate new strategies, and rebuild confidence in our ability to enact them.

"Positivity rates are still high, new variants are emerging and vaccination rates remain relatively low, especially in communities of more color - while many high schools are currently serving as vaccination sites. We need adequate assurances from the de Blasio administration that the city will be able to reopen in a way that preserves safety and advances equity- which they have been so far unable to achieve in minimizing infection or maximizing injection. The learning loss from closing schools is real, but so too would be the loss of life if their reopening is similarly mismanaged or mistimed."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today released A Renewed Deal for New York City, an extensive plan for New York's revitalization and recovery in the immediate and long-term aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, which draws inspiration from the principles of President Roosevelt's New Deal, comes a day before the Public Advocate is set to deliver his annual State of the People address at a Thursday virtual conference, and one year after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in New York City.

A Renewed Deal for New York City is based on the principle that investment and progressivism, rather than austerity and conservatism, are the path forward to recover from the devastation of the coronavirus, the resulting economic disaster, and the systemic inequities exposed and exacerbated by these compounding crises.

"In a moment of national crisis, the New Deal was an acknowledgement that investment, that bold leadership and bold policies, would lift us from the depths of the Depression- but in the decades since, we have too often retreated from that principle." said Public Advocate Williams about the report. "As we face compounding crises today, we need a Renewed Deal to not only recover from the pandemic, but address many of the underlying failures and inequities that existed long before it. The Renewed Deal is ambitious, but not hypothetical- stewardship of the city, the state, and its people in this moment demands action, and action now."

Over 120 pages, the report outlines recommended policy and budget priorities on both a city and state level, spanning a wide range of topics. Many of the proposals included are aligned with legislative initiatives or platforms advanced by dedicated grassroots advocacy organizations, leaders in their respective areas.

While the Renewed Deal comes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the report notes, many of the issues it addresses are systemic, and predate the current crisis. The Renewed Deal is not an effort to get "back to normal," but to advance, with a more just, equitable, and thriving New York than existed one year and one week ago.

Specifically, the Renewed Deal centers immediate and long term recovery efforts in the areas of:

Housing Equity The Renewed Deal calls for deep investment in NYCHA and the development and maintenance of income-targeted deeply affordable housing in collaboration with the communities being impacted, as well as targeted action to provide pandemic relief, combat discrimination, inequity, and the longstanding impact of redlining.

Education and Opportunity The Renewed Deal centers equity in education and opportunity in employment- it proposes increased public school funding and expansion of youth employment programs,  while further recognizing that justice for working people means restructuring the economy to raise revenue from and limit influence of giant corporations and billionaires.

Infrastructure and the Environment The Renewed Deal proposes the vast revitalization of the city's transportation infrastructure and a reduction in cost to those using it, paired with prioritization of street safety measures - it further declares that infrastructural growth and economic growth must be economically just to be sustainable.

Civic and Community Empowerment The Renewed Deal is set in the principle that government must represent and respond to the people, and proposes government accountability and transparency reforms together with voting rights expansions - it also centers opportunity and protections for all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status.

Justice, Health Equity, and Safety The Renewed Deal recognizes the intersection of public health and public safety, the need to confront the health disparities that have been so prevalent amid the pandemic, and to re-define public safety beyond simply law enforcement while driving transformational change in existing systems of injustice. 

In the coming months, Public Advocate Williams and his office will work through legislative and community engagement strategies to advance the principles and policies detailed in the Renewed Deal, combatting the notion that cuts or conservative approaches will suffice.

On Thursday, the Public Advocate will host the 2021 State of the People Conference, virtually, to explore and discuss the report in a series of public workshops and events. Thursday evening, it will be the focus of his State of the People Address.

A Renewed Deal for New York City can be downloaded here.

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released a report today detailing his proposals for reforming school safety and protecting students and school staff with a model centered on restorative justice, rather than over-policing and over-penalization. The plan comes just days after NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced his imminent resignation and replacement by Meisha Porter, currently the executive superintendent of the Bronx.

In the report, On Reimagining School Safety, the Public Advocate's office argues that New York City must work towards the goal of removing police infrastructure from its schools, including metal detectors and other invasive surveillance technology and the presence of law enforcement, except in the most extreme circumstances. This model would include the hiring of up to 3,500 social workers and guidance counselors over the next three years. Additionally, students must have access to a cost-free process to request that their schools expunge their disciplinary records once they have graduated from or left a school, as well as to petition the courts to expunge their juvenile criminal records. Discipline in school should be restorative, with a suspension moratorium in place, and education must be trauma-informed.

"The work to reimagine public safety in New York City extends from our streets to our schools. As we move forward with a new Chancellor, we need a new approach to reject overpolicing and the overly punitive, and centers restorative justice," said Public Advocate Williams. "Right now, school safety is largely centered on PPE, ventilation, and remote learning. As we recover from the pandemic, this report provides a roadmap for justice, equity, and safety in our schools."

While the implementation of this strategy will take time, the report argues, Mayor de Blasio and the Department of Education should identify schools that are ready to replace their policing infrastructure and police presence with restorative justice and healing-centered frameworks to serve as pilot programs.

The report comes amid a contentious debate on the use of School Safety Agents in schools. Last year, the de Blasio administration committed to shifting school safety agents away from the NYPD over a period of years, but despite that promise, the administration is now reportedly considering hiring 475 new agents while continuing a hiring freeze on social workers.

Any plan to remove police infrastructure from schools must codify community involvement, including students, teachers, principals, other district staff, and community members. The recommendations highlight a number of community driven education initiatives which the city should invest in, including student success centers, community schools, culturally responsive education, arts programming, and college readiness. It also highlights the need for universal youth jobs. The full report is available here.

Of course, the current top threat to school safety is the COVID-19 pandemic. The reopening of New York City schools must be safe, equitable, and just for all students, families, and school staff. The Office of the Public Advocate has previously published a report outlining recommendations for reopening schools, and believes that stringent health standards must be met in order to more fully reopen school buildings.