In a startling revelation, a recent report found that former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, oversaw nearly $900 million in taxpayer funds without recording how the money was spent. The funds were allocated primarily through the former First Lady's "ThriveNYC" mental health initiative— a program launched to address the city's mental health and homelessness crisis. However, audits and investigations into the program revealed a lack of transparency, with many expenditures unaccounted for and little oversight into how the money was being spent.
The revelations came during a city council meeting where legislators noted the program’s slow response times. During the meeting, it was discovered that the disgustingly large amount of money spent on the Thrive program produced no actual benefits. The program initially had a budget of $250 million per year but has seen disappointing numbers regarding the number of people it has impacted. As Politico reported, only 570 of the estimated 12-15,000 mothers who experience postpartum depression have been helped. Of the 78,000 newborn deliveries New York City sees annually, just 28,560 of those new mothers have been screened, and only 570 women diagnosed with the condition were reached by the program.
McCray appears not to have kept a single receipt and cannot account for what she spent the $900 million on. Still, Thrive director Susan Herman claimed the program will now cost $1 billion every four years.
Queens Councilman Robert Holden told the New York Post that New York City residents have not seen a single improvement regarding the ongoing homelessness crisis on the city’s streets and its subway system.
“The situation is not improving. It’s actually getting worse,” he said.
According to the Politico report, the program distributed 189,070 anti-overdose Naloxone kits to hospitals and syringe exchange programs between July 2016 and October 2018. However, no data were collected on how many of the kits were used or on the effectiveness of the outreach efforts.
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