New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched the city’s first-ever community hiring effort, which will leverage more than $1.2 billion in city contracts to create job opportunities for underserved New Yorkers.
Community hiring allows the city to use its purchasing power, set hiring goals across city procurement contracts, and build on the success of existing project labor agreements and agency-specific hiring programs, according to a news release.
The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) released the city’s first-ever request for proposal (RFP) subject to community hiring, which will result in an estimated $1.2 billion in contracts for security guard services and fire safety personnel throughout the five boroughs.
The contracts awarded under this RFP contain a community hiring goal for 40% of the labor hours to be performed by individuals who live in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) housing or in a ZIP code where at least 15% of the population lives below the federal poverty threshold.
“Today, we are sending a clear message: if you want to work with the City of New York, you need to put the community first,” said Adams. “With this landmark RFP, we are bringing real, good-paying jobs to our neighbors in NYCHA and to ZIP codes across our city that have been forgotten for far too long. Together, we are building the economy of the future in a city where opportunity reaches every block, neighborhood and borough.”
Once the RFP is awarded, the resulting contracts will provide an estimated 10 million hours of prevailing wage job opportunities for NYCHA residents and residents of low-income communities over the five-year contract term. Job opportunities include security guards, security guard supervisors, field inspectors, field managers, and an emergency action plan and fire safety director.
New hires will be provided with 40 hours of no-cost training as part of their employment. OCH will work closely with DCAS to ensure that the vendors are able to access the talent they need and that New Yorkers in search of opportunity can connect with available opportunities.
Additionally, DCAS, in partnership with MOCS and the Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, are continuing to use procurement opportunities to drive equitable economic development by increasing minority- and women-owned business enterprise (M/WBE) utilization. The RFP will require city agencies with under $1.5 million in annual spending on security guard services to solicit from a pre-qualified list of M/WBE firms.
“As we embark on this groundbreaking initiative, we're not just awarding contracts, we’re investing in the future of our communities,” said DCAS Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock. “By prioritizing community hiring, we’re ensuring that municipal opportunities are accessible to those who need them the most. Today marks a historic milestone in our journey towards increased equity and inclusion for all New Yorkers, where we turn our contracts into catalysts for positive change.”
