Gotham Gazette

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Phil Thompson

Phil Thompson

  • NYC Racial Justice Commission Approves Three Proposals for 2022 Ballot

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    The mayor's commission has decided what to offer voters (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Racial Justice Commission, created to advance racial equity through structural changes to the city charter, voted Thursday to approve three proposals that will appear on the November 2022 general election ballot.

    The three proposals would establish a new preamble to the City Charter; create new racial equity oversight bodies and a citywide racial equity plan; and establish a new measure of

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  • De Blasio's Racial Justice Commission to Vote on Potential Ballot Proposals for City Charter Changes

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    Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The Racial Justice Commission convened by Mayor Bill de Blasio to revise the City Charter in pursuit of greater racial equity is nearing the end of its work and is considering several proposals that may end up on the ballot in the 2022 general election. The commission will vote on those proposals on December 3 – whatever it passes will be binding and appear on next year’s ballot – and issue its final report on December 13.

    The ideas are broad changes to city government and its

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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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  • The City’s New Plans to Help Disconnected Young Adults

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    Mayor de Blasio with city youth (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged New York City since early last year has presented daunting challenges for our youth and young adults. Students from pre-kindergarten through college have missed out on months of in-person instruction, not to mention the countless everyday interactions beyond the classroom that help them discover who they are and who they want to be. Young adults who held jobs before COVID-19 are disproportionately likely to have fallen out

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  • 7 Months Later, No Sign of De Blasio's Promised 'Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission'

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    Mayor de Blasio painting a Black Lives Matter mural (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    After weeks of mass demonstrations last June calling out police violence against Black people, New York city and state officials responded by passing and signing legislation for police reform and accountability that had seemed indefinitely stalled, ordering investigations into the policing of the protests themselves, and painting murals as a sign of government solidarity with its people.

    One of the commitments made by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was to establish a

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  • Engaging Black Media, City Looks to Boost Government Trust, Census Responsiveness in Black Communities

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Black communities in New York have historically been more likely to be undercounted by the U.S. Census Bureau, meaning fewer federal resources and political underrepresentation for those who are often the most vulnerable members of the population and those who have often been disenfranchised and discriminated against. It’s a trend that city officials are hoping to counter in this year’s Census, with the help of nonprofit community-based organizations, and grassroots organizers. On Monday, at a

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  • Preparing Our City’s Youth for the World of Work Through CareerReady NYC

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In recent years, New York City has racked up a series of impressive gains within the systems that prepare our youth for work and careers. The question is whether this progress will be enough for the city’s youth to navigate a rapidly changing labor market and achieve steady work and economic security. 

    While the economic expansion of recent years has swept many young adults into the workforce, most of these new workers are not on pathways to upward mobility. Part of that is the

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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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  • On Census Preparations, State Lags While City, Advocacy Organizations & Business Community Move Ahead

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    (image via New York City's City Planning Department)


    This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
    Find the rest of the series here

    “It might seem early, but given the challenges that are facing the decennial census in 2020, it’s not early enough,” said Steven Romalewski, director of the mapping service at the Center for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center. Advocates, government officials, and members of the business community all agree with

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  • New Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson Outlines His Portfolio, Which Includes Everything

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    Thompson, with the Mayor and First Lady (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Bill de Blasio and Phil Thompson go back decades, working together in the administration of Mayor David Dinkins, but they spent many years apart before rejoining the same team earlier this year, when de Blasio announced the appointment of Thompson as the new Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives.

    Replacing Richard Buery in the role, Thompson begins his tenure in the de Blasio administration for the start of the Democratic mayor’s second and

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  • What's The [Data] Point? 2020, with Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 43 -- 2020, with Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

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    Phil

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