Nothing about New York City’s inaugural racial equity plan has gone to plan, but the long-awaited report finally came out early last month, and with the November budget update talks coming up, the city might put its money where its mouth is to fight systemic racism. In short, the plan should shape city spending toward bettering the lives of Black and Brown New Yorkers, who face the starkest disparities, for years to come.
Afua Atta-Mensah, the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice (MOERJ) commissioner and NYC chief equity officer, who leads the racial equity plan, echoed Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s belief in “hugging the cactus,” or confronting the hardest issues first. She did not shy away from “rightful critiques” over the city’s perpetual delays, but believes the cycle is getting corrected “in an iteration of action.” The plan looks ahead as far as 2034, when Mamdani terms out if he is re-elected.
“There are things all across the different agency plans that we absolutely are starting now,” said Atta-Mensah. “Even for the ones that have longer term deliverable dates, if we look at the citywide goals, we’re asking to be judged by 2034. A lot of these issues [took] a long time to accrue. There [aren’t] problems that started in a day and will not end there, but that doesn’t mean we wait to start on our action steps and strategies for how to mitigate those issues.
“We’re going to be measuring the disparity, moving from measurement to action of removing those hurdles that have been keeping those systems of disparate treatment and impact happening, and then assess how we’ve done in that and continue to improve and shift as needed.”
Mamdani himself pointed to addressing disparities in maternal health mortality, unemployment, and housing when the Amsterdam News asked him about the racial equity plan last month. “This is an all-of-city-government approach that has to include every single agency, and so that will be something that informs our budget as we get into it,” he said.
The NYC Commission on Racial Equity (CORE) needs more convincing, however. The independent commission, which exists as a counterweight to MOERJ, reviewed the plan and found that it does not “meet the basic legal requirements.” The response called for a clearer outline about how policymakers could improve, invest in, and measure “racially equitable outcomes in the lives of Black and Brown New Yorkers.” By almost every measure, class-related disparities in city resources and services negatively affect them the most — and historically, by design.
“Enslaved Africans literally built every part of the city. This is a moment where … we are legally required to focus on race,” said CORE Executive Director Linda Tigani. “We have an administration that is focusing on class and is using a universal approach to policies. That is essentially allowing us to escape our responsibility by law to invest in Black and Brown neighborhoods.”
CORE’s response also suggested that the MOERJ should develop a broader citywide plan and present uniform guidance about data disaggregation, which would specifically indicate the disparities that Black and Brown New Yorkers face at a more granular level. To be clear, the criticisms largely stem from the city’s legal requirements for the plan.
Atta-Mensah said MOERJ and the broader Mamdani administration are “aligned on the importance of disaggregated data” but that different agencies may need uniquely tailored guidance about collecting numbers. “The city of New York is a big bureaucracy,” she said. “That’s not an excuse. That’s just a reality. We know that there’s not a right size fits all.”
Tigani long maintained that “racial equity was law” here in New York City. The Racial Equity Plan stems from democratic practice: a successful ballot measure in 2022. Now, the city charter, New York City’s municipal equivalent of the Constitution, enshrines both a biennial plan structured around the city budget timeline and the existence of CORE as an independent city commission tasked with reviewing the plan.
Problems date back to former Mayor Eric Adams, who defied the mandates. The city’s second-ever Black mayor never released a plan and slow-walked his appointments to the commission. CORE sued him last year over the delays. The lawsuit carried over this year when Mamdani took office and a recent ruling in favor of the independent commission pressured the plan’s release and ordered the city to cover CORE’s legal expenses. It also found that both administrations allegedly violated the law.
Fair or not, Mamdani was legally mandated to release the preliminary racial equity plan by roughly his second week in office this past January. He instead promised, and delivered on, publishing the preliminary plan within his first 100 days after appointing Atta-Mensah in his first month. Tigani criticized the timeline, which she says still violates the charter and prevented the plan from its intended purpose of dictating spring budget talks. The NY Supreme Court judge’s ruling affirmed her stance.
The city law department filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 25. Despite the name, the NY State Supreme Court is not actually “supreme” — two higher appellate courts exist in New York, with the NY Court of Appeals receiving final say. Tigani questioned why the Mamdani administration planned to appeal and called the move “deeply upsetting.” The city law department did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
“I have constantly been told, particularly under the Trump administration, [that we] have to be careful because we as a city may get sued for our racial equity work,” said Tigani. “Instead of being scared of being sued, we sued. In this moment, we are not going to fall back [or] be quiet. We are not going to fly under the radar. We’re going to step up and make sure that Black and Brown New Yorkers know that we’re here [and] have their back.
“The ability to take the city to court on racial equity law is critical because it also sets a model for the nation, and Mamdani will set a model with his response. As an independent commission, it is our job to do everything humanly possible to hold the city accountable.”
Like Mamdani, Tigani also faced right-wing media attacks for her pro-Palestinian beliefs and progressive advocacy, but she believes no mayor is above criticism or accountability, even one she reveals she had initially high hopes for.
As an independent commission, CORE is not beholden to the mayor or City Council like other municipal entities. However, appointments come from such offices and the lawsuit will dictate how these independent bodies can take on the city. “Independent commissions and accountability to the public [are] essential for a multiracial society,” said Tigani. “If you’re going to tell us that you believe in co-governance, community voices, and the people, you actually have to honor your word by stopping the appeal.”
Tigani herself faces uncertainty about Mamdani keeping her in the role. CORE executive directors can serve up to three terms totaling nine years, but Mamdani and Council Speaker Julie Menin can remove her and handpick someone else as executive director in the upcoming days. If they do not make an official appointment soon, Tigani will be automatically retained for a year.
CORE will protest outside City Hall this Thursday, Oct. 8, about the notice to appeal, but the rally also intends to tackle police reform, which Tigani believes the racial equity plan does not address enough. In particular, she pointed to recent Legal Aid Society findings that the NYPD is again on pace for nine figures in police misconduct lawsuit payouts this year. The rally will also call on Mamdani to deliver on his police reform-related campaign promises, such as disbanding the controversial Strategic Response Group (SRG) and the criminal group database.
The SRG, a militarized police unit often seen at protests, faces legislative scrutiny for use-of-force tactics allegedly deployed against Black Lives Matter and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. It was also involved in the 2018 killing of Black Brooklynite Saheed Vassell. The NYPD’s criminal group database, better known as the gang database, surveils almost exclusively Black and Brown men living in low-income communities without needing criminal charges or a warrant. Mamdani promised to abolish both while campaigning for mayor last year.
“The [plan] is the floor, not the ceiling, for racial justice in this administration,” said Atta-Mensah in response. “There’s been a long history of … communities of color voicing our concerns about treatment from the NYPD and I think CORE is moving as an accountability entity to ask those hard questions. Our role internally in the administration is to both work across government and alongside community to try and shift things.”
