Mayor Mamdani on Thursday appointed Afua Atta-Mensah, who was a top official on his mayoral campaign, to head the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice.
Atta-Mensah was the senior political director during Mamdani’s general election run. She led outreach efforts to Black voters, a demographic the then-candidate struggled to win over during the primary election.
Mamdani praised her as a “friend” and one of his “most trusted advisers” at a Harlem press conference announcing the appointment.
“We will chart a new course from City Hall,” the mayor said. “One where racial equity is pursued with seriousness and intent, where agencies and offices will work collaboratively and where deadlines will be met, as opposed to ignored.”
He also said that the office under Atta-Mensah would release a charter-mandated, long overdue, citywide racial equity plan by his administration’s hundred-day mark.
Arva Rice, president of the New York Urban League and former interim chairperson of the NYPD’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, said at the press conference that Atta-Mensah’s ascent to the role was a “signal that this administration is not just talking about fairness, it is building the infrastructure for success in implementation.”
Atta-Mensah’s appointment comes as the Mamdani administration has faced some criticism for not having a Black deputy mayor. Mamdani won the mayoral race despite his struggles to win over many older Black voters, who during the campaign expressed hesitation about his candidacy.
Asked if putting her in the role was a response to that criticism, Mamdani said he was “proud of the team that we have assembled.”
“This appointment speaks to the excellence in Afua Atta-Mensah’s record and in her vision for what it can look like to fulfill not just the statutory requirements of this mayor’s office, but frankly, the need across the city to advance an agenda of racial equity and justice,” he continued.
Mamdani’s schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, is Black, as is his director of intergovernmental affairs, Jahmila Edwards.
The Office of Equity and Racial Justice was created under ex-Mayor Adams in 2022. Atta-Mensah will replace Sideya Sherman as chief equity officer and commissioner of the office.
