Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks to Announce the New Girls Empowerment Center in Brownsville

October 11, 2021

Video available at: https://youtu.be/9HfszA0Zyb4

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Everybody, let's thank Ebonie and everyone who does amazing work at the Lower East Side Girls Club, extraordinary example to all of us. Thank you. Everybody, we're doing something crucial today, necessary today, long overdue today. Because I want you to know, when people have come forward to me and talked about Brownsville, they've talked about a community filled with strength, filled with beauty, filled with potential impossibility. But a community that let's be blunt, this city has overlooked for decades and decades. And it has been time for a change for a long time. And there are many authors of that change. And we're here to celebrate the fact that something different, something new is happening.

I want to tell you about one of them, young woman named Ahimisa Moses. At a town hall meeting in 2017, she said to me that the young girls and young women of Brownsville needed a place for them. And she was right. She was right. And I heard her voice in my ear. And then I heard a powerful and persistent voice. I'm looking at her right now, Congress Member, Yvette Clarke.

[Applause]

Yvette Clarke, and I are from the same family. We happen to have different mothers and fathers, but we're from the same family. And Yvette and I have served in public life, including in the City Council together. So, when she speaks, it means an immense amount to me. This is one of my dearest friends in public life. And she said to me, over and over again, the City must invest in Brownsville, must right the wrongs of the past. It must start by focusing on our young people.

[Applause]

If we're going to fix everything that was broken in the decades and even centuries before, it begins with reaching our youth. And we rightfully spend a lot of time talking about our young men. And for so many of us, that's why we fought to end stop-and-frisk and all the other affronts to our young men. But we need to spend time thinking about our young women and what they need also. And that's why this is so important. This gathering today., so many members of the community who have made such a difference. I want to look around. First of all, before I mention any other dignitaries, look around you, please. Look around at all the people who care about this community, love this community, make a difference in this community. Give your neighbor around the applause, turn and give your neighbor a round of applause.

[Applause]

But this is a big deal. This is a big deal. This is serious resources that will make a serious impact, not just for a few years, literally for generations. And we'll reframe the future of this community. This beautiful community, finally beginning to experience the good it deserves. Now this is such an important moment that we not just have people here from Brownsville or Brooklyn or New York City. We have visiting dignitaries, my friends. Congress Member Robin Kelly, and Congress Member Bonnie Watson Coleman, thank you so much for being with us. Your presence means a lot to us.

[Applause]

And I want to say to Congress Member Yvette Clarke, she led a coalition of powerful women, including Assembly Member Latrice Walker and Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel.

[Applause]

Who's now going to be a federale. She jumped up two levels there.

[Applause]

Whenever I see Alicka, after she is sworn in her new office, I'm going to say yes ma'am, thank you ma'am, right away ma'am. All of the elected officials who are here in support, including our sister from the Bronx, Vanessa Gibson, thank you for your solidarity. Council Member Farah Louis thank you for your solidarity, everyone who's here. But I also want to tell you about someone who doesn't seek headlines but does a lot and has loved this project and helped to shepherd it through. You got to come out where we can see you, Phil, come forward. Come forward. Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, come forward.

[Applause]

No, no. Stand where all the other dignitaries are so people can see and praise you. This is the guy who made it happen inside the Byzantine bureaucracy of City Hall. He made sure that the money stayed in the budget. Thank you, Phil Thompson.

So, now let's talk about that. We're not going to get something great done with just a few dollars. If we are going to do something great for the community, we have to invest real money. If we're going to take the amazing model of the Lower East Side Girls Club, I've been there, you go there and you feel hope and possibility. We're going to bring that hope to Brownsville. It's going to take real money. Helping our young people to be up to date, even over the horizon in STEM, learning about the technology of the future, preparing them to be great for the jobs that will come. That takes some real resources. And our young women will lead the way. As we know, young women have faced discrimination in so many forms, including in the technology field that will be the future. But here they're going to get the education and the support to be the technology leaders of tomorrow. You're going to see young women from Brownsville leading the future of this city.

[Applause]

Before I make the final statement here, I want to thank everyone. Because in addition to the work you're doing to move this community forward, you fought through the greatest crisis in New York City history in the last year and a half. Everybody here had to fight through a crisis none of us could have imagined. Every single one of you stood strong, helped each other. Everyone who was out there, everyone who is a health care hero, or a first responder, thank you Inspector for all you do. Everyone, Inspector Anderson, thank you. All the first responders, everyone who saw us through this crisis, everyone who got vaccinated, everyone who helped someone else get vaccinated. Everyone who helped us overcome COVID, that act of solidarity resonates. You went through something no previous generation was asked to go through and you came through with strength and dignity. So, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You helped us over come. We got some more work to do, but we are going to leave the COVID era behind us once and for all everybody.

Having said, all those words, don't you believe that actions speak louder than words? You know, we always say we want a greener future. That doesn't just have to mean environmentally. We want a greener future, because that means also, we want some resources for a good cause. So, Yvette Clarke, will you join me please and bring your colleagues with you? Because we have a little presentation here. Now you may be thinking to yourself, this is not the kind of check you can take to the bank. You'd have a point there. But it represents the kind of check you can take to the bank and the money that is in our City budget. And so, there is one of my inspirations right there. Thank you, I need some. Congress Member Clarke, don't be shy. Are you ready? I'd like to present to these great leaders, these women who have made such a difference and are going to help the next generation of young women and girls to move forward and be the pride of this community, I would like to represent and provide on behalf of the people of New York City, a check for $120 million for the Brownsville Girls Empowerment Center.

[Applause]

I want to just say, I don't know why the DJ chose the Cha-Cha Slide for this heroic moment? I thought something a little more triumphal, like an anthem or something. But okay, that works too. But Congress members, thank you. You being here means so much to us. Let's thank these great women who are helping to lead our nation along with Congress Member Clarke. And everyone, there is not going to ever be in the history of the city, a better use of $120 million than for the Brownsville Girls Empowerment Center. Congratulations to all.

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