QUESTION
Council Member Stevens Asks DYCD About Economic Development Program Origins and Progress
0:57:48
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86 sec
Council Member Stevens inquires about the origins and progress of the Department of Youth & Community Development's (DYCD) Economic Development Programming. Deputy Commissioner Mike Bobbitt responds by explaining the significance of community needs assessments, especially the expansive 2020 review that identified previously unaddressed needs like business startup assistance. This led to the relaunch of the program to directly address these emerging priorities in community support.
Speaker 1
0:57:48
This is the 1st cycle of the economics development programming.
0:57:51
During the demands for this programming, coming out of the knobs, what made this a pressing issue, and how was the program pro progressing in the last 2 years with the contract?
Speaker 3
0:58:02
Thank you for the question.
0:58:03
What made it pressing issue?
0:58:06
I shared some of this in my earlier testimony about the NDA initiative being able to adapt So one thing I had mentioned, some years back, the way the needs assessments were conducted was fine, and I think you could call it a good participatory budgeting or a participatory voting process.
0:58:26
There'd be a list of programs that NYCD had been funding and residents would say which program they want.
0:58:32
And that's fine.
0:58:33
However, when we revamped the community's assessment, 2016, we began to ask the question directly what are the highest needs in this community.
0:58:42
And there was a broad range of needs.
0:58:45
We'll send you the 2020 communities assessment report again, so you can see there's maybe about 30 different indicators of need.
0:58:53
And when we started asking in a more granular way.
0:58:56
We ask questions that if we hadn't asked, we wouldn't known like assistance starting a business.
0:59:01
And so when that emerged as one of the highest priorities from communities where we need to have a direct response, and this is one of the highest priority needs.
0:59:10
And so that was the creation.
0:59:12
For the relaunching rather.
0:59:13
Sorry.