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February 17, 2016
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Commissioner Nisha Agarwal of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs today met with members of ethnic and community media as part of the Administration’s efforts to broaden its reach across communities in the five boroughs in order to keep New Yorkers better informed. At the roundtable, the Mayor discussed a new directory with the names and contact information of ethnic and community media that will be used by City Agency communications staff, the City Council, and Borough Presidents’ staff to share op-eds, press releases and other information with publications that serve a broad and diverse readership. In addition, the directory also will function to allow City agencies to create more focused ad campaigns for target demographics.
The Mayor and Speaker also discussed ways to deepen engagement with ethnic and community press through interviews and roundtables, as well as new initiatives underway by the City to better engage with New Yorkers with limited English proficiency. Among the new initiatives is the creation of Language Access Cabinets at key City agencies, comprised of senior level communications staff, that will focus on ensuring all New Yorkers are able to seek City services in their own language. Commissioner Agarwal also announced that New Yorkers can call 311 and say “language access” in the language that they speak to log a complaint if they did not have access to interpretation when seeking key city services.
Lastly, the Mayor announced three new seats in City Hall’s press rooms available for ethnic and community media.
The Mayor thanked members of the media for their continued work keeping New York City's diverse population informed, and the City Council for working with the City in addressing the needs of all New Yorkers.
Further information about recent language access announcements can be found here.
NYC’s Language Diversity:
Intranet Directory of Community and Ethnic Media:
Administration’s Ad Buy Spending:
Investing in Language Access:
Results of Increased Spending:
Language Access Cabinets:
City Hall Press Corps:
pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov
(212) 788-2958