Mayor de Blasio Appoints Sarah Sayeed as Senior Advisor to The Community Affairs Unit

June 11, 2015

NEW YORK—Mayor de Blasio today appointed Sarah Sayeed as a Senior Advisor in the Community Affairs Unit. Sayeed will specialize in issues related to the city’s Muslim community, coordinating with City agencies to determine how to best serve Muslim New Yorkers and building on the City’s existing network of outreach and engagement to improve communication and delivery of services.

“I am proud to welcome Sarah, with her strong background in community engagement and interfaith outreach, to her new role as Senior Advisor. Sarah will work with the Community Affairs Unit to further engage the Muslim community in the genesis and formation of City policy,” said Mayor de Blasio. “New York’s robust and vibrant Muslim community is an integral part of our city, and Sarah’s strong ties will help City Hall better connect with our Muslim brothers and sisters across the city to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.”

“Over the past year and a half, we have built strong links with New York City’s Muslim communities on important issues from pre-K to paid sick leave to school holidays,” said Marco Carrión, Commissioner of the Community Affairs Unit. “I am pleased that Sarah will be utilizing her experience and insight to make sure the city’s Muslim community is both heard and served by city government.”

“I am honored to be given the opportunity to connect New York City’s extraordinarily diverse Muslim communities with City government,” said Senior Advisor Sarah Sayeed. “I look forward to working with partners across the city to connect this rapidly growing community to the policies, programs, and services that they need.”

In her role as Senior Advisor, Sayeed will assist the Community Affairs Unit in expanding its outreach to the City’s Muslim community, bringing local insight on matters pertaining to City policy, ensuring services are culturally-appropriate and accessible to all New Yorkers, and informing the way City leadership and Agencies conduct outreach and service delivery for Muslim communities. Sayeed will work closely with several Mayoral offices and Agencies, including the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Department of Education, the Police Department, Department of Housing Preservation and Development, New York City Housing Authority, and Administration for Children’s Services. This appointment is the most recent step by the de Blasio administration to further engage Muslim New Yorkers around issues such as universal pre-K, combating bias crimes, IDNYC, and sustainability.

About Sarah Sayeed

Sarah Sayeed most recently served as Director of Community Partnerships for the Interfaith Center of New York, working to foster interfaith dialogue, civic engagement and community outreach across the five boroughs. Prior to her work at the Interfaith Center, she taught communications and cultural competency in health care at the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. Sayeed’s research on communications, addiction and treatment within the adolescent and Muslim communities has appeared in numerous books and journals. In 2014, she was recognized by the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau, Council Member Jumaane Williams, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for her service to the city’s immigrant communities and her support of the Police Department.

In addition to her professional work with faith communities, Sayeed also serves as a Board Member for Women in Islam, Inc. and is a member of CUNY Dispute Resolution Center’s Advisory Group. She is also a member of the Islamic Society of North America Mosque Development Committee. Sayeed received a B.A. from Princeton University, where she studied sociology and Near East Studies. She is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication, where she completed both her master’s and Ph.D.