Transcript: Mayor Adams Lays Out Ambitious Agenda to Make New York City Best Place to Raise A Family in Fourth State of the City Address

January 9, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: Feels great to be here, and with just an amazing team of New Yorkers and to my fellow New Yorkers, thank you. Mommy’s looking down on our city and she’s looking at her baby boy, who transitioned from being dyslexic, rejected and now he’s elected to be the mayor of the City of New York. And we can’t do what we do without this team. Can my commissioners and deputy mayors please stand up? 

Thank you so much. The hardest job in politics is working for Eric Adams. And when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. This morning, Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar sent me a message of good luck, but she also sent this quote, and I'm paraphrasing Dr. King. The ultimate measure of a man or woman is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenges and controversy.  

And we saw the measure of these men and women who are my deputy mayors, my chief of staff, my chief advisors, my director of intergovernmental affairs. We saw who you were made of. When things got difficult and others would have fled and would have run from the challenges, you leaned into it, you stood tall, you sent messages to me and say the city needs too much, and we're going to stay dedicated and committed. I cannot thank you enough. I appreciate each and every one of you. The successes we have, they're not mine. They're yours. We did it, and we're going to continue to do it.  

I start my day with Psalm 27. And all of you, I will encourage you to do the same. But today I want to say, welcome to the heart of Harlem. To all of you that are here, I say welcome and enjoy this great city and what it has to offer. My team that's here with me, we've dedicated our lives to ensuring that this city will continue to move in the right direction. Please give them a hand once again.  

If we could have stood on these streets exactly one century ago, we would see a community of New Yorkers building their lives all around us. Black Americans from deep in the south who loaded their lives into suitcases and rode the railways north. They came from different parts of the country for freedom and for their families, for their children, for their future. New York City was a promised land. It did not promise an easy life, but it promised them a better one. In time, Harlem came into its own. A place where the Black community grew strong, Black businesses opened, and Black culture took center stage. Families went to Abyssinian Theater on 125th Street to hear the blues, the jazz, and more. The Apollo. They heard great music and legends like Duke, Billy, and Smokey perform. And witnessed stars being born on the world famous Amateur Night.  

But here at the Apollo, it was not just about the performance. It was about the audience who held their fate. Couples on first date, grandmothers dressed up in their finest, and families out for a night on the town. At the Apollo, you don't just watch the show. Like New York City itself, you are part of it. There's no Apollo Theater without the Apollo audience. Am I right? We're joined in that audience today by so many leaders who are working hard for our families in our city.  

I also want to acknowledge my colleagues in government who work hard every day in Washington, D.C., in Albany to get stuff done for New Yorkers. My great partner, Governor Kathy Hochul. New York Attorney General Letitia James, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman Jerry Nadler, and the entire New York City Congressional Delegation. And in Albany, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. And I want to thank all of our partners who serve in Congress, the State Senate, State Assembly, and City Council, including so many who were able to join us today.  

I also want to give a special thank you to all the members of the Harlem delegation for welcoming us all to Harlem today. And a special thank you to my City Hall partner, Speaker Adrienne Adams. I know she's out here. Who would have thought two Bayside-ers would be running the City of New York. Thank you for the work you have done in the City Council chambers. As I always say, we can move forward and stronger together, running the city.  

I also want to thank our district attorneys, who are keeping the city safe in the partnership they're showing with the new police commissioner, Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Bronx D.A., Darcel Clark. Brooklyn D.A., Eric Gonzalez. Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg. Queens D.A., Melinda Katz. And Staten Island D.A., Mike McMahon. In addition to all who serve our city, including our five borough presidents that are here as well, public advocate Jumaane Williams and comptroller Brad Lander. I know I saw Vanessa Gibson, Queens get the money, Donovan Richards, Antonio Reynoso. And it's good to see you, Borough President Levine. I always say that was one of the best jobs in government, you know, being a borough president. Thank you to all of our brothers and sisters.  

And finally, labor, that's in the house. I want to thank labor so much for what you do every day, including HTC, 32BJ, DC-37, CSA, 1199-SCU, and the carpenters. They brought so many members today. And we are in a union administration. Blue collar mayor, probably one of the first mayors in the history of the City of New York that was a union member. We were clear on our North Star, uplifting union members and uplifting working-class people in the City of New York. And we will continue to do that. So, to all elected officials, labor leaders, public servants, we owe a debt to the leaders who came before us.  

And today, we mourn and honor one of those leaders, President Jimmy Carter, a true public servant, a leader and humanitarian full of hope and compassion for his fellow man. We send prayers to all who knew and loved him and salute his dedication to serving others across our nation and around the globe. Thank you, President Carter, for your service and leadership. Thank you.  

It's hard to believe, but it was three years ago I took the oath of office at a time when our city was facing serious setbacks and tough challenges. COVID and chaos had thrown New York into uncertainty and pushed too many families away from this great city. Crime was surging, our economy was tanking, and our housing crisis was growing worse by the year. I told you then that there was no easy solution to these challenges. But with steady hands and bold leadership, we wouldn't just bring New York City back. We will make it better than ever.  

We started with public safety, the cornerstone of our city's success. To keep New Yorkers safe, we put thousands of new officers onto our streets and took nearly 20,000 illegal guns off our streets. We supported law enforcement with new training and benefits and unveiled a $485 million action plan to prevent gun violence. These efforts have paid off.  

Over the past three years, we have driven murders and shootings down by double digits, padlocked more than 1,300 illegal smoke shop—good job, Sheriff Miranda. And seized over 80,000 ghost cars and illegal vehicles like mopeds and ATVs. But we have not just driven down crime, we drove jobs up.  

When I think about our administration, the word that comes to mind is record. Record after record. Record jobs, record small businesses, record investments in minority and women-owned businesses. We opened the country's largest outdoor dining program, tore down hundreds of scaffolding sheds, and launched the trash revolution to move every single trash bag off our streets into containers. Great job when you were the commissioner, Commissioner Tisch.  

We brought home $2.3 billion in federal money to transform our infrastructure and created a record amount of public space for pedestrians across the five boroughs. Deputy Mayor Joshi, well done, you and your team. We put over $30 billion back in the pockets of New Yorkers, delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in tax reliefs, and unveiled Axe the Tax for the Working Class to tear up city income taxes for the working class families who need it the most.  

For the first time in city history, we extended a $3K offer to every single family who applied on time and enrolled a record 150,000 young people in our early childhood education system last year alone. We transformed the way our students learn to read and do math, connecting 15,000 New Yorkers to apprenticeships, and opening the most new school seats in over two decades.  

We shattered affordable housing records for the second year in a row, unlocked billions of dollars for public housing, and after decades of inaction, passed the most pro-housing zoning proposal in city history. Thanks to our administration and our partners in the City Council, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Dan Garodnick, real teamwork to get this done, New York City is finally becoming a City of Yes. A City of Yes. Commissioner Carrión, you did your thing. Back year after year, great job.  

New Yorkers, don't let anyone fool you. Don't listen to the noise, don't listen to the rhetoric. New York City, the state of our city, is strong. It's strong. I always say there are two types of Americans, those who live in New York and those who wish they what? Wish they could. And we're here, we're the lucky ones. Where else can you find thousands of parks, hundreds of museums, and food from every culture, all just a train ride away? Where else can you catch a parade, watch a baseball game, and ride a free ferry all in the same day? Where else can you raise such smart, savvy, global citizens? The freedom and opportunity that drew families to this neighborhood and this city have kept New York going strong over the years.  

Here's a footnote. The woman who sang God Bless America, Viktoriia Viennikova, arrived in this city a few years ago from fleeing the Ukrainian war. And she's on the stage of the Apollo Theater singing God Bless America. That is who we are, New Yorkers. That is who we are. And we want to thank Commissioner Castro from the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs for the work and commitment that he's doing, a dreamer that's now making dreams possible for other people. Thank you, commissioner.  

But there's no denying that New Yorkers are anxious about the future. Extreme costs are forcing too many people, especially working-class families, to make hard choices. Between groceries or child care, medicine or clothing, making the rent or moving out. I know because I was there with her. She worked several jobs just to raise six kids by herself. Too often we had to eat one meal a day because we could not afford three. But even though the odds were stacked against us, Dorothy Mae Adams never stopped fighting to provide her family with a better life. That is why I will never stop fighting to do the same for you and your families.  

But despite all we have accomplished, I won't stand here and try to tell you our work is complete. No, now is the time for renewed dedication and continued education. Because no matter what challenges we face, I promise you this, no one will fight harder for your family than I will and this administration that is sitting up front. It's what you elected me to do and what I ask them to do every day.  

When others wanted to defund the police, we defended them, putting more officers on our street to keep New Yorkers safe. When too many places pushed back on new housing, we stood up for working class New Yorkers, never letting the voices of no drown out the voices of need. When it was clear that our people on our streets and subways needed help, we stood up to get them the support they deserve, making their lives easier and removed off our subway system to put them in the proper care they deserve. And when Washington refused to take action on a broken immigration system, we stood up for our city and pushed back while still caring for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers.  

But we know we still have much work to do and more people to help. Too many families are still facing the same struggles that Dorothy Mae Adams and my siblings did. So today, I want to talk about how we can make New York City the best place to raise a family, the safest place to raise a family, the most affordable place to raise a family, the most welcoming place to raise a family. Our city must go further to get to the health care and housing you need, the parks and playgrounds you deserve, the education that sets your child up for success, and the chance to make the best possible life for yourself and your family.  

How can we make sure that the greatest city in the world is also the greatest place to raise a family? That starts with keeping families safe. I patrolled New York City as a police officer in the 80s and in the 90s and saw firsthand what crime and chaos can do to a city. When we came into office, we made it clear that we would not slide back into those decades, and we would not tolerate an atmosphere where anything goes on our streets. From putting more officers on the beat to tackling the quality of life issues that families care about, we have stayed true to that mission and driven down crime. The good news is that these strategies are working.  

Last year saw the lowest amount of gun violence in the history of Brooklyn, with a real partner in the Brooklyn DA's office with Eric Gonzalez. Thank you so much for what you have done. While overall crime plummeted by 15 percent in December across the entire city. But, we all know safety is about more than just crime stats. It's about being comfortable riding the subway, knowing you can send your kid to play in the park, and feeling safe walking home at night. People need to be safe, but they also need to feel safe.  

In the last few weeks, we have seen random acts of violence that have shaken many New Yorkers. That's why I'm tasking the police commissioner of the City of New York to work across our city agencies to double down on our commitment to keep riders safe, and help ensure more New Yorkers feel comfortable riding our subway. We're starting by adding hundreds of new police officers into our subway system later this month, and getting our officers out on patrol to tackle crime wherever it occurs. But it also means continuing to make the smart, upstream investments that prevent crime in the first place. That includes mediators who resolve conflicts on the street before they escalate into violence, and programs that give young people a place to play sports and build trust with law enforcement.  

This spring, we will bring on that work and cut the ribbon on the new Brigadier General Charles Young Field, or as Deputy Mayor Chauncey Parker likes to call it, the Harlem Field of Dreams. What was once a dilapidated field will reopen as a vibrant place for young people to play baseball, football, soccer, and lacrosse. It will host programming by Saturday Night Lights, the Harlem's Children's Zone, Youth on the Move, and more, and help tell the story of Brigadier General Young.  

Born in slavery in 1864, Charles Young rose up to become the first black colonel in the U.S. Army. One hundred years later, Young was finally promoted to a Brigadier General, and with this $9 million investment in Harlem, we will honor his legacy and give hundreds of families a safe place to send their children to play.  

All across New York City, we've brought a new approach to public safety by investing in our young people. We know that if we do not educate, we will incarcerate. The choice is ours to make. That is why we've connected thousands of at-risk youth with counseling and mentorship, and helped set them on the path to college and career. This year, we began a $163 million expansion of five of our most successful programs that engage young people who need extra help. Programs like Fair Futures and College Choice. The investment will help us reach 8,000 young New Yorkers and help build a safer, more equitable city for all. Our entire administration, from our police officers to our youth officers, from our firefighters to our health care workers, will never stop fighting to keep New Yorkers safe.  

Building a better city also means addressing the housing crisis that affects our entire nation and has led to far too many people living on our streets. I've seen both sides of this issue, from living on the verge of homelessness as a child to patrolling our subways as a transit officer. When we came into office, we said the days of letting people languish on our streets and subways were over. It was not safe, it was not humane, and it was not going to continue under our watch.  

Thanks to the dedication and drive of Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom and her entire team, we doubled the number of outreach staff working with unhoused New Yorkers and created new teams that brought together law enforcement and nurses. We helped more than 8,000 New Yorkers. Think about that for a moment. 8,000 New Yorkers we helped move off our subway system into shelters and committed to helping those who could not care for themselves. These efforts were not always popular, but they were the right thing to do.  

Three years later, they're working. Just ask Antonio Durham. Antonio first entered our shelter system when he was just 14 years old. Unfortunately, it was not a good fit for him, and he slipped into bad environments to sleep. And he slipped into chronic homelessness and drug use, sleeping in subway stations in the Bronx for several years. After connecting with our outreach team in December of 2022, Antonio agreed to try a safe haven bed. One that offered him his own room, personalized support, and more flexibility than a traditional shelter. And you know what? It worked. Six months later, Antonio moved into a supportive housing apartment in the Bronx. We would not walk away from Antonio, New Yorkers.  

Just think about that for a moment. 14-year-old moving into a shelter system. Feeling as though he has to go to the streets and live on our subway. If we didn't catch him, what would have happened to him? This is why we want to close Rikers, yes, but we have to close the damn pipeline that feeds Rikers. That's what this is about.  

And we're not going to give up on keeping our subway safe. Instead, we're going to double down. This year, we'll begin an ambitious $650 million investment. That's right, $650 million to tackle street homelessness in New York City. And answer three crucial questions. How can we help people on our subways? How can we help people with serious mental illness? And how can we keep families out of shelters?  

When it comes to our subways, we know what works, safe haven beds. Safe haven beds like the kind that supported Antonio are one of the most effective tools we have for helping people on our subways and streets. So, we're going to add 900 new safe haven beds and get more New Yorkers the help they deserve.  

Second, we must do more to help people struggling with serious mental illness. We can't just walk past them and act like they can take care of themselves when they can't. We know that too many New Yorkers cycle between the hospital and homelessness. So, we're going to build a new housing facility just for unsheltered New Yorkers with serious mental illness, to give them the help and care and specialized support that they need.  

And finally, can we keep families out of shelter in the first place? Having a child should be the greatest day of your life. It was for me. You should not have to worry about where you and your baby will sleep after leaving the hospital. You should not have to worry about whether your child will grow up on the verge of homelessness. But right now, we have too many expecting parents entering our shelter system. So today, we're making a new commitment to our families. No child should ever be born in our shelter system.  

This year, we'll launch a new program to connect soon-to-be parents applying for shelter with services that help people find permanent housing before their child is born. We must stop the cycle of poverty and housing instability before it ever begins and ensure mothers and babies do not go to a shelter after leaving the hospital.  

Subways, serious mental illness, shelters. That is how we make a renewed commitment to tackling street homelessness. We can do this, New York City, but we need Albany's help as well. We have seen the tragic consequences when severe mental health illness on our streets and subways go unchecked, which is why we must pass the Supportive Intervention Act. This crucial legislation will help us get those in need the care they deserve, provide assistance to those who can no longer care for themselves, and keep all New Yorkers safe. I want to thank Governor Hochul and all our elected partners who are fighting to get this done. Thank you. It is so crucial for our city.  

The housing crisis is real, and we know how to solve it by building more homes. This will help New Yorkers from all walks of life, from those who need a second chance to families who need a place to grow. Making New York City the best place to raise a family means helping even more people find an affordable home.  

When I was young, there were days when my siblings and I had to carry our clothes to school in trash bags because we were worried that we might be evicted before the day was over. My mother worked job after job to save up enough money and move us from a tenement building to a small house in Queens. But the struggle to keep a roof over our heads continued. Mom was afraid she would lose everything she had worked for. Too many families still feel that way today. That is why our administration brought an ambitious new approach to housing right from the start. DM Maria Torres-Springer described it well. Everything, everywhere, all at once.  

That means building on every block and every borough, working with every agency and every office, using every tool and every level of government to give the families homes they deserve. Since the start of this administration, we have created, financed and preserved nearly 80,000 units of housing. And connecting New Yorkers to record amounts of affordable homes as well. Not just one, but two years in a row. HPD and your team over there saw the mission, executed the mission, job well done on what you accomplished over at HPD.  

And thanks to the partnership between the Department of Veteran Affairs, Veterans Services and the Department of Social Services, we are breaking down silos within government to share data so we can make it easier for veterans to find housing. Great job, commissioner. And create a stronger safety net for those who have bravely served our country. You cannot serve foreign lands but can't find housing on your land. That is not acceptable and we're going to fight for their housing.  

But we knew that tackling our housing crisis meant going deeper. And finally, revitalizing our outdated zoning code. Thanks to an unprecedented coalition of advocates, councilmembers and city agencies, we passed landmark changes to unlock new housing and finally turned New York City into a City of Yes. Previous administrations talked about it. This administration with the City Council, we got it done. We said yes to 80,000 new homes. Yes to $5 billion for housing and infrastructure. And yes to making sure more families can afford to live all across New York City. Everywhere housing will be built. Historical moment. These are already historical achievements. But we want to go even bigger.  

We've seen too many families leave for the suburbs once children are on the way. So today, we are launching City of Yes for Families. An expansive new approach to housing, zoning and public space that will change the way we build across the five boroughs. And create more family-friendly neighborhoods. We will work across our housing agencies to build more family-sized units and more homes for multi-generational families. So that parents and grandparents and grandchildren can stay together. We will work with the City Council to build more housing alongside schools, playgrounds, grocery stores and libraries.  

With City of Yes for Families, we'll build 800 units of housing alongside a brand new library on the Upper West Side. Creating what is known as the Living Library. The largest in city history. We will also roll out new initiatives to help more people buy a home in the five boroughs. If you are paying rent every month, it should count towards your credit score. With our new initiative, it will. We will help more New Yorkers build up credit and eventually secure a mortgage for the first time. From top to bottom, we are rethinking how we use land and how we build housing in our city. That's why for the first time ever, we called a Charter Revision Commission to focus on housing. And propose changes to our city charter that will help create more homes for families for generations to come.  

When I spoke to you last year, I promised to advance 24 housing projects on public sites that would build up to 12,000 new units. But in 2024, like we always like to do, we do it bigger and better. We went even further, advancing 26 sites to build the homes families need. We also issued a landmark executive order requiring every agency to see where you can build new housing on city-owned land.  

And this year, with City of Yes for Families, we move forward with the first sites. Including over 2,000 new mixed income homes at 100 Gold Street, where many of our city staff work today. We've already introduced five neighborhood plans to build up to 50,000 homes from Brooklyn to the Bronx. And this year, we'll go even bigger and start bringing a new generation of housing to Manhattan.  

Over the decades, housing prices in Manhattan have gone up while working class families have been pushed out. So, we'll start to use the new zoning tools we secured from Albany and our City of Yes plan to add 100,000 new homes in Manhattan, reach a total of one million homes in the next decade. One million homes in the next new decade. We like to call it the Manhattan Plan.  

A tribute to this borough's long history as a place where families from all over the globe will come to start the American dream. From the brownstones in Harlem to the high-rises in Manhattan, we will say yes to more housing. And yes to a more family-friendly city. Helping families make rent or buy their first homes means helping them save money. And we are determined to do just that.  

Our city's economy may be booming, but the cost of living here is too high. Especially for working class families. That is why we launched our Money in Your Pockets initiative. An all-out, across-the-board effort to make sure the dollars you earn can be the dollars you spend. We passed a first-in-the-nation minimum pay raise for our delivery workers. Boosted pay for 80,000 human service workers. And reached contracts with 100 percent of our city uniform workforce. And yes, we will reach a contract with the SBA. Trust me, we will. Good job, Chief Counsel Allison Stoddart, for doing the great work that's needed. And thanks to the leadership of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Tiffany Raspberry, who went to Albany and successfully expanded the New York City Earned Income Tax Credit for the first time in two decades.  

To give more than $345 million back to 1.7 million New Yorkers this past tax season. But we know that working class families need more relief. And they need it now. That is why we put forward an ambitious proposal to eliminate income taxes for working class families making 150 percent of the federal poverty line or less. It's time to get rid of city income taxes for a single mother making $31,000, a family of four making $46,000, and other New Yorkers making do with less. It's very clear. Time to Axe the Tax. It is time to Axe the Tax. Let them hear it across the entire state. It's time to Axe the Tax. And we are going to make it happen. And by doing so, our axe the tax for the working class proposal will eliminate and lower city income tax bills for over 582,000 New Yorkers and their dependents.  

And it will give over $63 million back to the families that they— who are in need of it to pay for rent, grocery, child care, and more. So let's get it done, New York. Say it with me one more time. Axe the Tax. Axe the Tax. Axe the Tax. Good job. Good job, Budget Director Jacques Jiha, protecting our money and getting it done. We're cutting taxes, raising wages, and helping New Yorkers eliminate burdensome debt. Everybody's laughing and looking at Jacques, because Jacques hates spending that money.  

Our city's financial counselors have already helped more than 25,000 New Yorkers reduce their debt by $37 million. But one in four New Yorkers are still saddled with student loan debt, including many of our public servants. That is why we are launching a new program to help public servants enroll in the federal government's Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. We will help wipe out nearly $360 million in student loan debt for 100,000 city employees and family members who qualify. These employees, they give their time and their career to their fellow New Yorkers. And now we're going to give some money back to them.  

From our financial counselors to our free tax prep specialists, New York City's public servants fight every day to make life more affordable for working class families. Through our Money in Your Pocket initiative, we have saved New Yorkers billions of dollars in free summer programs, free transportation, and free internet. In the 21st century, the internet is essential for finding a job, filling a prescription, and applying for child care. But when we came into office, the digital divide was leaving too many New Yorkers behind. We launched Big Apple Connect to bring internet and cable to 150,000 houses across 220 NYCHA facilities. And help New Yorkers like Karen Davis, the Secretary of Marlboro Houses Tenant Association.  

Karen is a proud member of the South Brooklyn Royals Drumline and Dance Team and a Big Apple Connect user. The money Karen saves on high speed internet goes towards rent, supplies, and food. She uses the internet to promote her small business making centerpieces for weddings and baby showers and shares photos of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Karen, we are proud to help you save money and stay connected and keep dancing over and over.  

And I don't know if Karen is here with us, you know. Listen, I need you to convince Jordan I need some grandchildren, okay? Big Apple Connect has been a resounding success. But we want to go further and hats off to Matt Fraser, our CTO, for having this vision and making it happen. Good job, Matt. This summer, in partnership with the New York Public Library, we will launch Neighborhood Internet, a new program to bring free internet to 2,000 Section 8 and other low-income homes in the upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, all of the Bronx. And save hundreds of dollars for families.  

New York City is already a great place to raise a family, but as every parent knows, it's not always easy. Working families sacrifice every day for their children. And our city must be there to help them meet their needs, especially when it comes to child care. That is why we extended thousands of new offers for early childhood education and lowered the cost of subsidized child care. What once cost working-class families $55 a week when we came into office now just costs them less than $5 today.  

These are big savings for hardworking families. We have also worked with the City Council to unveil a $100 million investment in our early childhood education system. Cannot thank them enough for this important investment. And we really have to take our hat off to Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar's leadership and vision.  

More kids have a safe place to spend the day, and fewer parents have to choose between using an iPad as a babysitter or earning a living. child care is an essential part of our education system, a place for our children to learn and grow. Our children make us proud every day with their energy, their creativity, and their ambition. And we need an education system that helps them succeed every step of the way. And that is what you're doing, Melissa, as our chancellor. So important the task you have. You must feed the pipeline of success.  

And I know what it is to be denied, suffered from a learning disability, and the support I needed just did not exist. I was called the D student, the dumb student. I dreaded going to school most mornings. I used to say, God, please don't make me read today. I didn't discover that I suffered from dyslexia until I was in college. But the experience of seeing how government can fail our students stayed with me. It never left me. And when I go up to the Department of Corrections and I talk to those young people and I find out almost 30 percent have a learning disability. Instead of them standing on the stage [and] being the mayor or being the governor or being a commissioner, they're in correctional facilities. The crime is not only what they may have committed. The crime is what we committed to them. And we need to stop that criminology to make sure they can have an opportunity.  

This is why from day one, we focus on making sure our public schools work for every student in every district. We launched new programs like New York City Solves and New York City Reads to bring science-backed curriculums into our classrooms. And created the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning to support our multilingual students with disabilities and other young people who have too often been left behind.  

The Department of Education's FutureReadyNYC program has given thousands of students work experience in everything from building trades to finance. Putting more young people on the path to good paying careers. Today, we're proud to announce that we're adding the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital to the FutureReadyNYC network. Offering hundreds of high school students work experience in healthcare. Preparing our students for success in about more than just the ABCs, it's about the 123s. Terms like interest, credit, and debt will determine our students' success in the 21st century. But too many young people still don't know what they mean. They are wearing their success in their clothing, not in their bank accounts and their investments. We need to teach them better with their money.  

Today, I'm setting an important new goal. We will make sure that every single New York City student can learn how to save and spend money by 2030. We're going to put a financial educator in every single school district to provide workshops, counseling, and curriculum. We will open up 15 bank branches in our city schools to give students real world experience, opening accounts, saving, and investment.  

We're going to work on a new program to teach students how to manage real money and encourage them to build financial skills. We can't do this alone. Today, I'm calling on everyone, our banks, our credit unions, our private sector partners, and more to join us in this cause and help set up our children up for a lifetime of financial freedom. We can do this together. Let's make this happen. You want to get your baby off your couch in his own apartment? Tell him how to manage his money. There's no more exciting adventure place to be on the globe than in New York City. No place is more adventurous. And we want to make sure our children can be both safe and successful here.  

We're working to keep our kids safe on our streets and at our world class pools and beaches too. That is why we will expand our free water safety and swim classes to reach a total of 18,000 students, saving families over $1 million on swim lessons with this expansion alone. We want to make sure more families can spend safe, quality time together and more parents can actually see and watch the chance of their child swimming a lap across the pool without floaties. Good job, Sue, wherever you are, for what you're doing with our pause.  

And as a father, I know the importance of teaching and uplifting the next generation. We want to make sure every family has a chance to build those strong bonds. Our fatherhood initiatives helps fathers to do just that with free parenting programs, mediation, and mentorship. Today, I'm proud to announce that we're going to double the size of our Fatherhood Initiative and help us reach another 1,500 fathers and families. Our fatherhood initiative to programs that help reconnect LGBTQ plus youth with their families. All of these initiatives are what we are using to keep families strong, and we are keeping families together. A robust economy is one of the best ways to support all of these families. That is why we are fighting to ensure that every New Yorker can find a job and share in our city's success.  

That means jobs that help families buy a home, pay for college, and save for retirement. By investing in public safety, supporting working people, and bolstering 21st century industries like life science, healthcare, and artificial intelligence, our economy has seen a comeback like no other. Let's look at the numbers. Starting with a record 4.7 million jobs and a record 183,000 small businesses. Great job, Commissioner Gross and your team.  

We cut Black and Latino unemployment by more than 20 percent since the start of our administration. We brought nearly 65 million tourists to New York City last year alone. Second highest in the city's history. And can't wait to welcome for the first time the FIFA World Cup next year. Councilman Moya is just having so much fun. And we are helping people find good paying jobs in their community with JobsNYC. We held hiring halls all across the city, created a new website, and connected nearly 8,500 New Yorkers to jobs and job training last year alone. New Yorkers like Kevin Cordova. After working as a summer camp counselor through our Summer Youth Employment Program and graduating college, Kevin visited one of our JobsNYC hiring halls and accepted a position with a home health firm.  

Today, he uses the teamwork skills he learned at camp to help patients schedule appointments, get medicine, and stay healthy. Thank you, Kevin, for all you do for your fellow New Yorkers. Job well done, Kevin. Our hiring halls are just one of the ways we are ensuring New Yorkers can find jobs. Last August, we were proud to announce that we also expanded services in our Workforce One centers to help even more New Yorkers with a disability connect with a career. New York City is the best place to raise a family. It also means supporting our city's rich cultural community that offers them the best art, music, and theater right in their backyards.  

Laurie Cumbo loves that. Commissioner Cumbo. From free days at our museum to world class performances at our theaters, our cultural institutions bring families together and power our economy to strengthen our cultural sector. Even further, this year, we will designate five more organizations as cultural institution groups to ensure they get the support they need to thrive. When we talk about helping families, we must talk about strengthening our health care system, too. Keeping families healthy is essential to keeping families in the five boroughs. I remember worrying about my mother as she injected herself with insulin and grimaced each time and worrying about myself when I could no longer see the numbers on my alarm clock due to vision loss and started losing the feelings in my fingers and toes.  

My doctor diagnosed me with type 2 diabetes, but I was lucky. Health care should not be about luck. I was able to reverse my diabetes through healthy eating and lifestyle changes, but too many New Yorkers have not been as fortunate. We know that health care costs and chronic disease have put an unsustainable burden on working people with prescriptions, paperwork, and bills piling up.  

When we took office, we were clear. We didn't want to keep feeding the health care crisis. We wanted to change it. So we launched a landmark campaign to raise New Yorkers' life expectancy to 83 years by 2030. Signed more than 16,000 teenagers up for free virtual therapy and took on distributors for illegally selling flavored vapes and hooking young people on nicotine and tobacco. Thank you, Corp Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant, for working to protect our children's health and making sure they can have a quality starting life.  

Our healthcare system has expanded in other ways, too, helping more families access doula and midwifery services and becoming the first public health system in the country to help people access abortion care through telehealth, because here in New York City, we will always defend reproductive rights. Our health agencies have also helped address another major issue. Over the past three years, the arrival of thousands of asylum seekers. Thanks to our Asylum Application Help Center and our dedicated public servants, we have helped more than 178,000 asylum seekers take the next step on their journey. That is nearly 78 percent of the people who have arrived here since the spring of 2022, taking a major step and a major achievement.  

Good job, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, Molly, the whole team over there for getting it done and making it happen. And let me tell you something, international leaders came to this city to see what we were doing because they were hearing all the noise and rhetoric, what we were not doing. When they came here, they saw, they met me at Gracie Mansion, and they said, no one is doing what New York City is doing for migrants and asylum seekers to put them on a pathway of their next journey. You are a model for the entire country. Great job, team.  

The health of our people also depends on the health of our public spaces. When we came into office, we knew that it was not enough to just reopen our city. We had to remake it as well. So we brought curbside compost into the entire city, expanded our summer street programs to all five boroughs. Where's my good friend, Commissioner Rodriguez, for that initiative? Great job. Bring it to all the community. Open streets is not for Manhattan only. You made it clear. It's for all boroughs of our cities. Great job over at DOT. And invested $1.2 billion in infrastructure and resiliency initiatives to protect against the next super storm Sandy.  

Thanks to the vision of Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, we are creating a more vibrant and open New York City for families to enjoy. From Central Park to Flushing Meadows, our city parks are household names across the globe. They are where we come together, build community, and take our children to play. We have to make sure every New Yorker has that opportunity. So here's what we're going to do. This year, we're going to put another 20,000 New Yorkers within a 10-minute walk of a park, by opening more schoolyards in underserved communities and neighborhoods for use during the summer, after school, and on weekends.  

And we're not just giving families more parks. Sue and her team, they're going to make sure we're giving them cleaner ones, too. Starting this year, we will add an extra afternoon cleaning shift to 100 more hot spots in our parks throughout the city to make them even cleaner and safer for our children. From public spaces to public safety, from health care to housing, these initiatives will uplift working-class families in the years ahead.  

But in New York City, we do not measure our work in months or years. We think in terms of decades and build for generations to come. One day, when our children look around, they will see our work all across New York City. They will learn at a world-class research center on Governor's Island. They will work at a modern maritime port in Red Hook. They live on a new north shore along Staten Island. They'll cheer at a soccer stadium at Willets Point. And they will come together at a brand-new Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, soon to be known as El Centro, Kingsbridge. He could not be here but to [Congressman] Espaillat, a job well done for fighting for this to happen, and thanks to the governor for her contribution.  

From training troops during World War I to distributing supplies after Hurricane Sandy, the armory has served our city for more than a century. With the $215 million vision we unveiled this week, we'll begin work on the next chapter in this long history. Out of an empty cabin, we'll build sports fields for our children, spaces for our cultural institutions, and opportunities for local business.  

We'll create new jobs and affordable homes and give families a place to come together. Vanessa, Donovan is not the only one that can say, Queens get the money, Bronx got the money also. After decades of disrepair, we'll finally bring a powerful vision for the armory. It will bring it to life. Possibility and perseverance. That is the story of the Kingsbridge Armory, and that's the story of the people of the Bronx, and it is the story of New York City.  

As we celebrate our 400 years of New York City history, and the Lenape people who were here long before us, we must look forward to the future as well. A city where hope and ambition create new industries and opportunities. A city that is safer and more affordable. A city that has space for our families to flourish and grow. I'm determined to make life a little easier for every Dorothy Mae Adams that's out there.  

Year after year, generation after generation, let's keep this a city for families. Our families here and those who are on their way. Working class families, our immigrant families, our extended families. The greatest city in the world must be the best place to raise a family.  

That's the city we call the City of New York. And to all of you that are here today as you piled into this great Apollo Theater to watch another performance of a great city, I want to thank all of you. Challenging year, difficult year. And many thought we couldn't get through it as we continue with this amazing team to make it happen. There were some who said, step down. I said, no, I'm going to step up. I'm going to step up. That's what life presents you. She stepped up. I walked past her bedroom with the door closed and I would hear her crying. But every morning, no matter how challenging it was, she got up. Never surrendered.  

And my story is your story. I know all of you are going through hard times. ‘Cause that’s what life is. Life is hard times. But I want to say to you, even dark moments are not burials. They're plantings. Allow your planting to happen and you'll see the fruits of your labor. Mommy did it and that's why I'm mayor. Thank you.