The Century Foundation, Protect Borrowers, Partners Continue Their Push for Ready-To-Go Policy Solutions for Mamdani Administration

June 4, 2026 | NEW YORK, NY — Today, The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers released their second round of ready-to-go policy solutions to make New York City more affordable for working families. The seven new policy proposals come from leading experts and advocates from around the country and take the fight directly to corporations and special interests jacking up costs for families in New York City. The first round of proposals focused on lowering costs and was released at an event with Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr., and NYC Councilmember Harvey Epstein. 

“Corporations are raking in record profits while every day New Yorkers are turning to risky credit products and debt just to keep the lights on,” said Julie Margetta Morgan, president of The Century Foundation. “The Mamdani administration has the opportunity to take a new approach to corporate accountability in the financial capital of the world and send a clear message that his administration stands with working New Yorkers and not the rich and powerful.”

“I know how licensing, procurement, and permitting authority can be used to hold bad actors accountable, because I did it at DCWP,” said Lorelei Salas, senior fellow at Protect Borrowers and visiting senior fellow at The Century Foundation. “These seven proposals take that playbook and expand it: going after wage thieves through city contracts, stopping medical debt collectors, fixing broken service of process rules that lock tenants out of their own cases. This is a roadmap for corporate accountability that the Mamdani Administration can start using immediately.”

“New Yorkers are fed up with corporations taking advantage of them with seemingly no consequences, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” said Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director at Protect Borrowers. “The Mamdani Administration can rebalance power in the city in favor of households, workers, and small businesses through a whole-of-government approach that combines enforcement with oversight, empowers everyday residents and businesses, and prevents bad actors from hiding behind bureaucracy. Adopting today’s proposals is the first step in this rebalancing.”

​​The seven proposals for holding corporations accountable are listed here:

  1. Workplace Justice for All: Empowering Communities Under Attack by Enforcing the Nation’s Strongest Worker Protection Laws By Diego Fernández-Pagés and Elizabeth Jordan, Make the Road New York
  2. Using the City’s Licensing and Permitting Authority to Improve Labor Compliance and Worker Protection By Terri Gerstein, NYU Wagner Labor Initiative
  3. Leveraging Community Based Organizations to Prevent and Address Medical Debt By Mia Wagner, Community Service Society of New York
  4. The City At Your Service: Empowering Tenants and Consumers to Challenge Improper Service By Andrea Ashburn, New York Legal Assistance Group
  5. New York City Can Protect Students from Exploitation by For-Profit Online Program Management Companies By Dr. Amber Villalobos and Carolyn Fast, The Century Foundation
  6. Strengthening Worker and Consumer Protections Through City Procurement By Shelmun Dashan and Ted Mermin, UC Berkeley Law Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice
  7. A New Law for a New Era: The Mamdani Administration Can Protect All New Yorkers Through a New Consumer Protection Law By Winston Berkman-Breen, Protect Borrowers

Contributing authors of Affordable NYC Now’s policy proposals are affiliated with the following: American Economic Liberties Project, CAMBA Legal Services, Community Service Society of New York, Fines and Fees Justice Center, Fordham Law School Feerick Center for Social Justice, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Legal Aid Society, Make the Road NY, Mobilization for Justice, National Institute for Workers Rights, Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, New York Legal Assistance Group, NYU Wagner Labor Initiative, Small Business Majority, Solar One, The Institute for College Access and Success, UC Berkeley Law Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice, and Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.

Read the release for the first set of proposals and launch of the project here.

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