Latino Policy Group Demands New York's Mayor Hire More Latinos
Members of The National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) spoke out this week at New York City Hall about the de Blasio Administration's abysmal record of hiring Latinos for his government, saying it is the most underrepresented group.
NiLP's research shows Latinos account for only 11 percent of Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration appointments, when the city's Latino population is 29 percent. Their findings, based on appointments publicly announced by the Administration, also show hirings of African-Americans at 77.3 percent, Asians at 76.9 percent and Whites at 184.8 percent.
"If he doesn't deal with this now, he's going to have a real problem with his re-election when it comes to support from the Latino community," said Angelo Falcon, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy, which conducted the review of appointments.
The mayor was elected last year with the support of 85 percent of Latinos in the general election.
Other findings show that, of the higher level job titles, Latinos make up just 12.1 percent in contrast to the 64.0 percent of jobs given to White employees. Despite requests, de Blasio's Appointments Office has not sent the group a full list of appointments.
In addition, the majority (57 percent) of the de Blasio Latino appointments were concentrated in only three of the 39 city agencies -- the Mayor's Office, the Department of Education and the ceremonial Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
City Hall countered that de Blasio increased the representation of Latinos among agency heads to 14 percent, from 9.3 percent in the Bloomberg administration.
"We have been very clear in our intention to build an administration that is representative of all New Yorkers, and we are proud of the diverse team that we have built to date," City Hall spokeswoman Carmen Boon told The New York Post. "There is always more we can do to increase diversity, and we won't stop until we ensure that progress continues to be made."
The NiLP said the Mayor has refused to meet Latino community leaders to discuss their concerns about low Latino appointments in his administration, and challenged him to review his diversity policies. It is their recommendation that the mayor establish a Latino Employment Diversity Task Force to study the problem and provide him with recommendations for changes.
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