Both City Hall and IBO suspect the Office of Management and Budget included fewer programs in the City Hall version, accounting for the difference. It was honorable work, it didnt cost very much and it filled up the spouses free time. Its wrong, and it needs to stop, Reynoso said. But even in spite of that the city has decided to increase the budget of the program which is expected to spend $5 billion in the next five years. In fact, the mayor said Wednesday, McCray should get paid, but for widely accepted nepotism rules forbidding such an arrangement. Hajia4Real tops Twitter trends following U.S. jail reports, Sulley Muntari, Agyeman Badu, Asamoah Gyan, others visit Christian Atsus family home, VIDEO: Government will be fully involved in providing Christian Atsu a befitting burial Dr. Bawumia, Christian Atsus mortal remains arrive in Ghana via Turkish Airlines, Maybe I created enemies along the line Kofi Amoabeng on UT Banks collapse, Christian Atsu was one of Ghanas finest personnel Akufo-Addo. @NYCMayor and 'co-mayor' wife @NYCFirstLady have wasted $1.8B of taxpayer money https://t.co/gT7Lb67zI0, Brooklyn Republicans (@KingsCountyGOP) March 1, 2019, https://twitter.com/CGasparino/status/1101548456999616512, "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." How about the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort six years, uncountable delays and billions of dollars later? But there are other mysteries out there, too. City officials, for example, could not say how many people have been connected to treatment after calling the citys new mental health hotline, because fewer than 10 percent agree to a follow-up. With opaque budget and elusive metrics, $850M ThriveNYC program And because Thrive encompasses a variety of initiatives some new, some already in existence across more than a dozen agencies, it is difficult to establish a central, line-item budget delineating how the city is spending taxpayer dollars on the program. Four years later, no one seems to know what that money was actually used for, according to the New York Post. The site said it had tried and failed to acquire a line-item budget from Thrive, and the two budget breakdowns it had seen showed wildly different numbers. According to the Daily Mail, Thrive said it has developed a list of 417 metrics to measure how effective the program is moving forward, but asked to assess its impact so far, Politico said the data was piecemeal and showed a largely failing picture. People are allowed to call anonymously, and the calls are confidential. The data also showed almost 190,000 Narcan kits were handed out to hospital where opioid use is common, but there is no evidence of how many were used. That escalated the situation, he said. But the budget discrepancies illustrate the difficulty in tracking Thrive. 19:12 GMT 01 Mar 2019. Its revolutionary, Mr. de Blasio told CNNs Symone Sanders during a recent forum at Harvard University. Facebook is heavily censoring information from independent sources. Stop the censors, sign up to get today's top stories delivered right to your inbox. Market data provided by Factset. She took a mental health first aid course in October 2014. So far, almost all of the information on follow-up care comes from the limited cases in which a social worker and psychiatrist have been sent to visit the person. Wife of Corrupt NY Mayor Bill de Blasio Makes $850 Million of Taxpayer The mayor and first lady have falsely declared stigma rather than lack of services as being the major barrier faced by the seriously mentally ill thereby justifying the diversion of funds to public relations campaigns rather than services, DJ Jaffe, executive director of Mental Illness Policy Organization, an advocacy group, wrote in an email. Sign up for our free email newsletter, and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop. McCrays office provided The CIty with names of eight full-time employees whose salaries added up to about $1.1 million. De Blasio and 'co-mayor' wife have wasted $1.8B of taxpayer money Fast-forward to Wednesday, when the City Council was startled to discover that McCray and Team Thrive are closing in on having spent an eye-popping $900 million since the program's inception and nobody seems to have a clue on what. Its safe again and were having a lot of fun over there. | Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office. Bill de Blasio's wife cant account for $850 million allocated to her Updated: 02/27/2019 05:14 PM EST Since its inception in 2015, ThriveNYC the city's sprawling $850 million initiative to address a variety of mental health issues has operated without much. Twenty-nine hospitals responsible for more than 78,000 newborn deliveries each year representing nearly seven in 10 births in the city committed to screen all new mothers for maternal depression. Thrive NYC is really best understood as a tale of two cities initiative, said Stephen Eide, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and an expert on homelessness and urban policy. However, it does not show whether programs met or surpassed their goals, and whether New Yorkers are better off for it. Chris Pleasance for MailOnline, Surge of $100 bills in circulation is linked to criminals around the world trying to hide their money, Michelle Obama rules out running for president because she wants to 'make room' for next generation and reveals she 'sobbed for 30 minutes' during last flight on Air Force One, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' (Hes kind of busy, she said. But the co-mayor made performance promises when he initiated the Renewal program, few of which even remotely were met, and presently gravity prevailed: The program caved in on itself. I first saw the story online under the title: "Bill DeBlasio's Wife Reportedly Loses $850 Million of Taxpayer Funds! DE BLASIO EXTENDS STATE OF EMERGENCY IN NEW YORK FOR ANOTHER 30 DAYS, "That article [referring to The City story]didn't take into account the work that's being done," de Blasio said. Were US Rail Workers Instructed to Bypass Railcar Safety Inspections? The city would not make McCray available for a recent interview. Even as the city has poured money into mental health programs and training, nonprofit directors said they still struggle with providing treatment, citing inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates and even less generous reimbursements from commercial insurers. It is a hard thing to measure, because its never existed before, Ms. McCray said in an interview at Gracie Mansion last month. But now, that money cannot be accounted for, and . Belkin maintains the program has been an overall success. De Blasio bemoans nepotism laws keeping his wife from collecting a City salary Chirlane McCray is the face of ThriveNYC an $850 million dollar administration initiative she helped design. Chirlane McCray, de Blasio's Wife, Is Questioned Over His She is routinely visible around de Blasio at times when he is making high profile announcements and administration appointments. It is not, in the end, just about money. Breaking, Federal Appeals Court Rules Ohio Can Enforce Ban on Aborting Babies With Down Syndrome, Biden, Dems Have Found a Creative New Way To Mess With The Election, They're Calling For Virtual Voting, Are You Working For CNN? Trump Goes Off On Fox News Reporter For Parroting Democrat Talking Points, Democrat Frontrunner Joe Biden Says His Running Mate Could Be Michigan Governor Whitmer, In One Of The Worst Moments In The History of TV News CNN Decided To Not Air Trump's Start To The Daily Briefing. It's gone. Four years later, no one seems to know what that money was actually used for, according to the New York Post. That is, once upon a time, first spouses were content to pretend to be in charge of prettifying highways and things. Its about trying to give people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged access to the same kind of mental health care that people in upper middle income or affluent communities have enjoyed as a matter of course for a very long time.. Follow me on Twitter @kwadwo_dost, Ghanaian songstress and actress Hajia4Real. Head of content and Editor-at-large at Ghanafuo.com Dickson Ofori Siaw is a blunt writer who loves to make his readers see "the other perspectives of a news story". Bill de Blasio's wife can't account for staggering amount of taxpayer money that the NY Mayor gave her for mental health project Bill de Blasio's wife Chirlane McCray cannot explain where $850million given to the mental health program she champions has gone, according to reports. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. How many other big-bucks initiatives are in similar straits is unknowable mostly because bureaucrats never blow the whistle on themselves and also because Gothams formal watchdog, city Comptroller Scott Stringer, is among the most incurious individuals ever to hold the office. New York has given up on policing drugs, and the city suffers, David Paterson is right Mayor Adams needs to get tougher. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Some have closed their doors; others have chosen to stop providing mental health services. The mayor, for his part, has brushed off questions about his wifes activities in his administration, making no apologies for her high-level role in city business. TheNY Postreports that among multiple failed programs and bad accounting, the figure is actually not $850 millionbut rather $1.8 BILLION! That Stringer could sleep through it all is the real scandal; why does the city even have a comptroller, if thats the standard of performance? Repeatedly presented by City Hall as a four-year $850 million plan, city officials now say $560 million will have been spent in that time. He was told a team like that could not come for at least a day, maybe two; for immediate help, call 911. Laura Ingraham has even called it a "scheme". But over the course of two years between 2016 and 2018 the hospital screened a little over 28,000 patients and just 570 were offered help, a fraction of the 12,000 to 15,000 who were estimated to need care. De Blasio says the questions smack of sexism, that McCray is a key decision-maker, and it should come as no surprise that she plays a role in staff picks and high-profile initiatives. For all the talk, the initiative has been less sweeping than envisioned: A third of the budget has not been spent, according to an analysis of city data by The New York Times. Mayor Bill de Blasio's Wife Loses $850 Million Dollars. Susan Herman does the day-to-day management and makes the decisions, Ms. McCray said when asked about her role, adding that her role was to amplify ThriveNYCs message to the public., Pressed on how much of the programs budget went to the seriously mentally ill, Ms. McCray responded by questioning how that category is defined. Initially, his son refused to cooperate. Thats because there never was any doubt what the program was about. By The program has made more than 7,800 referrals to outpatient treatment for those individuals between August 2015 and November 2018, according to city numbers. Well, he didnt actually say rathole, and the price tag has doubtless been lowballed but he also had no credible explanation for the debacle, nor did he apologize for it. De Blasio cancels high-costing Renewal school program, With opaque budget and elusive metrics, $850M ThriveNYC program attempts a reset, Chirlane McCray's 'Thrive' initiative on track to spend $1B in 5 years. But there are other mysteries out there, too. But the co-mayor made performance promises when he initiated the Renewal program, few of which even remotely were met, and presently gravity prevailed: The program caved in on itself. The programs at issue ostensibly are meant to assist particularly challenged people the helpless, often homeless, mentally ill and small children whose futures are forfeited because they landed in shamefully nonfunctional schools, an experience from which they will never recover. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. But if she were getting paid, people would likely question whether he appointed her to a paid position to enrich his family if shes not getting paid, then everyone knows hes not doing it to enrich his family.. McCray is the proprietress of ThriveNYC, a mental-health-related something-or-other created four-plus years ago to give a little heft to the conceit that Bill and Chirlane were elected as co-mayors which is nonsense on stilts. | AP Photo. All rights reserved. REPORTS: Bill DeBlasio's Wife Has "Lost" $850 MILLION of Taxpayer Money! Borderline socialist New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio's wife has lost a staggering amount of money and now people are demanding answers. We need all agencies involved in this issue because all agencies touch it, Belkin said. Right up there with co-Mayor Bill, who started the week on his own sour note announcing that his signature Renewal school program was closing up shop after pounding $773 million down a rathole. Please check your email inbox to confirm your message and send it to our editorial team. Of those 7,811 referrals for people with serious mental illness meaning they can be a risk to themselves or others Thrive does not track whether those individuals received care or continued with it. De Blasio and co-mayor wife have wasted $1.8B of taxpayer money, Frankly Im surprised its not much more considering these two incompetent lazy stoners are at the helm. Frustration over Thrives veteran outreach program spilled over into a tense Council hearing just this week. So, what are the right measures?. Instead, the metrics list the number of individuals in state psychiatric centers 68 and individuals incarcerated 170 from Nov. 24, 2018 to Nov. 30, 2018. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, was given $900 million to start a mental health initiative focusing on helping the homeless in the city. Again, though, no data was available on the number of people referred or the outcomes of the treatment. Only 28,560 new mothers were screened between September 2016 and October 2018, according to Thrives data. But over the course of two years between 2016 and 2018, the hospital screened a little over 28,000 patients and just 570 were offered help, a fraction of the 12,000 to 15,000 who were estimated to need care. Later, she wondered aloud whether her work with men like Mr. Abreu would be enough. But the interaction is not therapy, cautioned Dr. Anitha Iyer, who helps oversee the call center. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios wife, Chirlane McCray, was given $900 million to start a mental health initiative focusing on helping the homeless in the city. To serve that population, the city is spending $12 million a year on the NYC-WELL hotline not including nearly $11 million spent on advertising in 2017, mostly to promote the service. He receives regular visits from a psychiatrist and a peer counselor. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, was given $900 million to start a mental health initiative focusing on helping the homeless in the city. De Blasio did not say hed pursue a change in the law and acknowledged there were good historical reasons for the rule. . David Woodlock, president of the Institute for Community Living and a former top state health official, praised Ms. McCray for her courage in taking on mental health issues. Were US Rail Workers Instructed to Bypass Railcar Safety Inspections? That Stringer could sleep through it all is the real scandal; why does the city even have a comptroller, if thats the standard of performance? Full Media Blackout: Bill de Blasio's Wife Can't Account For $850 Bob McManus harshly assessed the program's effectivenessfor the New York Post: The NY Post reports that among multiple failed programs and "bad accounting", the figure is actually not $850 million but rather $1.8 BILLION! WHERE'S THE MONEY BILL? NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio's Wife "Can't Account I think that would be the difference: not simply how many people youre screening or youre training, but what impact that actually has on their life.. That is, reversing Bloomberg administration plans to shut down 100 miserably malfunctioning schools, thus saving the jobs of barely competent teachers and administrators and shutting up small bands of noisy parents who loved the schools despite their failings. That it should happen in a single week is worse its an embarrassment. https://twitter.com/davej08/status/1101441406667771904, https://twitter.com/WNYGeek81/status/1101500859299627008, harshly assessed the program's effectiveness. It is not, in the end, just about money. Bill de Blasio wife: Meet Chirlane McCray. But she cant get paid, so she is doing it as a volunteer.. STOLEN? NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio's Wife "Can't Account For" $850 MILLION Ms. McCray implores those she meets to take the course, which includes discussions and role playing. The call center, operated under city contract, took over the old Lower Manhattan offices of a city suicide hotline known as LifeNet, a service with calls that peaked at 105,000 in 2014. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to defend first lady Chirlane McCray against backlash on Wednesday after it was discovered she had private staff that's getting paid millions in. Im not sure anybody does.. Bob McManusharshly assessed the programs effectiveness for the New York Post: So, ipso presto, co-Mayor Bill coughed up enough cash to break a pack mules back and sent it off to co-Mayor Chirlane who then went forth to cure Gothams mental-illness problems. Four years later, no one seems to know what that money was actually used for, according to the New York Post. Speaking to the Post,Queens Councilman Robert Holden told theNew York Post: "I like the fact that money is going toward mental health, but when they say we're seeing a benefit in all areas, I take exception to that, because I don't see it everywhere. This principally is on the co-mayors, of course, but it is also on Stringer who wants to be mayor, but who shrinks from demonstrating that he deserves the job. People are being asked to do more in this system that is not built for expansion, he said. Not all of the programs in her plan were new. Of the 19 events, only three were advertised as being open to questions from reporters. Im more than confused and more than surprised on this newfound interest on something that we have been talking about for four years, de Blasio said. Seven mayors attended a 2017 national mental health conference in New York City.