NYC Department of Social Services

On this month’s?M/WBE in the Mix, we introduce you to Carter Lard, founder and Chief Executive Officer, of Carter Lard Consulting. If you attended this year’s Annual Citywide Procurement Fair, you might have noticed Carter on our panel titled?Positioning for Partnership|Contracting for Community. Carter Lard Consulting were among the first attendees at our inaugural DSS/HRA/DHS M/WBE Matchmaking Event: Connecting to Human Service Contracts and have joined us every year since. ? At our M/WBE Matchmaking Events, Carter has made connections with Human Service Providers which resulted in contracts and most recently manifest in a partnership with a nonprofit that has enabled his firm to become our first M/WBE Human Service Provider. Carter Lard Consulting’s story is proof positive that there is a place for M/WBEs and M/WBE partnerships across all scopes and levels of City contracting. ? To learn more about becoming a City-certified M/WBE, please visit here:?https://lnkd.in/eDspzrmX?If you’re already certified, and want to join DSS/HRA/DHS and our partner organizations in providing goods and services to New Yorkers in need, please email us at?[email protected] or visit our?M/WBE Resource Page to learn about additional programs and resources we’ve developed to bring you into our mission: https://lnkd.in/gKkSJRiY

“SNAP is a really essential benefit and it's critical that we maintain it for the well-being of those who depend on it to feed their families every day.”—NYC DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park To learn more about SNAP funding and how critical it is to New Yorkers, read the article below in Gothamist: https://on.nyc.gov/4160M4Q #FarmBill

Last month, DSS’ Latino Heritage Committee hosted its annual celebration with the theme “Pioneers of Change – Shaping the Future Together” at the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building. The program featured distinguished speakers, musical performances by the group Son Borincano, and a luncheon buffet of traditional food from Latin America. Watch here https://on.nyc.gov/3ZnDkyy.

DHS Chief of Shelter Operations Iris Rodriguez celebrated Thanksgiving with the families at a Brooklyn shelter operated in partnership with Samaritan Daytop Village. DHS helped a record number of households move out of shelter this year and while many families will be celebrating Thanksgiving in their new homes, we are putting together special celebrations for families in shelter during the holidays as we double down on our efforts to connect them to housing. Watch the coverage of the celebrations at NY1 Noticias here: https://on.nyc.gov/3Ba3NGu

Do you receive NYS public benefits? SNAP, Temporary Assistance or Cash Assistance, homeless shelter, utility/rental assistance, or SSI? We’d like to know what works for you.?Please take a few minutes to take the survey; your identity will remain anonymous: https://on.nyc.gov/4eDvTI2

On November 18th, HRA’s Career Services: Pathways to Industrial and Construction Careers (PINCC) hosted a hiring event at partner Consortium for Workers Education (CWE) to support recent graduates of the Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) pre-apprenticeship program and other women looking to work in the construction trades. Participants received on-site resume and interview assistance to prepare them for same-day interviews and interacted with several unions and employers in construction, manufacturing, and building maintenance, including Building Skills NY, District Council 9 IUPAT, Local 28 Sheet Metal Union, C+C Apartment Management LLC, Brooklyn SolarWorks and Metro Group.

#DiversityThursday helps to create a workplace where employees feel accepted and protected. We can foster inclusion by addressing Tone Policing comments like “Calm down so we can discuss this like adults.” Learn more about Tone Policing and How to Stop it: https://on.nyc.gov/4fzGhBH

Helping NYers experiencing street homelessness starts with a simple question: “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” Help us help NYers in need. Join our #HOPE2025 survey of NYers sleeping on the streets. Learn more and sign up: https://nyc.gov/hope

Commissioner Park joined a coalition of New Yorkers, including advocates, elected representatives and city leaders to rally support for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity which proposes historic pro-housing zoning changes to create more housing in every community. New York City is in a housing emergency, and the need for deeply affordable housing opportunities is even more dire. We’re leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to connect low-income New Yorkers to stable homes, and helped a record number of households move out of shelter last year. But today, there are nearly 10,000 households that qualify for rental subsidies but are still in shelter because they’re struggling to find housing in an increasingly constrained market. City of Yes offers the most promising solution to the city’s severe affordable housing shortage. Learn how this proposal could impact your neighborhood: https://on.nyc.gov/4i5OpvI

This past Friday, the DSS M/WBE Program Team gathered at City Hall with our colleagues from across New York City agencies, elected officials, and program advocates to celebrate the City’s remarkable progress in awarding contracts to certified Minority- and/or Women-Owned Business Enterprises.?Congratulations?to Michael Garner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of M /WBEs, Commissioner Dynishal Gross of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, and Lisa M. Flores of the NYC Mayor's Office of Contract Services and their respective teams, as well as all the hardworking procurement and program staff across the City. And special thanks to Assemblymembers Rodneyse Bichotte and Inez E. Dickens for their tireless support in the New York State Legislature. ? Here at the NYC Department of Social Services, NYC Human Resources Administration, and NYC Department of Homeless Services, led by our Commissioner Molly Wasow Park and the M/WBE Program Leadership Team (Raymond Daniel Medina, Lisa Morris, Vincent Pullo, and Karen H. St.Hilaire), we are celebrating our own record progress in bringing M/WBEs into our contract pipelines. To learn more about joining our mission and working with us and our for-profit and non-profit and human service provider partners, please email us at?[email protected]?or visit our M/WBE Resource Page at?https://lnkd.in/gKkSJRiY.