Mayor Adams announced Thursday that his administration plans to pour $1.2 billion into contracts designed to provide jobs for public housing residents and people living in low-income neighborhoods.
The initiative, which Adams is billing as the city’s “first community hiring effort,” was made possible through a state law permitting the city to place local hiring requirements on municipal contracts. Gov. Hochul signed off on the legislation last month.
“It uses the city’s purchasing power to create jobs. It’s a smart, smart way of recycling our tax dollars,” Adams said at a press conference in Harlem. “It’s a big deal for working-class New Yorkers.”
Under the first phase of the city’s efforts, the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services is letting $1.2 billion worth of contracts that will be subject to the new rubric, which requires that 40% of the work hours performed under the labor agreements go to people who live in NYCHA developments or zip codes where at least 15% of the population lives below the federal poverty line.
Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright noted the $1.2 billion is just one request for proposal and is part of a much larger pot of money Adams’ administration is planning to put toward community hiring contracts. She estimated that over the next three to four years the amount expected to go toward such contracts would total $80 billion.
“This is a really important first step, and we’re looking forward to many more,” she said.
