Leaderless Mayor’s Fund Won’t Say How Much It’s Raised for Journalists-of-Color Scholarships

Mayor Eric Adams’ nonprofit organization that funds special initiatives has been without a staff director since February — stalling at least one of the mayor’s promised programs.

In July 2023, Adams pledged to raise money to support diversity in journalism via his nonprofit Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, providing an online link for donations and setting a target of $500,000 within a year.

But when asked by THE CITY Tuesday about progress toward that goal, Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, who chairs the nonprofit’s board, said that the organization is in a “transition” after its executive director left in February.

She did not say how much if any money the fund had raised for the promised scholarships.

A spokesperson for the mayor, Ivette ​​Dávila-Richards, did not address the question of how much money was raised, posed in multiple emails from THE CITY.

Once a new head is brought on, the Mayor’s Fund will “be embarking on a heavy fundraising” push for the scholarships, Almanzar said.

Former executive director Marcella Tillett resigned in February , seven months after Adams announced the Diversity in Journalism Fund — and weeks after a contentious board meeting where she questioned the “loyalty” of the other members.

“Once a new executive director has been named, that individual will be tasked with fundraising to implement the administration’s goals to encourage more young people of color to pursue careers in journalism through scholarships that will expand access to educational opportunities,” Dávila-Richards said in a statement.

“The Mayor’s Fund is continuing to engage with potential funders for this specific initiative.”

Adams announced the journalism effort last July as a way to bring more New York City students into a field he has criticized as being too white.

“Unfortunately, too many newsrooms still do not look like the communities they cover, with Black, Brown, Asian-American, and so many other communities underrepresented in our press corps,” he said.

The Adams administration was already talking with “leading journalism schools across the country” to find ways to cross-promote the fund, the mayor’s office stated in the press release last year.

​​Dávila-Richards did not share any of the schools the mayor’s office spoke with.

Surprise Departure

The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City began in 1994 as a not-for-profit organization that works with city agencies and the private sector to raise money for city initiatives. Over the last 30 years it’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars and supported dozens of causes, from support for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack to COVID relief and help for asylum seekers.

In 2022, during Adams’ first months in office, the fund raised $4.4 million for victims of the Twin Parks fire in the Bronx. Some fire victims sought more clarity on where the money was going.

The Mayor’s Fund’s most recent IRS filings, for the year through June 30, 2023, showed it distributed $3 million in cash assistance to Twin Parks victims along with more than $1 million for food assistance.

It also showed that revenue for the fund dropped from more than $19.4 million the previous year to just over $10.8 million, ending the fiscal year with a nearly $1 million deficit.

The fund spent $430,914 on a Boulder, Colo.,-based nonprofit strategy group on consulting, according to the filings.

A month before Tillett left her role — in a departure described as a surprise — she questioned the loyalty of the board members in a tense Jan . 26, 2024 meeting .

She stressed to meeting attendees their ”duty of loyalty which requires that we place the interest of the organization above our own interests.”

Board member Bill Heinzen, who is special counsel to the mayor, questioned what she meant.

“What’s the implication?” he asked. “Do you feel that some board members — possibly including me — are not being loyal?

Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, a board member who also serves as commissioner for the Department for the Aging, said the remarks “didn’t ground me in the way you intended it to.”

“If anything it made me think, what’s going on here? Is this something going on here that’s not apparent?” she said.

“I am quite clear of the dual and multiple roles I play.”

Tillett could not be reached for comment. A City Hall spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment from Heinzen and Cortés-Vázquez.

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