Council Member Stevens questions living wage strategy and cultural worker wages

What accountability measures that you guys apply to these institutions, especially because they're making their own goals to ensure that they're not missing any of their equity goals or commitments or things like that?

Yeah, I mean, we definitely are in regular conversation with the organizations, the SIGs.

For the CDF, it's part of the application process.

So part of the questions that you're answering are around diversity and your commitment to it and what it looks like for you and around your board composition and what governance looks like.

That's part of how you're reviewed for grant funding.

So basically, it's just more around like if you're going to get the grant funding, like that's accountability.

Like if you're not meeting these requirements, your grant could be pulled.

Yeah, and it does, it comes up quite frequently in the conversations in the peer panels.

The action plan living wage strategy lists no actions online.

Has DCLA implemented it?

If so, can you identify the policy workers covered and the results?

Yeah, I mean, candidly, I think this is a

a huge area for growth for the agency and improvement on making an impact in this.

It's definitely really important for us under this administration and under Deputy Mayor of Economic Justice, Julie Hsu.

This is a very important area that we'll be spending a lot more time on.

Cultural workers in general and artists especially.

But you're right, there were no strategies attached to it and I think as a result it's the kind of lightest impact that came out of it and it's absolutely a priority for us.

What evidence shows whether cultural workers'wages, benefits, and job security have improved since 2017 and what impact can DCLA attribute to create NYC?

I honestly don't know that we can say that they have improved.

I think we've lived through COVID, which exposed how exactly financially precarious these organizations are, how many workers had to kind of make it through that moment.

And it's a struggle, right?

The affordability crisis is real, and I don't know that workers are experiencing a better...

Time today than they were when this plan came out, truthfully.

I think that's why we've seen a lot of cultural workers unionize over the past 10 years, which is amazing, but it is absolutely an area that needs to be deeper, deeply considered.

I just want to say I don't think we should be at a point where we're still blaming Culver for stuff.

Like, I think that we're past that, and I think...

Like, yes, I know we've been talking about affordable city, but I think we need to move from, like, this is what the problem is and actually fix it.

And we just can't keep saying we want an affordable city.

We have to start to create policy that drives that.

So thank you, Deputy Speaker, for the additional time.

And that's it is all.