New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed a deputy mayor for community safety who previously worked at a George Soros-funded lobbying group that was anti-police, according to a report from the New York Post.
Renita Francois, 42, was appointed on March 19 to the “Office of Community Safety.”
Francious was formerly the chief strategy officer at Tides Advocacy, which has rebranded as “Beyond Impact,” a 501(c) 4 social welfare organization that has supported abolishing police and jails, among other things.
The group received over $50 million over 10 years from Soros’ Open Society Foundation, the NYPost reported.
I campaigned on a commitment to create the Department of Community Safety, an unprecedented, whole-of-government approach to making sure every New Yorker is safe in our city. We just took a major step towards achieving it.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) March 19, 2026
Today, I signed an Executive Order creating the Office… pic.twitter.com/EXzhKbYbtL
In 2021, the group said that it helped elect Abdullah Hammoud, the first Muslim Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, according to its 2022 impact report.
The advocacy group also supports abortion, “community-led solutions to violence,” and climate action. She previously spent six years working at the NYC Mayor's office of criminal justice, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Mamdani's new deputy for community safety helped run Soros-funded group that backed abolishing cops and jails https://t.co/omO9ugXTyj pic.twitter.com/pJ3FBVes2M
— New York Post (@nypost) March 28, 2026
Francois will work with the new Office of Community Safety, which includes the Office of Crime Victim Services, Office to Prevent Gun Violence, Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and Office of Community Mental Health. Francois will oversee hundreds of millions of dollars and will coordinate citywide mental health crisis response programs and interagency community safety committees, according to a city press release.
“The cornerstone of a dignified life is true community safety — and that safety is built through relentless investment in the services that keep New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Our administration will not wait for change, we will build it. With the creation of the Office of Community Safety and the appointment of Renita Francois as Deputy Mayor, we are taking a decisive step toward a city where everyone, in every neighborhood, can live free from violence. Renita will lead this work with clarity, compassion and an unwavering commitment to New Yorkers too often left behind — from families confronting gun violence to people navigating mental health crises, hate crimes or substance use issues.”
Mamdani created the new office via executive order No. 15. The office aims to reduce gun violence, provide long-term solutions to those seeking mental health issues, and implement "evidence-based violence prevention programs."
Francois welcomed the new position.
“The evidence is clear: addressing what ails our communities, whether that be crumbling physical infrastructure, social disconnection, or lack of access to economic opportunity, is how we best ensure that our communities are safe. Yet, for decades, these communities have been left waiting. That ends today,” Francois said in a statement. “I’m proud to join the Mamdani Administration as Deputy Mayor for Community Safety and to develop the vision for the Department of Community Safety. Every New Yorker from Highbridge to Stapleton to Bushwick deserves to feel safe and be safe, and we will invest the resources to ensure well coordinated responses rooted in dignity and care, centered in community and informed by the experiences of those closest to the solutions meet our fellow New Yorkers who need it most.”
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