Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray will be gently grilled on the high-priced and troubled mental health program called ThriveNYC, which she manages. A special hearing will be held this month about how people are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on ThriveNYC.
New York City (NYC) Council Speaker Corey Johnson had announced the oversight hearing Wednesday, stating he wants to make sure whether services are reaching the people who are in desperate need of mental health care.
He said, “The first lady would be welcome because we want to work with her and collaborate with her on how to help people who are struggling with mental illness and mental health problems.”
The NYC Council will be focusing on ThriveNYC during a mental health budget hearing that is scheduled on March 26.
ThriveNYC will face scrutiny for its hefty $850 million budget. The critics have questions about the program’s results and whether it offers care to those who are mentally ill.
The council speaker said that his main concern in the population. He said, “I want to make sure that those folks, if we’re upsetting such a huge amount of money, that those folks are going to get the level of care that they need.”
Johnson explained that he was not sure who would testify but that he would be happy to hear from McCray herself. He said, “I’m really glad that she’s taking this on, but at the same time, just like anything else, it has to be through the budget process. We have to look at the money, we have to make sure it’s being spent efficiently and effectively, so we’re going to ask those questions.”
A mayoral City Hall rep Marcy Miranda said the hearing was expected.
Miranda told the Pots, “Speculation about who the council may formally request is premature. The hearing was expected and is more than welcomed by the administration. We have a powerful story to tell about the need for mental health care in our city and how ThriveNYC is helping New Yorkers in a way city government has never before.”
Councilman Robert Holden said, “It’s a lot of money. We need accountability. We need to measure the impact.”
Coincidentally, on Wednesday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio was on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” defending ThriveNYC, saying the mental health initiative has “400 metrics” to measure progress. He said, “There is accountability. There are metrics. We’re explaining what we’re achieving with each one of these initiatives — but also, it’s mental health.” NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer has also raised concerns about ThriveNYC’s accountability and demanded documentation from the City Hall.
