Chirlane McCray's ThriveNYC program shuns the homeless

NY Post


The head of first lady Chirlane McCray’s embattled mental health program, ThriveNYC, claimed that it doesn’t have an abnormally high staff turnover rate — even though the plan’s own data says it’s 40 percent.
“I don’t think our attrition rate or turnover rate is higher than most city agencies,” Thrive director Susan Herman said at a Bronx press conference Thursday announcing the program’s expansion into 13 city libraries.
The city tracks its employees using a “separation rate” that includes retirement as well as firings and departures. From 2008 through 2017, the average separation rate for NYC government staff hovered around 7 percent.
The Administration for Children’s Services, which struggles to keep employees in jobs handling cases of abused children, had a 10 percent turnover rate between 2014 and 2017.
The Post reported last week that the average time a staffer at the $1 billion ThriveNYC program stayed in their position since the program started in 2015 is just 10.5 months, despite generous average pay of $104,000, according to program data obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request.
A ThriveNYC spokeswoman pointed out that if new staff who were added when the program opened a dedicated office in January are not taken into account, the average tenure jumps to 18 months. That’s still nearly half as long as the average 36 months ACS workers stay in their jobs.
McCray and Herman were at the Bronx Library Center announcing a new initiative called “Spaces to Thrive” that will provide mental health workshops in libraries, a dedicated bookshelf on the subject, and a public information campaign.
But the $45,000-a-year Spaces to Thrive initiative won’t include any outreach to the homeless who often seek shelter in public libraries.

 Yeah, I know this story is about Chirlie's overpaid aides doing narrative control about the scandalous Thrive program but the last line here deserves more attention.