State Senator Zellnor Myrie, a mayoral candidate in this year’s election, released a Black Agenda for NYC this week.
“I am a proud Afro Costa Rican, son of two Black immigrants that came to New York City close to 50 years ago,” said Myrie at a press conference in City Hall Park on Monday, March 13.
“I grew up around Black New Yorkers, who understood that if you work hard you had opportunity in this city to be successful. To be on the path to success. But for too many Black New Yorkers, that is no longer a reality. The city is different, and the next mayor of this city has to have an agenda that will help Black New Yorkers.”
Most of his Black Agenda draws on his personal experiences as a native Brooklynite or from years of legislation and advocacy as a state senator, centering around closing the racial wealth gap, public health and safety, economic development; universal 3-K/pre-K education and afterschool for all programs; and climate resiliency, flood protection, and disaster response in neglected communities like Southeast Queens, the Northeast Bronx, and east Brooklyn.
Myrie said that it’s especially important to protect civil rights pioneered by Black leadership during the current federal administration. “We have a president who is explicitly targeting Black people throughout this entire country,” said Myrie. “A president that is eliminating Civil Rights litigation, that is charging employees charged with enforcing civil rights. Victories we fought for for decades to achieve are now being erased under this president.”
He is hardly the only mayoral candidate hoping to sway Black and Brown voters by speaking directly to the community with policy directives and campaign promises. In a crowded race, he’s one of four prominent Black candidates: incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and former Assemblymember Michael Blake. Myrie has raised $3.8 million in donations so far, said his campaign.
However, according to recent polls, former Governor Andrew Cuomo is not only leading the race but has huge support from Black and Hispanic voters.
“As a state Senator representing a predominantly Black district, Andrew Cuomo has not been a friend to the Black community. Andrew Cuomo has come to our community to rehabilitate his image. He’s come and sit in our pews on Sundays and then on Monday he cuts our schools,” said Myrie. “He has stood in the way of tenant protections, he’s cut rental assistance, he’s cut our hospitals. He proposed to close SUNY Downstate, starving of money in the middle of a pandemic. I look forward to making that record very clear to my community.”
A large part of Myrie’s push to close the wealth gap is to promote more homeownership among Black New Yorkers. This includes establishing a first-generation homebuyers fund, increasing enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in mortgage lending, partnering with Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) developers to build affordable homes in historically Black neighborhoods, combatting deed theft, and advocating for tax lien reform.
Black maternal health and men’s mental health are key parts of how Myrie plans to address public health. The agenda plans to fund dedicated birthing centers in Black-majority neighborhoods, expand Medicaid coverage for doulas and midwives to reduce high maternal mortality rates among Black women, as well as expand free mental health services and career pathways for young Black men, and create a trauma center in the Rockaways in Queens.
In terms of public safety and preventing gun violence, Myrie plans to expand the Every Block Counts program — a pilot program launched in October 2024 in the Bronx and Brooklyn. He wants to implement the program in the 40th, 42nd, 44th, 46th, and 47th Precincts in the Bronx and the 73rd and 75th Precincts in Brooklyn. These seven precincts are considered the city’s highest-risk areas. He also plans to restore funding to the Department of Probation (DOP) Next STEPS Program.
Myrie continues to poll behind Cuomo, Adams, A. Adams, and other candidates like Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander.
The Democratic primary will be on June 24 this year.