Chair Salaam questions MOCA on restorative justice, interagency work, and startup challenges
Chair Salaam asks about MOCA's restorative justice work, interagency collaboration, and startup challenges. Wisdom reports MOCA has not yet done restorative justice work but supports partner agencies doing so. She describes convening the interagency task force and sees building the new office as an opportunity rather than a challenge.
This is a follow-up.
Has MOCA done any work in the restorative justice space, and how much does MOCA focus on?
on education as a tool for rehabilitation?
MOCA thus far hasn't.
Again, previously, you know, we were sort of picking up a very new office and looking at what that work will look like throughout the administration.
I know that our colleagues are, you know, PHC in particular, but also the entire administration, New York City Public Schools, other agencies are thinking very seriously about how to infuse restorative justice practices in their work, and we will support them in that.
Can you describe for us in more detail about how MOCA collaborates with other offices or agencies?
What portion of MOCA's work focuses on interagency collaboration and coordination versus direct engagement with the communities?
So one of the things that we are tasked with doing by executive order is to convene an interagency task force on anti-Semitism.
So that task force, which we have picked up, again, I had previously met once, so there was an enormous set of norms to follow through with.
But we are meeting with representatives from each agency and ensuring that there is a feeling of a cohesive working group on this topic that is regularly meeting, sharing best practices with each other, and infusing this work into the rest of
the work the agency is doing to combat hate of all forms.
And MOCA is a relatively new office.
Are there any startup challenges or questions you are still facing?
Thank you for that.
I think in a new administration in general, we're all figuring out what our offices look like in this admin.
This office in particular, as you noted, is just over a year old.
And so we're really building its work in some ways from scratch.
Recommend taking the report that was left for us before, but really building up policies and practices that make sense within the Mamdani administration.
So I don't think we're seeing it as a challenge.
I think we're seeing it as an opportunity to be really thoughtful and deliberate about what kinds of policies and programs and budget allocations would best serve our diverse communities.
And I think
After year one, when we've been through a budget and we are fully staffed, we'll just continue to see this work grow and iterate.
Absolutely.