Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, New York City. It is such a pleasure to be here. And I had joked with the reverend that I'm proud to announce that I am not running for president in 2028, which I know some people may be considering when they come to this conference. It's a pleasure to be here because we are commemorating 35 years of the National Action Network. Thirty-five years. And since 1991, NAN has stood at the very front of progress, of marches for justice, of the pursuit for a fairer New York City for each and every person who lives in it. And to the Rev., you are a New York institution, truly. You are as synonymous with our city as the Empire State Building or a folded slice of pizza.
From staging a sit-in at City Hall to demand more summer jobs for teenagers when you were just a teenager yourself to supporting the exonerated five when few others would, you have long fought for a city where dignity is for all, truly. And I also want to thank our chairman for all of the work you have done in steering this organization. And my friend and the vice chair, Jennifer Jones Austin, who is also here with us, who's been a force not just when it comes to NAN but also for justice at large. Just a few days ago, we were standing together as we released a True Cost of Living report that would not have been possible were it not for her leadership. So, we thank her for that -we thank her [and] we thank Chairman Richardson.
And as we look out on this crowd, I see so many elected leaders at the city level, the state level [and] the federal level, and I want to acknowledge and appreciate [it] if we can put our hands together for all of our elected partners who are here with us today. Now as all of us look back at 35 years of NAN, we look back at a history of righteous struggle in the face of injustice. And it is a struggle that has not just taken place here in New York City. It's a struggle that has taken place nationwide with nearly 100 chapters. This network remains as bold and relevant today as it was in 1991.
Throughout every single one of those years, NAN has placed working people at the heart of everything that it has done, whether it be advocating for lower prescription drug costs or protecting voting rights or standing up to ICE. And yet we know that for far too long, this has been a lonely fight. This has been a fight where when NAN has looked to City Hall, they have not always found partners. And I am proud to stand here today as the mayor of our city to say that we rededicate ourselves to a shared commitment to a new era of collaboration with those who have been on the front lines of marching and fighting and winning justice for people across the city. Now, as I was saying earlier about the vice chair, a few days ago, our administration took steps towards releasing a long-delayed racial equity plan that makes plain what we have long known to be true in this city, that our affordability crisis and our history of racial inequity are bound together across these five boroughs.
We know that we cannot solve a suffocating cost of living crisis without also reckoning with the fact that the neighborhoods hit hardest by the rising costs of rent and childcare are the same ones that have been hit hardest by institutional neglect and racism. That is why when we secured $1.2 billion in partnership with the governor to place our city on a path to universal childcare, we made sure that we would begin our expansion of free childcare for two-year-olds in the very neighborhoods that have so often been overlooked. Neighborhoods like Canarsie, Brownsville, Far Rockaway and others.
That is why when we announced on day 78 of our administration, standing alongside our public advocate, Jumaane Williams, who I see there, a new Office of Community Safety to develop a whole-of-government strategy for delivering public safety in this city that we love. And it is why we are not only fast-tracking the building of more than 1,000 affordable housing units, but [also] breaking ground on new developments on Myrtle Avenue in Bed Stuy, Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, and Farmers Boulevard in Queens - homes that are not just affordable enough to rent, some of which are also affordable enough to buy.
Now, the core piece, whether you be a tenant or a homeowner, that we are pursuing is that of stability. We want New Yorkers to have stability in their lives. And so, as we build out a pathway to affordable homeownership, we are also working to keep homeowners in their homes. And that's why we made the decision as well to pause the tax lien sale for the next six months, as we would pursue a full study to see what we could do when we deliver equity as that framework.
Now, I say that to you as a mayor. I also say that to you as someone who, before I was an Assembly member, was a foreclosure prevention housing counselor. I would knock on doors across Queens when the city would put out its tax lien sale list. And I would say, "Do you know there's a program where you can get off this list?" Because it was a list that would put you on the fast track to foreclosure. And we've seen it's a list where the city has been six times more likely to sell a lien in a Black neighborhood than in a white neighborhood.
And so, when we ask ourselves, how can we keep so many of the homeowners who have spent their lives building that equity. We have to put a pause on things like this to study that equity. That's what we've decided to do. Now, the racial equity plan for which we are currently taking public comment, will only further this work that is already underway. It will put the goals of 45 city agencies under one racial equity framework, allowing us to better focus our efforts against the crisis.
Now we know that all of New York City is facing the crisis of costs. We also know that that crisis is not born evenly. From 2000 to 2020, more than 200,000 Black New Yorkers were pushed out of this city because they could not afford living in the most expensive city in the United States of America. I remember running into a reverend, and I was asking him where he was going. His church was in Harlem. He said he was heading to the airport. I said, "Where are you headed?" He said, "I'm going to South Carolina because that's where a lot of my parish lives now. They live there because they can't afford to live here any longer." We can't allow that to be the case in this place that we love. And we know that when we measure this exodus, we can feel it in storefronts that are shuttered in neighborhoods that feel hollow in schools that have fewer students in churches that have far less packed pews.
We have to do more to ensure that when we celebrate Black history in the city, we also ensure that it can keep being written in this city. We do not want it to be something just of the past or of the present. We want it to be something of the future as well. And there will be challenges in this work as there always are. But frankly, I do not feel fear about the struggles that are to come because I know that we stand together equipped with a righteous purpose.
And I will close with a reminder to myself and to all of us of the words of the man who blazed a path for so many of us today, Reverend Jesse Jackson. In 1988 at the DNC, Reverend Jackson said, "If an issue is morally right, it will eventually be political. If we are principled first, our politics will fall into place." And so, I ask that we continue to lead with our principles. We continue to build a New York City that belongs to all who help build it. Let us do so together, and the politics will fall into place. Thank you very much.
