NY Coalition's Mona Davids details nine months without MOECM leadership
Davids testifies for the New York Coalition of Ethnic and Community Media and says the office had no leadership, staff, or recourse for nine months. She says publishers could not get answers about disappearing city advertising or Local Law 83 compliance.
Next panel.
is Mona Davids.
That's from the group that we loved and was mentioned earlier by Council Member Stevens.
Ms.
C.
Fawadi Morris, Bob Henley, and Walter Sanchez.
Go ahead, whoever would like to start.
I don't know where everybody else is, but go ahead.
Good morning, Chair Brewer.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the New York Coalition of Ethnic and Community Media.
We want to thank you for having this hearing.
We want to thank you, the Speaker's Office, her team, as well as Simone Jones, the Chief Equity Officer for the City Council, for meeting with us and hearing our cries.
Although the council has touched on, this hearing has touched on the challenges that ethnic and community publishers have faced
this year under the Mamdani administration, I think it's really important just to quickly, before I go into our proposed amendments and recommendations for Local Law 83, but just to have it on the record
how we have suffered.
For the general public to understand what's been happening.
It has not been eight months of no leadership.
It's been nine months without leadership, staff, or recourse.
For the first nine months of the Mamdani administration,
No one was leading the office of ethnic and community media.
Publishers were left without a fund.
functioning office, a designated contact, or anyone to answer fundamental questions about the disappearance of city advertising and the city's compliance with Local Law 83.
During this period, publishers repeatedly sought answers about why advertising that had supported their businesses and helped them serve New York's diverse communities had disappeared.
Their inquiries went unanswered.
There was no meaningful point of contact, no clear explanation, and no avenue for resource.
The impact on ethnic and community media publishers has been devastating.
These are often small independent businesses, including immigrant-owned publications that have spent years building trusted relationships with their communities and sharing information about public services and city programs.
They provide news and public information in languages and neighborhoods that mainstream media frequently do not reach.
Yet for nine months, publishers were left to confront the loss of advertising without effective leadership or support from the very office established to serve the sector.