Rana Abdelhamid testifies for Intro 208 and MENA disparity study

Okay.

Good afternoon, council members.

Nice to see you as well.

Actually, a lot of us are here on behalf of the New York Middle Eastern and North African Coalition, and we're a coalition of organizations across New York State and New York City that represent the needs of North African and Middle Eastern New Yorkers.

And we're here to support Intro 208.

So I'll read my testimony.

So my name is Rana Abdul-Hamid.

I'm the founder and executive director of Malika, which is a Queens-based organization that has worked for nearly two decades alongside immigrant, working-class, Muslim, Middle Eastern, and North African New Yorkers.

I'm also the daughter of Egyptian immigrants born and raised in Queens, and I'm here today to testify in support of Intro 208, in support specifically of a disparity study for the MENA community.

At its core, the disparity study would simply ask the question, who has access to economic opportunities created by our city and who's being left out?

For many MENA New Yorkers, the problem has been that the city has not even had the data necessary to adequately answer that question.

Despite the fact that for generations, Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers have contributed, you all probably have gone to a deli and met an ak, or had a halal cart food, so you know,

have contributed to the business ecosystem of the city, we still are not included in many of these studies.

We want to make sure that our businesses are...

counted and that we can measure the number and the realities that impact MENA-owned firms across the city.

That's why this disparity study matters.

This legislation does not ask the council yet to presume what the data will show.

It just asks the city to collect the data and to look.

We appreciate already the commitments made from SBS and this current administration to include MENA-owned businesses in the next disparity study,

but we want to make sure that this is a legal requirement that is codified into the law because we understand that administrations change, commissioners change, priorities change, but the legislation will make sure that our communities are counted despite any changes that might happen.

And so today I urge the council to pass Intro 208 to permanently codify the inclusion of Middle Eastern and North African businesses in future disparity studies.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rana.

I really appreciate your testimony.

It's good to see you.

Good to see you.