[6][12] At the time, de Blasio was an aide to a deputy mayor and McCray was a speechwriter. Fellow contender for the Brooklyn borough presidency,City Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn), slammed the spending, according to The New York Post. What is the relationship of Chirlane McCray? With over 22,000 layoffs of city workers looming, the mayor cant seriously expect to keep funding full-time, highly paid speechwriters and professional videographers for his wifes political ambitions. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Thereafter from 1994, she served Carl McCall, the New York State Comptroller, as his speech writer. Here they had to face extreme racism with the white residents circulating a petition that they leave the area. Most people who are homeless don't have a mental illness. We want to make sure that the mental health services are embedded and all of our city agencies wherever it's appropriate so that people have the services, where they live, where they work, where they go to school, McCray says. How about the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort six years, uncountable delays and billions of dollars later? Activist, writer, loving partner of @BilldeBlasio. Almost every single one of our programs continued throughout the pandemic.. With their house filled with books, she developed reading habit early in her life. How much taxpayer money will the mayors wife pilfer before leaving office? But very soon, she realized that publishing was not her cup of tea. The first spouse went before the City Council Tuesday tripping spectacularly over her own tongue while removing any doubt that her billion-dollar husbandly indulgence, ThriveNYC, amounts to an epic public policy swindle gussied up as a mental health program. [8] During her husband's campaign for mayor of New York City in the 2013 election, she edited his speeches and helped interview candidates for staff positions. Chirlane McCray Wants to Get You Paid. The shooter, who is listed as a Department of Health employee in city records, filmed the first lady making ginger snaps on April 2 during the coronavirus lockdown. First lady Chirlane McCray is assisted by 14 city workers, costing taxpayers $2 million a year. Bob McManus is a contributing editor of City Journal. She was born eldest of her parents three children; she has two younger sisters named Cynthia and Cheryl. EXPOSED: Dr. Peter McCullough On How Nattokinase Could Counteract Spike Protein Damage! The reason I say that all of Thrives budget is tailored to [all city residents] is because its very difficult to say [what] is the percentage of our population that is seriously mentally ill, concluded Mrs. Mayor without laughing. News Corp is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and other products and services. All rights reserved. One exception was Marilyn Simons, a philanthropist married to the hedge fund billionaire James Simons. After a brief rise, the number declined again. But the co-mayor made performance promises when he initiated the Renewal program, few of which even remotely were met, and presently gravity prevailed: The program caved in on itself. [12] During the Clinton administration, she worked for the New York Foreign Press Center as a public affairs specialist. And we were fortunate to have an infrastructure of services that people could turn to, says McCray. As the City navigates unprecedented challenges triggered by the COVID-19 crisis, these public servants continue to show up everyday to deliver solutions that reach into every neighborhood and family, and we owe them a debt of gratitude, Caraway said. McCray is the proprietress of ThriveNYC, a mental-health-related something-or-other created four-plus years ago to give a little. That the co-mayors could fly under the radar to burn through $1.6 billion to no obvious good effect is an embarrassment but understandable in the abstract. That Stringer could sleep through it all is the real scandal; why does the city even have a comptroller, if thats the standard of performance? You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The funds federal tax returns say that she spends only an hour a week on fund business. Its not necessary for me to sit through them if I can be raising thousands of dollars to actually pay for fund programs. Theres a $117,000-a-year speechwriter, even though McCray held that same position under former Mayor David Dinkins, and a $150,000-a-year senior adviser who was recruited in April after de Blasio announced a hiring freeze to help close a $7 billion deficit caused by the coronavirus. [email protected]. The First Lady has also been working with local leaders from municipalities across the country, part of the Cities Thrive Coalition. Office of Community Mental Health actually explains what it is, says McCray. The Times further reported that according to McCray's public schedule, she had spent 19.5 hours in 2017 on work for the Mayor's Fund; however, her spokeswoman estimated that McCray spent 10% of her work schedule on Mayor's Fund business. This story has been shared 110,413 times. So, ipso presto, co-Mayor Bill coughed up enough cash to break a pack mules back and sent it off to co-Mayor Chirlane who then went forth to cure Gothams mental-illness problems. Thereafter, she served Bill Thompson, New York City Comptroller, possibly from 2002 to 2004. ", CHIRLANE MCCRAY ENJOYS $2M STAFF OF 14 AMID NYC BUDGET CRISIS, He added, "The mental health crisis is much deeper because of the coronavirus, across the whole city, that's one of the things she's been working on intensely, but also as the co-chair of the internal task force this extraordinary task force on racial inclusion that has been moving big policy changes.". But there are other mysteries out there, too. The First Lady manages a robust portfolio and her team works tirelessly to carry out goals and priorities on issues like mental health and domestic violence that will improve the lives of New Yorkers, she said. We understand were working at a sensitive intersection of civic investors and public projects, so we try to be sensitive to it, Mr. Bloch said. Thanks for contacting us. This story has been shared 119,457 times. Mayor Bill de Blasio likes to say that theres plenty of money in New York City, but that its in the wrong hands. It's just the kind of small, yet crucial revolution that drove Chirlane McCray into public service in the first place, and this week, she saw it realized . Given that nobody seems to know how many programs there even are, itll be a while before McCrays allowance is cut off. In 1972, she entered Wellesley College, where she found social acceptance for the first time. Abbott tells Chicago mayor to take complaints on border crisis to the White House, Biden admin's coordination with environmental groups to ban gas stoves under investigation by Cruz, Comer, Virginia Gov. The first spouse went before the City Council . The City Council discovered this shocking amount of potential waste during a meeting Wednesday. [3] She has also published poetry and worked in politics as a speechwriter. The only friend that she had was her Spanish teacher, Michael McCarthy. However, according to current and former employees in the Mayors office -- and public records --McCrays staff makes closer to $2 million. Anyone can read what you share. Living in a hospital, that model of institutionalizing people is kind of outmoded.. How can she sleep at night hiring these hacks knowing so many other city workers are facing layoffs this fall? De Blasio's wife can't account for $850m given to mental health scheme https://t.co/gTEJcrCeob via @MailOnline, NYC Mayor De Blasio's wife spent $900 million in taxpayer moneywith no record of how it was used https://t.co/UGe8liu6L0, De Blasio and co-mayor wife have wasted $1.8B of taxpayer moneyFrankly Im surprised its not much more considering these two incompetent lazy stoners are at the helm. [7] The purpose of the essay was to "dispel the myth that there are no gay black people". [15] She worked for five years at Maimonides Medical Center. From the fiscal year that began in July 2014 the first year the fund was under full control of Mr. de Blasio and Ms. McCray through June 2017, the fund raised an average of $22 million a year. This story has been shared 375,122 times. And its only (your) money even if it is quite a lot of it. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, former Post reporter Yoav Gonen pulled together. The administration has said their approach to mental health has never been done before at this level anywhere in the country. "I'm not sure anybody does.". He also attended a meeting of philanthropic organizations at Gracie Mansion to discuss the initiative, at which Ms. McCray spoke. That it should happen in a single week is worse its an embarrassment. . Eventually, she started an organization called Black Women in Publishing. They need supportive housing, for example, where there are services available where they live, to be able to function. And while the funds bylaws define the chair as the lead fund-raiser, officials struggled to show her direct involvement with those efforts. Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. But she has at least six other city employees deputized to her office from other public agencies, as was first reported by The City. Essential to the first familys hopes of continued taxpayer support after term limits forces the mayor out of office, maybe. That is, nobody appears to have kept receipts; the subways and street corners are still overrun with crazy people, and nobody in charge knows whats to happen next. [10] Some of her poetry is included in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. If youre civic-minded, youre probably involved in campaign support as well as philanthropy and the rest of it, so its hard to. On Wednesday, councilmembers were huffing that de Blasio has been showering his wife with tax dollars with embarrassing results. Does anybody know how well more likely, how poorly the co-mayors hugely expensive pre-K program is working, especially that portion consigned to the citys notoriously problematic not-for-profit sector? [6][7] During a portion of her high school years, McCray was the only black student in her school. The Phantom of the Opera The Final Curtain, California Consumer Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information, California Consumer Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, McCray says the citys mental health hotline, NYC Well, logged 33,000 texts, chats and calls this January, Some critics have said that Thrive focused too little on those with serious mental illnesses, The mayors most recent budget deal includes another $115 million in mental-health spending. In 1991, I met the love of my life, married him. Since then, the program, known as ThriveNYC, has been a lightning rod of criticism for the de Blasio administration from critics who say its accomplished little while costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Right up there with co-Mayor Bill, who started the week on his own sour note announcing that his signature Renewal school program was closing up shop after pounding $773 million down a rathole. It was reorganized and given its current name by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg after he took office in 2002, when the city was reeling from the Sept. 11 terror attacks. She also received books as Christmas gift. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. But under Mayor Bill de Blasio, the fund has not kept pace. The chairwoman of the Mayors Fund to Advance the City of New York, Chirlane McCray, has largely been missing in action: She has attended less than half of the funds board meetings, and her outreach to donors has been sporadic. Not one to sit still, she continues to work on the project, lobbying with Congressional lawmaker, arranging for more funds, gathering signature, lecturing at seminars, thereby trying to change peoples attitude towards mental health. Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, a donor to the fund virtually since its inception, recalled receiving a brief phone call from Ms. McCray in 2015 when the foundation was considering a large donation to support a mental health initiative. ThriveNYC, a Mental Health Initiative, Comes Under Scrutiny. [16] She also worked for Citigroup in its public relations department for six months before deciding it was "not a good fit". In 1964, the family moved to Longmeadow, near Springfield. Legal Statement. The three largest programs, according to the most recent tax filing for 2016, were federal grants for antipoverty initiatives, civic service programs and a Bloomberg-era effort known as the Young Mens Initiative aimed at supporting black and Hispanic men. Well over a billion dollars has been spent on these mental health programs, and one of the main criticisms lobbed at the de Blasio Administration and McCray particularly. Certain communities and communities of color suffer more than other communities. There was little help from her parents, who had their own battles to fight. De Blasio is an Italian-American. Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, Chiara de Blasio and Dante de Blasio Chirlane is the loving mom of Chiara de Blasio and Dante de Blasio. And the chairwoman of the nonprofit, Chirlane McCray, has largely been missing in action: She has attended less than half of the funds board meetings, and her outreach to donors has been sporadic. She makes calls to share what our priorities are and to get attention and interest from others, said Mr. Bloch, describing Ms. McCray as a key part of the organizations fund-raising. Outside school, she was excluded from boy-girl mixers. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. In January, Ms. McCray announced that the program would become its own office, which now has 21 employees with a $2 million office budget, according to Susan Herman, appointed to lead the office. The couple donated $260,000, earmarked for Ms. McCrays mental health initiative, in 2015 and 2016. Copyright 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The mayor argued that she would be exceptional and was uniquely qualified to connect government with for-profit and nonprofit groups. Market data provided by Factset. Chirlane McCray is an American activist, writer and poet. Ms. McCray declined a request for a follow-up interview to discuss the funds activities in more detail. Bob McManus is a contributing editor of City Journal. An almost decadelong runup has left the greenback heavily overvalued, some analysts say. Such as, how did it happen that Thrive burned through more $565 million over four-plus years to no appreciable good effect with nobody noticing? In 1974, she became a member of The Combahee River Collective, a Black feminist organization that looked into the issues relating specifically to the Black lesbians. We've received your submission. One is a $70,000-a-year videographer (paid via the Health Department!) But it was quickly turned into rejection when a classmate found her in an intimate embrace with another woman. The wife of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio "can't account for" $850 million in missing taxpayer money that was granted to her mental health project, according to reports. She worked as a speechwriter for New York City Mayor David Dinkins. With a quarter of a billion dollars (!!) Laura Ingraham has even called it a "scheme". [19] Since then, the Fund has focused on mental health, immigration, and youth workforce projects. Her performance left council members blinking. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact The couple honeymooned in Cuba in violation of a U.S . Paul Martinka / SplashNews.com ThriveNYC, which McCray launched in 2015, came under scrutiny by watchdogs. The Thrive program, which had its budget raised to $250 million per year in 2019, has produced some underwhelming numbers in terms of how many people it impacts. A company representative, David Lombino, said Ms. McCray did not solicit the donation, which went to an internship program known as Ladders for Leaders. The first lady was a similarly infrequent presence at board meetings, attending just five of 12 since being appointed, according to the meeting minutes. There is no limit to the size of donations to the fund, as there is for campaign contributions, and as a nonprofit controlled by the mayors office, the fund has routinely and legally raised money from donors who gave to Mr. de Blasios campaigns and his political causes. How about the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort six years, uncountable delays and billions of dollars later? Ms. Harris missed only one board meeting in the last four years she served as chairwoman, the period for which records were available. Uncovering The Satanic Panic: South Dakota. Don't we want people to have a good quality of life? That is, reversing Bloomberg administration plans to shut down 100 miserably malfunctioning schools, thus saving the jobs of barely competent teachers and administrators and shutting up small bands of noisy parents who loved the schools despite their failings. I know what goes on, Ms. McCray said, adding that she was justified in skipping board meetings. The office has Ms. McCrays name on a metal plaque on the door. The Times added: "A spreadsheet of nearly 500 data points tracked by City Hall included almost none related to patient outcomes". But lets be clear: If your boondogglery sets the New York City Council back on its heels, you truly are soaring with the eagles. Bill is the mayor of New York City since 2014. This story has been shared 132,852 times. [4] She is of Barbadian and St. Lucian descent, but traces her grandmother's last name (Quashie) to Ghana. Think Stockholm syndrome, rolled into a big ball with the United Federation of Teachers. Only 570 of the estimated 12-15,000 mothers who experience postpartum depression have been reached by the program, Politico reported, a number NYC disputes. This story has been shared 375,122 times. Seven mayors attended a 2017 national mental health conference in New York City. We've received your submission. "[34], McCray and de Blasio have a daughter, Chiara, and a son, Dante. Im the founder, I provide the strategic support, I hold meetings on behavioral health and I amplify things to the public.. Things happen. First Lady Chirlane McCray says the citys mental health hotline, NYC Well, logged 33,000 texts, chats and calls this January. Thereafter, she worked briefly for the public relation department of the City Group, but could not fit in. [6][8], After graduating from college, McCray moved to New York City to work for Redbook. But again, I think the most important feature of the renaming is that, what is Thrive? People dont know what Thrive is. Fellow contender, City Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn), slammed the spending. Ron DeSantis. [35] The family lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn,[6][12] until their 2014 move into Gracie Mansion,[36] the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. I bet you're never seen this story reported on the nightly newsbut don't worry, we'll show it to you! But the fund-raising work has mostly been done by others: Mr. Bloch; Gabrielle Fialkoff, the funds vice chairwoman, who also works as a senior adviser to Mr. de Blasio and was the finance chairwoman of his 2013 mayoral campaign; and Daniele Baierlein, a longtime Democratic Party fund-raiser who previously worked at the Podesta Group, the powerful Washington lobbying firm. Ms. McCrays schedules show that last year she made three calls to Ms. Simons, in July, September and December. In fact, said Caraway, New Yorkers should be thanking McCrays staff for their contributions. Thats because there never was any doubt what the program was about. Only anti-Trump hysteria allows for denial of Paterson's m Laurie Metcalf on getting directed by 'triple threat' Ray Romano, Academia's twisted reasons for shelving the SAT, Spring Break, Paris, Coachella: Gen Z is willing to go broke for luxury vacations, Woman has 'loud, full body orgasm' in the middle of LA concert, All the red carpet highlights and star-studded fashionfrom the Karl Lagerfeld-themed Met Gala, Bride killed, groom seriously hurt by drunk driver just minutes after leaving reception, Katy Perry will be temporarily replaced on 'American Idol' amid drama. Her mother, Katharine Clarissa Eileen (ne Edwards), was an assembly worker at an electronics factory, and her father, Robert Hooper McCray, was an inventory clerk at a military base. [14], In 2004, McCray left Thompson's office to work in the private sector. [17] Later in 2014, Noerdlinger resigned her post following a series of controversies surrounding her behavior and that of persons close to her. New York is supposed to be better than that. If theres a program thats been found to be ineffective, we should pull the plug, he said Wednesday. #MyDayNYC pic.twitter.com/e8LWu8jxh9, Chirlane McCray (@NYCFirstLady) April 2, 2020. That is, nobody appears to have kept receipts; the subways and street corners are still overrun with crazy people, and nobody in charge knows whats to happen next. Well, he didnt actually say rathole, and the price tag has doubtless been lowballed but he also had no credible explanation for the debacle, nor did he apologize for it. McCray and de Blasio were married in 1994 in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Another sign of corruption: The mayor imposed a hiring freeze early this year but McCray still got to bring on a new $150,000-a-year senior adviser in April, who somehow got classified as an essential worker. Why start from scratch when other people are already out there doing work that has not up until now been championed by the federal government.. From her mothers previous marriage, she also has a half brother called Reginald Jackson. But this is 2019, and the general feeling at least in the deBlasio administration is that if theres not a lot of dough attached to the spousal sinecure, it doesnt really matter enough. Does anybody know how well more likely, how poorly the co-mayors hugely expensive pre-K program is working, especially that portion consigned to the citys notoriously problematic not-for-profit sector? Concurrently with working for Redbook, she continued with her social activities, being acutely aware about the condition of black women in a big city like New York. Ms. McCray, the mayors wife, has not even set foot in the funds office for nearly a year; her public schedules in 2017 recorded less than 20 hours spent on Mayors Fund business during the entire year. Whatever happened to the money from ThriveNYC? asked City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens). Of the 78,000 newborn deliveries in the city annually, only 28,560 new mothers have been screened by the Thrive program. We launched Thrive long before the pandemic. [3] As of March 2019, nearly $850 million in funding for McCray's mental health program was unaccounted for; furthermore, the program was on track to spend $1 billion over five years. "[2] She chaired the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and was appointed by her husband to lead a billion-dollar initiative called ThriveNYC. And while it sounds good to spend heavily on a mental health initiative, it appears that nobody has noticed any real benefits from that investment. to divvy up every year, one easily could get an arm broken when the boodling begins. But the co-mayor made performance promises when he initiated the Renewal program, few of which even remotely were met, and presently gravity prevailed: The program caved in on itself. This story has been shared 132,852 times. But this is 2019, and the general feeling at least in the deBlasio administration is that if theres not a lot of dough attached to the spousal sinecure, it doesnt really matter enough. [28], ThriveNYC drew harsh criticism over allegations of mismanagement and accusations that it had failed to produce records of tangible results. But also mayoral spouse Chirlane McCray, who has just been revealed as a world-class boondoggler in her own right. A year later, she announced the formation of the Cities Thrive Coalition with aim of launching a more consolidated nationwide mental health system.
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