Civic Roam

Powered by 🌱Roam Garden

MMR - FY20 - City Commission on Human Rights

  • Page Type:: Document Section
  • Parent Document:: Mayor's Management Report - Fiscal Year 2020
  • Content::
    • Roam Embed::
    • Obsidian Embed::
    • Raw Text::
      • CITY COMMISSION ON
      • HUMAN RIGHTS Carmelyn P. Malalis, Commissioner/Chair
      • CITY COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS | Page 99
      • WHAT WE DO
      • The New York City Commission
      • on Human Rights (CCHR) enforces
      • the New York City Human Rights
      • Law (NYCHRL), educates the public
      • about their rights and responsibilities
      • under the NYCHRL and encourages
      • positive community relations. The
      • NYCHRL prohibits discrimination
      • in employment, housing, and
      • public accommodations and is
      • one of the most comprehensive
      • antidiscrimination laws in the country.
      • CCHR meets this mission through
      • its law enforcement, community
      • outreach, media and policy efforts.
      • CCHR’s Law Enforcement Bureau
      • (LEB) impartially investigates alleged
      • violations of the law, negotiates
      • and resolves matters, provides early
      • intervention in cases of on-going
      • discrimination, retaliation, or the
      • need for accommodations and,
      • where appropriate, tries cases before
      • an independent administrative
      • judge. Mediation services are offered
      • through the independent Office of
      • Mediation and Conflict Resolution.
      • CCHR’s Community Relations Bureau
      • (CRB) educates the public on their
      • rights by building deep community
      • relationships through roundtable
      • discussions, workshops, trainings
      • and other gatherings. The CRB also
      • engages with the small business
      • community, including chambers of
      • commerce, merchant associations
      • and business improvement districts
      • to facilitate compliance with the
      • NYCHRL. CCHR’s Office of the Chair
      • is the agency’s policy, legislative, and
      • adjudicatory hub. It convenes public
      • hearings, publishes reports on key
      • issues of the day, implements new
      • legal protections, publishes legal
      • guidance, issues final decisions
      • and orders and oversees media
      • campaigns.
      • FOCUS ON EQUITY
      • Throughout Fiscal 2020, CCHR continued to directly address equity and issues
      • of particular importance to communities that have experienced interpersonal,
      • institutional, and structural forms of oppression. Fiscal 02020 brought new crises
      • that exacerbated longstanding realities. The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately
      • impacted Black, Latinx and immigrant New Yorkers and laid bare disparities in
      • access to basic needs like healthcare, housing and jobs. In the midst of the crisis,
      • encouraged by racist and xenophobic rhetoric from the White House, violence,
      • hate speech and harassment were inflicted upon Asian New Yorkers. This was
      • followed by protests against the devastating impacts of structural racism on Black
      • people and called attention to the police violence in Black communities and other
      • communities of color. Under these circumstances, the NYCHRL’s protections are
      • essential. In March 2020, CCHR focused resources on responding to inquiries
      • related to COVID-19, including incidents of anti-Asian bias, by creating a COVID-19
      • Response Team and through a multi-lingual public education media campaign. In
      • June 2020, as Black Lives Matter protests were sweeping the nation demanding
      • governmental accountability for violence against Black communities, CCHR
      • released a report on the experiences of Black New Yorkers with anti-Black racism,
      • based on focus groups conducted in the spring of 2018 with nearly 200 AfricanAmerican, Afro-Caribbean, African and Afro-Latinx New Yorkers from across the
      • five boroughs. The report shares accounts from these Black New Yorkers about
      • how racism has impacted their experiences with law enforcement, their attempts
      • to secure housing, their interactions with educational and health institutions and
      • many other areas of life. Following an increase in anti-Semitic harassment and
      • discrimination, CCHR launched a public awareness campaign in February 2020,
      • the first of its kind nationwide, to combat religious harassment and discrimination
      • and to underscore the City’s support for Jewish communities. Consistent with
      • prior campaigns, the campaign also sought to provide visibility to the diversity of
      • the City’s faith communities. CCHR also issued groundbreaking legal enforcement
      • guidance defining discrimination on the basis of perceived or actual immigration
      • status and national origin in response to the impact of the federal government’s
      • threats of detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants. Like prior
      • guidance, this was hailed as a model by human rights advocates and received
      • national and international attention.
      • OUR SERVICES AND GOALS
      • SERVICE 1 Enforce the NYC Human Rights Law.
      • Goal 1a Investigate, prosecute and resolve complaints of discrimination,
      • discriminatory harassment, and bias-based profiling in a timely and
      • efficient manner.
      • SERVICE 2 Educate the community on the NYC Human Rights Law.
      • Goal 2a Increase community awareness of the NYCHRL through knowyour-rights presentations aimed at the general public; know-yourobligations presentations aimed at housing providers, employers
      • and small businesses; and other initiatives.
      • Page 100 | MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT
      • HOW WE PERFORMED IN FISCAL 2020
      • SERVICE 1 Enforce the NYC Human Rights Law.
      • Goal 1a Investigate, prosecute and resolve complaints of discrimination, discriminatory harassment, and biasbased profiling in a timely and efficient manner.
      • This Fiscal Year marks a number of challenges and milestones in CCHR’s strategic enforcement and resolution efforts. At the
      • start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission was informed of an increase in bias-based harassment and discrimination,
      • particularly involving anti-Asian discrimination. As a result, the
      • Commission launched a COVID-19 Response Team, comprised
      • of dedicated Law Enforcement and Community Relations staff
      • members with specific expertise that provide rapid response
      • and strategically engage with impacted communities. Since its
      • creation in March 2020, through the end of Fiscal 2020, the
      • Response Team responded to 376 inquiries. These responses
      • include commencing investigations, conducting early or
      • emergency interventions, informing New Yorkers about their
      • rights under the NYCHRL and providing information, resources
      • and referrals for inquirers who raise issues not within the
      • Commission’s jurisdiction.
      • Overall, inquiries from the public increased for the third straight
      • year to 10,015, surpassing Fiscal 2019’s total by 2 percent and
      • 525 complaints were filed this fiscal year, compared to 792
      • last year. CCHR successfully intervened in 406 matters without
      • filing a complaint, compared to last year’s high of 537 in Fiscal
      • 2019 and surpassing annual totals since at least Fiscal 2010.
      • And in a time when many similar human rights enforcement agencies were beset with COVID-19 related challenges that
      • negatively impacted their enforcement operations, CCHR reached several milestones in its multi-year efforts to resolve
      • enforcement cases more efficiently: CCHR closed 1,066 complaints, an increase of 8 percent from Fiscal 2019, the second
      • consecutive year CCHR has closed more cases than were filed and the fourth consecutive year in row of year-over-year
      • increases in the number of case closures. The number of open cases pending at the agency decreased to 1,165, a 31 percent
      • drop from Fiscal 2019 and the lowest since Fiscal 2015. The average number of days that open complaints remained open
      • dropped to 515 days, the lowest average since Fiscal 2017 and the first year-over-year decrease since Fiscal 2015. As part
      • of the Commission’s strategic enforcement strategy, CCHR’s testing program conducted tests of 1,424 entities this Fiscal
      • Year compared to 900 entities tested in Fiscal 2019.
      • The Office of Mediation and Conflict Resolution (OMCR) resolved 43 cases in Fiscal 2020, compared to 37 in Fiscal 2019,
      • setting a new record and accounting for an aggregate recovery (excluding non-monetary relief) of $2.6 million compared
      • to $1.2 million in Fiscal 2019. The average time from the acceptance of a case by OMCR to its closure was 183 days,
      • compared to 186 days in Fiscal 2019.
      • In November 2019, CCHR announced its first settlement and successful resolution of reports of discriminatory grooming
      • policies enforced against Black employees following the groundbreaking Fiscal 2019 release of legal guidance on
      • discrimination on the basis of hair. The settlement included novel provisions consistent with CCHR’s adherence to principles
      • of restorative justice, including a requirement that staff at the salon in question be trained to style natural hair, that a new
      • internship program be established to create new opportunities for stylists from underrepresented groups at the salon, that
      • salon leadership complete 35 hours of community service with a racial justice organization and that the salon contract with
      • experts on race discrimination based on hair to provide a series of trainings.
      • Finally, CCHR obtained $7.5 million in compensatory damages and civil penalties, the highest amount on record, and
      • surpassing last year’s total of $6.1 million by $1.4 million. Despite the difficulties of transitioning to a telework environment
      • in the midst of a pandemic and while implementing increased restorative justice remedies, the agency set a record in
      • damages and civil penalties for the sixth year in a row.
      • FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20
      • Complaints filed vs. Complaints closed
      • 792
      • 525
      • 986
      • 1,066
      • 908
      • 336
      • 806
      • 536
      • 805
      • 730
      • Complaints filed Complaints closed
      • CITY COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS | Page 101
      • Performance Indicators
      • Actual Target Trend
      • FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
      • Desired
      • Direction
      • Inquiries received NA NA 9,513 9,804 10,015 * * NA *
      • Matters initiated NA NA 1,576 2,319 1,307 * * NA *
      • Pre-complaint resolutions 200 310 193 537 406 * * Up Up
      • Modifications for accessibility for people with disabilites 191 307 90 174 72 * * Down *
      • « Complaints filed 908 806 805 792 525 * * Down *
      • Complaints closed 336 536 730 986 1,066 * * Up *
      • – Complaints closed (%) - no probable cause determination 5% 7% 4% 3% 1% * * Down *
      • – Complaints closed (%) - probable cause determination 6% 4% 5% 7% 23% * * Up *
      • – Complaints closed (%) - administrative cause 62% 65% 68% 60% 51% * * Down *
      • – Complaints closed (%) - settlement 27% 24% 23% 30% 25% * * Neutral *
      • Complaints successfully mediated 0 0 26 37 43 * * Up Up
      • Complaints referred to the Office of Administrative Trials
      • and Hearings 21 21 36 38 20 * * Up *
      • Value of damages for complainants ($) NA $2,287,445 $3,785,312 $5,306,052 $6,549,397 * * NA *
      • Value of civil penalties imposed ($) NA $379,250 $487,250 $788,261 $969,750 * * NA *
      • Open matters NA NA NA 3,968 2,398 * * NA *
      • Open complaints 1,318 1,643 1,829 1,697 1,165 * * Neutral *
      • « Average age of complaint caseload (days) 340 468 553 576 515 ò ò Up Down
      • Complaints pending by age - less than one year 837 728 721 668 416 * * Down Down
      • « Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
      • SERVICE 2 Educate the community on the NYC Human Rights Law.
      • Goal 2a Increase community awareness of the NYCHRL through know-your-rights presentations aimed at the
      • general public; know-your-obligations presentations aimed at housing providers, employers and small
      • businesses; and other initiatives.
      • The COVID-19 pandemic forced CCHR to reimagine its education and outreach efforts. CCHR found creative ways to
      • increase awareness and understanding of the NYCHRL by moving to virtual platforms. Despite the pandemic, CCHR
      • expanded its reach to serve 99,858 New Yorkers in Fiscal 2020, 2.5 percent more than in Fiscal 2019, across 1,481
      • conferences, workshops, and trainings.
      • In response to an increase in bias incidents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CCHR worked with the Center for Anti-Violence
      • Education to host 13 bystander intervention trainings which reached 438 New Yorkers. These bystander intervention
      • trainings were conducted with support from community-based organizations who work with the City’s Asian, Black,
      • Latinx, and other communities. Bystander intervention trainings were hosted in English and Mandarin, with more language
      • capacity planned for Fiscal 2021.
      • In addition, CCHR hosted five Bias & Hate Crimes Reporting Town Halls, in partnership with sister agencies and various
      • District Attorneys’ Offices, which reached over 2,000 New Yorkers. These town halls were a direct response to community
      • asks and allowed CCHR to educate attendees on the differences between bias incidents and hate crimes, and the process
      • once such an incident is reported. As COVID-19 related bias and hate inquiries grew, CCHR continued to host virtual knowyour-rights forums and town halls to add to our anti-stigma work.
      • CCHR’s Bias Response Team responded to 467 bias incidents, a 99 percent increase compared to Fiscal 2019: prior to the
      • COVID-19 pandemic, responses exceeded Fiscal 2019 levels by 58 percent and rose further from March through July 2020.
      • On December 17, 2019, CCHR’s Bias Response Unit organized a Day of Visibility in response to anti-Muslim graffiti at the
      • Ditmars Boulevard and Steinway Street MTA bus stop. CCHR partnered with Council Member Costa Constantinides and
      • Page 102 | MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT
      • Senator Michael Gianaris to hand out literature in response to the incident. Staff interacted with over 200 Community
      • members and informed them about their rights against discrimination and harassment.
      • In October 2019, CCHR hosted “400 Years Later: Reckoning with Our Legacy of Slavery and Charting an Anti-Racist Future
      • in NYC,” a forum exploring the history of slavery in New York and discussing the current impacts of anti-Black racism in
      • the five boroughs. Later in the fiscal year, CCHR celebrated Juneteenth with the Weeksville Heritage Center and presented
      • workshops on combating discrimination based on race and color.
      • In February, CCHR hosted Your Power, Your Rights: New York City Youth in Action, which featured the launch of its Youth
      • for Equity & Solidarity (YES) Council. The Council seeks to identify young leaders who can advise the Commission on how
      • to expand its engagement with young people. Though the inaugural cohort of YES Council Members will be announced
      • in Fiscal 2021, along with the February announcement came both a revamp and expansion of CCHR’s youth portfolio. This
      • included the release of CCHR’s Stories For All: A Human Rights Reading List, highlighting authors, characters, and stories that
      • tackle the issues and experiences facing diverse communities. This reading list is intended as a reference guide for parents
      • and educators for young people age pre-K through 12th grade. CCHR continued to offer workshops to schools and youth
      • such as Empowering Young Women, Discrimination: Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation and Peer Mediation, as
      • well as continuing to conduct student assemblies. CCHR provided 300 school and youth-based trainings in Fiscal 2020,
      • despite the difficulty of remote learning in the last four months of the fiscal year.
      • Performance Indicators
      • Actual Target Trend
      • FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
      • Desired
      • Direction
      • Conferences, workshops and training sessions 2,397 2,947 3,127 3,060 1,481 3,000 3,000 Down Up
      • Youth-based training sessions conducted 79 173 186 266 300 250 250 Up Up
      • People served 38,435 69,087 80,454 97,395 99,858 80,000 80,000 Up Up
      • Responses to bias-based incidents NA NA 146 235 467 * * NA *
      • « Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
      • AGENCY CUSTOMER SERVICE
      • Performance Indicators Actual Target Trend
      • Customer Experience FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
      • Desired
      • Direction
      • Letters responded to in 14 days (%) 98.0% 86.7% 83.0% 96.0% 99.0% * * Neutral Up
      • E-mails responded to in 14 days (%) 100.0% 97.3% 98.0% 99.0% 100.0% * * Neutral Up
      • Completed customer requests for interpretation 1,671 1,425 1,756 1,677 1,550 * * Neutral *
      • Average wait time to speak with a customer service agent
      • (minutes) 11 9 6 6 3 * * Down Down
      • CORE customer experience rating (0-100) 100 98 99 NA 100 * * NA Up
      • « Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
      • CITY COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS | Page 103
      • AGENCY RESOURCES
      • Resource Indicators Actual¹ Plan²
      • FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5yr Trend
      • Expenditures ($000,000)³ $8.8 $10.4 $12.8 $13.3 $12.9 $14.4 $13.0 Up
      • Personnel 89 108 142 131 128 164 139 Up
      • Overtime paid ($000) $7 $5 $11 $3 $15 $15 $15 Up
      • ¹Actual financial amounts for the current fiscal year are not yet final. Final fiscal year actuals, from the Comptroller’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, will be reported
      • in the next PMMR. Refer to the “Indicator Definitions” at nyc.gov/mmr for details. ²Authorized Budget Level
      • ³Expenditures include all funds “NA” - Not Available * None
      • SPENDING AND BUDGET INFORMATION
      • Where possible, the relationship between an agency’s goals and its expenditures and planned resources, by budgetary unit
      • of appropriation (UA), is shown in the ‘Applicable MMR Goals’ column. Each relationship is not necessarily exhaustive or
      • exclusive. Any one goal may be connected to multiple UAs, and any UA may be connected to multiple goals.
      • Unit of Appropriation
      • Expenditures
      • FY191
      • ($000,000)
      • Modified Budget
      • FY202
      • ($000,000) Applicable MMR Goals3
      • Personal Services - Total $10.9 $10.5
        • 001 - Personal Services $5.6 $5.2 All
        • 003 - Community Development $5.2 $5.3 All
      • Other Than Personal Services - Total $2.4 $2.4
        • 002 - Other Than Personal Services $0.5 $0.6 All
        • 004 - Community Development $1.9 $1.8 All
      • Agency Total $13.3 $14.4
      • 1
      • Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2019. Includes all funds. 2
      • City of New York Adopted Budget for Fiscal 2020, as of June
      • 2020.Includes all funds. 3Refer to agency goals listed at front of chapter. “NA” Not Available * None
      • NOTEWORTHY CHANGES, ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS !
      • None.
      • ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
      • For more information on the agency, please visit: www.nyc.gov/cchr.
      • Page 104 | MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT
MMR - FY20 - City Commission on Human Rights