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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Edna Wells Handy, Founder and President of National Institute for Section 3 Empowerment (NISE), on Section 3 Federal Mandate
4:18:40
·
5 min
Edna Wells Handy, founder and president of the National Institute for Section 3 Empowerment, testifies about the importance of Section 3, a federal mandate that requires portions of federal funds for housing and disaster recovery to be used for training, jobs, and contracts for low-income, public housing, and youth bill participants. She emphasizes the billions of dollars available through this program and outlines a roadmap for implementation.
- Handy presents a 40-page testimony and offers to meet with council members to discuss modeling Section 3 programs in their developments.
- She explains how to track Section 3 opportunities through NYCHA board minutes, the controller's Checkbook, and the NYCHA tracker.
- Handy stresses the need for universal knowledge, full participation, and vigorous enforcement of Section 3.
Edna Wells Handy
4:18:40
Good afternoon chair banks, chair bran Branion, and members of the public housing and finance committees.
4:18:46
My name is Edna Wells Handy and I'm the founder and president of the National Institute for Section three Empowerment.
4:18:54
You've heard twice already today about section three and we want to underscore the importance of that section, that federal mandate with with the council.
4:19:05
You have a copy of my testimony.
4:19:06
It's almost 40 pages.
4:19:09
I thought the two minute was a suggestion.
4:19:12
So I would like to follow-up with meeting with each of you to talk about how we could model a section three program in your development.
4:19:23
But I ask for your indulgence as I give you this road map on high level so you could see the importance of this.
4:19:29
I speak passionately about it.
4:19:31
I was a former DCAS commissioner.
4:19:34
I was the first acting chief compliance officer for NYCHA.
4:19:38
I was part of the federal monitor, the first federal monitor of NYCHA.
4:19:42
And I grew up in the Morrissey projects until I graduated from law school.
4:19:50
Now I tell people, had I known about section three, you'd be hearing from Edna Wells Law Firm as opposed to Edna Wells of the National Institute.
4:19:59
But the point of it is there is power in section three.
4:20:05
There is talent.
4:20:07
There is opportunity that is being left on the table.
4:20:12
We're not here asking you for money.
4:20:13
We're here telling you there is money on the table.
4:20:16
There are billions of dollars on the table connected to federal three federal section three's mandate that says you must use portions of federal funds, housing, disaster recovery for training, jobs, contracts for low, very low public housing and youth bill participants.
4:20:38
And the road map is there on the table.
4:20:41
So we spent time setting up the National Institute.
4:20:45
Our goal is threefold.
4:20:47
May I have a few minutes more, mister chairs?
4:20:50
Yes.
4:20:51
Thank you.
4:20:51
I'll speak faster.
4:20:52
To we will seek to achieve universal knowledge of section three.
4:20:57
We even have swag.
4:20:59
I would have gotten one from each of you but we didn't know about the ethics so I'm just gonna make it part of my testimony.
4:21:05
Full participation, vigorous enforcement, what gets monitored gets done.
4:21:12
It came out of the out of these after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
4:21:17
It has been on the books.
4:21:19
It is there for the taking.
4:21:21
How?
4:21:22
If you'll follow me with your packet on page three, you start out with follow the contract, the contract that is approved by NYCHA board.
4:21:34
You have the board minutes of the NYCHA board meeting on April 30.
4:21:39
Here we have the award of roofing contracts, five hundred of two thousand hours, section three.
4:21:45
Award of delivery of quality contract of pump and motor, 12,000 of the fifty thousand hours.
4:21:54
Increased capacity of somebody because these these are the minutes.
4:22:01
I'm only gonna what's here in a minute.
4:22:03
12,000 of the 39,000 section three hours.
4:22:08
They are telling you these are all section three hours.
4:22:11
What else do you have?
4:22:12
You have the chief procurement officer saying, it even applies to law firms.
4:22:17
Clearly, that's dear to my heart so that there are hours connected to a law intern.
4:22:23
And then finally he says, the chief procurement officer, that his $5,000,000 contract, the projected section three hours, thirty thousand hours out of a 20,000.
4:22:36
So that's the first place you start.
4:22:38
Here are the contracts.
4:22:40
Where do you go from the contracts?
4:22:42
Well, I'm saying to you, it's here.
4:22:45
Checkbook from the controller's office tells you where the contract is, where it's registered.
4:22:51
We suggest you also suggest to the controller that they add this is the section three contract.
4:22:57
The second place to go to is the NYCHA con NYCHA tracker.
4:23:01
NYCHA, n y NYCHA tracker.
4:23:04
This tracks over 500 projects, capital projects by NYCHA.
4:23:12
And in each one, it goes through your district.
4:23:15
It tells you all the contracts in your district.
4:23:18
It tells you the where it is in your district, where is it the planning process.
4:23:23
It is opportunity for each and every resident association, resident association president, you, the public, to find out where these contracts are.
4:23:34
Why is it important?
4:23:35
Because it will tell you we are at the construction stage.
4:23:39
We need this many staff.
4:23:43
It has a staffing plan connected to it.
4:23:45
You can monitor that plan.
4:23:47
And I know I'm taking others' time and I'll I'll Let
Justin Brannan
4:20:50
Yes.