Committee on Civil and Human Rights meeting
February 26, 2026, 10:00 AM
The committee held an oversight hearing on budgeting for equity in New York City.
What was discussed
- Chair Nurse opens the oversight hearing on budgeting for equity In her first hearing as Chair of the Committee on Civil and Human Rights, Council Member Sandy Nurse explained that the 2022 Carter Charter reforms require a biennial cycle of racial equity plans and an annual 'true cost of living' measure, but that no racial equity plans or progress reports have
- The Mayor's equity office outlines its racial-equity planning work Afua Atta-Mensah, the city's newly appointed Chief Equity Officer and Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Equity and Racial Justice (MOERJ), and Deputy Commissioner Dabash Negash testified on the office's efforts to bring the city into compliance with the racial-equity Charter mandates it
- Why have no racial equity plans been produced, and when will the city comply? Pressed by Chair Sandy Nurse, Deputy Commissioner Dabash Negash and Commissioner Afua Atta-Mensah said the 40-plus agencies are preparing and finalizing their racial equity plans, that a community-engagement cycle and a true-cost-of-living measure are in development, and that MOERJ has fewer than a
- How is the equity office's work actually reaching NYCHA residents and neighborhoods? Council Member Althea V. Stevens pressed Deputy Commissioner Dabash Negash on whether MOERJ works directly with residents, and Negash said the office collaborates with central NYCHA staff on a family self-sufficiency task force launched in spring 2020, with annual reporting from partners. Stevens
- Are city agencies actually being evaluated, or just writing plans? Council Member Shahana K. Hanif sought to clarify the process, and Deputy Commissioner Dabash Negash and Commissioner Afua Atta-Mensah confirmed that the current stage is agencies preparing and finalizing their own racial equity plans rather than an outside evaluation of agencies, with a preliminary
- Can the Commission on Racial Equity do its job without the city's equity plans? Linda Tigani, Executive Director of the Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), told Chair Nurse and Council Members Hanif and Stevens that CORE still has no racial equity plan to evaluate and never received any written explanation for the prior administration's non-compliance. She said CORE has
- What data and standards does the Independent Budget Office need to track equity in the budget? Logan Clark of the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) told Chair Nurse and Council Member Lynn C. Schulman that IBO has a Charter mandate to receive agency data — though quality and timeliness vary by agency — and that a great deal of budget data could be published to improve
- Advocates call for equity plans and fuller funding for the human rights commission Public witnesses urged the city to produce the overdue equity plans and to invest in equity infrastructure: Madeline Neighly of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) cited its cost-of-living research; Rebekah Cook-Mack of the Legal Aid Society, on behalf of a human rights law working
Agenda
1 item
- T2026-1249 Oversight - Budgeting for Equity. Hearing Held by Committee