Queens Council Member Nantasha Williams joined advocates in calling for an elevated Fee on Human Rights finances for fiscal 12 months 2026.
Shea Vance
Dozens of group advocates and native leaders gathered for a rally on the steps of Metropolis Corridor Friday morning to name on the town to extend funding for the New York Metropolis Fee on Human Rights.
The group, which included Queens Council Member Nantasha Williams and representatives from the Truthful Probability for Housing Coalition, the New York Human Rights Regulation Working Group, the Authorized Assist Society, the Anti-Violence Undertaking, and Make the Street New York, known as on Mayor Eric Adams so as to add $6 million to CCHR’s fiscal 12 months 2026 finances.
“Across the country, we’re witnessing a rollback of fundamental rights, from attacks on voting access and LGBTQ+ protections to the criminalization of protest and book bans targeting marginalized voices,” Williams, who’s the chair of the Committee on Civil and Human Rights, mentioned on the rally. “Congress has failed to pass meaningful protections like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act or comprehensive protections for transgender Americans. In this vacuum, cities like New York must step up to not only protect, but expand human rights infrastructure.”
A $6 million improve to the CCHR’s finances would deliver its complete annual finances to $21 million and exempt the fee from hiring freezes. In accordance with advocates for the finances improve, New York’s major limitations to human rights protections aren’t resulting from missing techniques or laws, however missing funds and metropolis assist. Council Members Shaun Abreu, Shahana Hanif, Sandy Nurse, Selvena Brooks-Powers, and Keith Powers have additionally backed the proposed finances improve.
Reggie Chatman, the Director of Public Coverage at Fortune Society’s David Rothenberg Heart for Public Coverage, served because the rally’s emcee and known as on the town to assist the fee in its battle towards discrimination in housing, employment, and “public accommodations of all types.”
CCHR is accountable for the enforcement of the town’s Human Rights Regulation — probably the most strong native human rights legal guidelines within the nation — and Title 8 of NYC’s Administrative Code. With out correct funding, audio system on the rally mentioned, the fee is ineffective.
“A city cannot call itself a sanctuary if it does not fund the mechanisms of protection,” Williams mentioned. “CCHR must be equipped to meet this moment with the power to act swiftly, investigate thoroughly, and educate broadly.”
Robert Desir, a housing justice advocate with the Authorized Assist Society, mentioned the Metropolis Council’s December passage of the Truthful Probability for Housing Act, which went into impact in January. The laws seeks to get rid of housing discrimination towards people with prior convictions.
“Passing the law is only the first step, what matters now is effective, well-resourced implementation,” Desir mentioned. “Enforcement can’t wait.”
David Orkin, a staff’ rights legal professional on the immigration advocacy group Make The Street, spoke of the pressing want for human rights legislation enforcement given a rising pattern of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions in NYC.
“New York City has one of the strongest human rights laws in the country. But without a well-funded Commission on Human Rights to enforce them, those laws are meaningless,” Orkin mentioned.
Laura Horvath-Roa, a employees legal professional with the Anti-Violence Undertaking, known as for the finances improve to assist NYC’s LGBT group, significantly transgender and non-binary people, who’re “not being supported by federal agencies.”
“The current administration has swiftly foreclosed many of the available avenues that advocates have to seek redress for discrimination against the LGBTQ community, leaving the New York City Commission of Human Rights as really the only meaningful forum for our clients to seek redress for discrimination,” Horvath-Roa mentioned. “As the federal government abandons protections for the transgender community, CCHR has become a critical safeguard for LGBTQ New Yorkers.”
The State Division of Human Rights, Horvath-Roa mentioned, is “notoriously slow” in addressing complaints, leaving the CCHR as a vital useful resource for New Yorkers.
After Horvath-Roa spoke, Director of the Mayor’s Workplace of Administration and Finances Jacques Jiha walked previous the demonstration and into Metropolis Corridor. The group chanted “fund CCHR!” as Jiha, the previous Division of Finance Commissioner walked by.
Rebekah Prepare dinner-Mack from the Authorized Assist Society mentioned that although the proposed $6 million improve could be sizable for the CCHR, it’s solely a small fraction of the town’s complete finances, noting that the rise would complete lower than one % of the town’s projected annual finances surplus.
“CCHR provides an essential service to New Yorkers and CCHR cannot protect New Yorkers without public investment,” Prepare dinner-Mack mentioned. “But it can do a lot of good with very little money.”
