Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Mathieu Eugene

Mathieu Eugene

  • Candidates with Varied Resumés Compete for Central Brooklyn City Council Seat

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    Council Member Mathieu Eugene (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    As City Council Member Mathieu Eugene faces term limits and is vacating his seat representing Brooklyn’s 40th District—comprising parts of Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens—some 11 candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination in this month’s primary, with voting culminating on Tuesday, June 22.

    The winner of the primary, which is just a few days away, is all but certain to be the next

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  • Out of School and Out of Work, City's Disconnected Youth Have Steep Hill to Climb, Report Says

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    Mayor de Blasio at an announcement (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    The pandemic's greatest health impact has fallen on older New Yorkers, but its economic effects are being deeply felt by the city's young adults.

    The number of young people who are both out of school and jobless in New York City -- so-called "disconnected youth" -- has likely doubled since the coronavirus roiled the city beginning last spring, according to a new and long-awaited report from

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  • 'Shameful': No Sign of City's Long Overdue Plan for 250,000-Plus Disconnected Youth

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    Organizers and activists (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    While unemployment booms and New York City faces its worst economy in decades, the fate of the city's disconnected youth -- people aged 16 to 24 who are both out of work and out of school -- is getting a shrug from city government.

    The city's Disconnected Youth Task Force, created by the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio to examine the factors that inhibit employment and school enrollment among this group numbering in the hundreds of thousands, is more than two years late to submit its

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  • City Task Force to Help ‘Most Vulnerable Young New Yorkers’ is Well Behind Schedule

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    Council Member Mathieu Eugene (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    A task force created in 2017 by City Council legislation aimed at providing better services and more opportunities for out-of-work, out-of-school youth and young adults has been delayed from the start, having met only a few times since its creation and now more than a year overdue in presenting its first report as mandated by law.

    The City Council, with help from nonprofit advocacy group and service-provider JobsFirstNYC and other outside partners, passed a bill that

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  • Hearing Shows Lack of Communication on Young Men’s Initiative

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    Council Member Eugene (photo: CMMathieuEugene)


    There was confusion and some angst at the City Council on Wednesday. At an oversight hearing held by the Council’s Youth Services Committee, several Council members said they were unaware of the programming of the city’s Young Men’s Initiative, which was the focus of the hearing.

    Council Member Mathieu Eugene chairs the committee and led the hearing. Only one other committee member, Council Member Margaret Chin, was present when Cyrus Garrett, executive director of

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  • Council to Examine Young Men’s Initiative, a Bloomberg Program & National Model

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    YMI's Cyrus Garrett (photo: @NYCyoungmen)


    In August of 2011, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed a group of nonprofit and community leaders as he announced the launch of a landmark approach to tackling persistent problems facing young black and Latino men. The Young Men’s Initiative, ...

  • Armed with New Report, Supporters to Push De Blasio on Summer Youth Employment

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    Council Member Eugene & advocates for youth summer camps (photo: @CAMBAInc)


    When the City Council held its first hearing on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Executive Budget for fiscal year

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  • Investments, Not Cuts, in Youth Summer Programs

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    Students rally at City Hall (photo via @CMMathieuEugene)


    In a short time, it will be summer, but it's not the impending warm weather that's causing parents to feel the heat.

    Parents are scrambling to make plans for their children because Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has not included funding for summer programs in the city budget, and this severe cut will impact more than 34,000 students across New York City.

    Our children deserve to have the educational and recreational opportunities they need to succeed. School’s Out New York, or SONYC, is a vital

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  • The Week Ahead in New York Politics, October 26

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    New York City Hall


    What to watch for this week in New York politics:

    This week will be dominated by the World Series, we know that. The New York Mets begin their quest for the title against the Royals in Kansas City on Tuesday night, followed by another game in KC on Wednesday and then games in Queens on Friday, Saturday, and, if necessary, Sunday. If the series continues, games six and seven would be the following Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 3 and 4) back in Kansas City. On Sunday,

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  • How To Become a New York City Council Member

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    Mayor de Blasio, a former Council member, with several current CMs (William Alatriste)


    Ask any New York City Council member and they'll tell you— there is no set formula that will send an aspiring candidate to City Hall.

    "If you want to be a lawyer, the path is the same: get a bachelor's degree, take the LSATs, go to law school, take the bar exam, and voila, you're a lawyer," Ritchie Torres, the 51-member Council's youngest rep, told Gotham Gazette. "Whereas in politics, there is no single path."

    Torres'

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