Domestic violence advocates, attorneys raise concerns about new Office of Community Safety executive order

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT STATEMENT REGARDING MAYOR MAMDANI’S EXECUTIVE ORDER 15:

The Domestic Violence Project (DVP) stands strongly opposed to the Mayor’s decision in Executive Order 15 to move the Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) under the new Office of Community Safety’s (OCS) oversight. This decision strips our field of needed agency in city government by lumping us into a structure where our work does not belong. 

The restructuring introduced by EO15 displays a fundamental misunderstanding of domestic violence services and best practices. ENDGBV is being placed under a broader “Division of Neighborhood Safety” that treats DV and community violence like a monolith. But DV occurs in private behind closed doors, not in the shared space of a neighborhood. It’s different not just in how it’s carried out, but also in how we treat it.

For instance, initiatives like mental health-specific emergency response and quality-of-life investments inject resources into de-escalation,  public spaces, and community-led response to public safety. The EO does a commendable job prioritizing those solutions to making NYC safer without compromising equity. But none of these tactics bring that same proactive approach to the root causes of domestic violence. 

We need to be investing in tools that better educate, identify, and protect survivors whose experiences don’t intersect with the community spaces and safety initiatives under the new OCS’s jurisdiction. With proper funding, DV programs like ours can help a survivor and their children separate from an abuser BEFORE it escalates to the point of calling 911. 

We worry that this executive action could signal a reversal of progress by directing city resources away from community-based services that address the unique needs of DV in culturally informed and specialized ways. This is especially important now as we are witnessing immigrant survivors becoming less likely to call for help out of fear of ICE involvement.

We are disappointed the Mayor did not see fit to speak with the experts in the DV field before making this decision. We call on the administration to reconsider so that our most vulnerable neighbors can better receive the support they need to achieve true safety.

For further press inquiries on this and any topics, please contact Aidan Keefer at [email protected] or call (646) 923-8309.