As Executive Director of NYC Speaks. Dr. Shango Blake led the largest civic policy survey and engagement strategy in the the history of New York. NYC Speaks launched in December 2021 as a movement to transform city government through civic engagement. We believe a new form of government is possible when leaders engage and empower those they’re representing. This, we believe, leads to the bold and holistic solutions that are commensurate with the complex challenges we face as a city.

NYC Speaks is a public-private partnership between the Deputy Mayor’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, a consortium of philanthropic partners, and a network of community leaders and civic institutions engaging tens of thousands of everyday New Yorkers in informing the policies and actions of the Adams administration.

The citywide civic engagement initiative is lifting up policy priorities and insights across diverse NYC communities in tandem with a process to surface the best thinking from inside city government. The research that guides this work aims to identify the most strategic actions (addressing residents’ biggest priorities) by identifying the common ground issues and strategies that emerge from engaging three key stakeholder groups simultaneously: the community, the mayoral administration, and civic institutions.