Int. No. 1740
By Council Members Adams, Rosenthal, Miller, Gibson and Ampry-Samuel
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to demographic diversity within the fire department
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Title 15 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 15-141 to read as follows:
15-141 Firefighter demographic diversity. a. The department, in consultation with the department of citywide administrative services, shall develop and implement a plan for ensuring that the racial, ethnic, and gender demographics of the department’s firefighters reflect that of the city’s population as a whole. Such plan shall address the targeted recruitment and retention of diverse firefighters and shall include, but need not be limited to:
1. Identifying and remediating obstacles faced in the recruitment, examination, training, hiring, and retention of female firefighters and firefighters of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, including through surveying current and candidate firefighters regarding personal experiences within the department;
2. Implementing recruitment campaigns, including the use of online, print and billboard advertisements, that target the hiring of female firefighters and firefighters of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds; and
3. Maintaining a full-time staff of outreach coordinators to support the recruitment and retention of female firefighters and firefighters of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, such unit shall attend career events, provide assistance and support for female firefighter candidates and firefighter candidates of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and coordinate mentorship programs for female firefighters and firefighters of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds.
b. Reporting. The department shall post a report on its website by March 1st of each year regarding the department’s efforts to implement provisions contained within subdivision a of this section during the preceding year. Such report shall include but need not be limited to:
1. An overview of the department’s efforts to recruit and retain female firefighters and firefighters of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, including reference to all related budgetary expenditures for such efforts;
2. The projected increases in the percentage of female firefighters and firefighters of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds within the department following each of the upcoming three testing cycles;
3. The number of recruitment events that department representatives attended or held, disaggregated by type of such event;
4. The number of distinct recruitment contacts made with prospective firefighters who are female or of diverse ethnic or racial background, disaggregated by gender and race;
5. The number of individuals who participated in department programming offered to support individuals in preparing for the fire academy and the candidate physical ability test, disaggregated by program offered and further disaggregated by gender and race; and
6. The percentage of candidates within the fire academy who participated in offered mentorship programming, disaggregated by gender and race.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately after it becomes law.
JDK
LS #8512; 8513; 11089; 11090; 11091
07/17/19