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Mamdani Pledges $26M Annually to Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes at Shavuot Reception — 800%+ Increase Over Baseline; Cites Jews as 12% of Population but >50% of Hate-Crime Victims

May 19, 2026JNS | Cleveland Jewish News | JTA | Forward Official
Read the full story at JNS | Cleveland Jewish News | JTA | Forward
Summary

At the Mon May 18 Shavuot / Jewish American Heritage Month reception at Gracie Mansion — the same event UJA-Federation and JCRC-NY boycotted over the Nakba video — Mamdani announced his FY27 executive budget will allocate $26M annually to the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, an 800%+ increase over the prior baseline (~$3M/yr). Mamdani: Jews comprise ~12% of city residents but 'more than 50%' of hate-crime victims in NYC. The line item is the largest single FY27 expansion fulfilling Mamdani's Jewish-voter-outreach campaign pledge. Phylisa Wisdom (named exec director Feb 2026) leads the office. Context: pledge made to a sharply diminished room — Police Commissioner Tisch, Comptroller Levine, MBP Hoylman-Sigal, UJA, JCRC all absent; Satmar (Rabbi Niederman) attended. Outcome metric (Q1 hate crimes UP 11.7%) has not moved; the spending commitment is the lever Mamdani is leaning on.

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