Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.


Program and Job Description:

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is a world-renowned agency with a long tradition of protecting and promoting health in the nation’s most culturally and linguistically diverse city. Our 7,000-plus team members bring an extraordinary array of languages, cultures, and experiences to bear on the work of public health.

The Center for Health Equity & Community Wellness (CHECW) seeks to eliminate racial and other inequities resulting in premature mortality. With an unwavering grounding in history and structural analysis, CHECW works to increase visibility of the harm perpetuated by centuries of racist, socially unjust policy while pushing towards redress for the most impacted NYC communities. CHECW addresses inequity across community and healthcare systems in partnership with community, faith-based, and health care organizations. CHECW’s work focuses on social determinants of health, including environmental and commercial determinants, and addresses both upstream and downstream factors to improve health and well-being of New Yorkers. CHECW is comprised of the Bureau of Bronx Neighborhood Health, the Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health, the Bureau of Harlem Neighborhood Health, the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention, the Bureau of Health Equity Capacity Building, the Bureau of Equitable Health Systems and the Bureau of Finance, Administration, and Services. The division’s Deputy Commissioner also serves as the Agency’s Chief Medical Officer.

Job Description

The Bureau of Health Equity Capacity Building implements collective action strategies to build community power and expand community capacity to address health inequities and the social determinants of health. The bureau includes the Policies and Partnerships Unit, including work on housing, faith-based initiatives, healthy food environment, and a team focused on Southeast Queens; the Behavioral Health and Resiliency Unit, including work addressing gun violence prevention, violence as a public health issue, behavioral health at the neighborhood level, and trauma response; and the COVID Equity Unit, which houses grant- and city-funded programming centering community voices and actions in emergency response. The bureau also houses work on narrative change.

As the Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau, you will be responsible for the following:

- Provide leadership for more than 90 staff and oversee strategic direction, programmatic development and oversight, monitoring, evaluation, and budgeting/contracting across all bureau areas.
- Partner and collaborate across the division and agency to advance a coordinated approach to increase capacity and readiness of community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and other institutions to address health and social priorities and inequities for marginalized neighborhoods across NYC.
- Provide guidance and visionary leadership in developing and articulating strategies to address structural racism, social determinants of health and social well-being.
- Proactively apply an equity lens to all bureau work, working with leadership and staff to integrate an anti-racism and racial equity lens across programming and policy areas
- Collaborate with teams in support of funding proposals for development, implementation, evaluation and/or maintenance of new and existing program streams
- Lead efforts to pivot COVID-19 response to COVID-19 recovery, specifically with a lens to community resiliency, chronic disease prevention and management, and connections with health and social services
- Collaborate with intra- and inter-agency colleagues to lead and implement place-based strategies to address housing, gun violence, mental health crises and strengthen community resiliency.
- Support efforts to establish a Queens neighborhood team providing long-term programming and community engagement work to three neighborhoods in Southeast Queens
- Identify and establish partnerships with key external stakeholders to develop models and interventions for improving health outcomes for priority neighborhoods.
- Represent the Bureau/Division/Department to government and non-government partners, including maintaining strong working relationships with city agency programs, community-based organizations, providers, and the communities of NYC.
- Serve as a key advisor to the Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioners, and other leadership staff in the agency.

1. A master’s degree from an accredited college in emergency management, public health, disaster management, emergency preparedness/administration, public administration, or a related field and three (3) years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one or a combination of the following area(s): emergency preparedness planning/management, emergency medical services, fire safety, law enforcement, homeland security, public health, environmental/occupational health and safety or a related specialized area; including eighteen (18) months of experience in a managerial, consultative, administrative or supervisory capacity. Supervision must include supervising professional staff in one of the areas described above; or

2. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and four (4) years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one of the areas described in “1” above, including eighteen (18) months of experience in a managerial, consultative, administrative or supervisory capacity. Supervision must include supervising professional staff in one of the areas described in “1” above; or

3. A satisfactory equivalent combination of education and experience as described in “1” or “2” above. However, all candidates must have a baccalaureate degree and eighteen (18) months of experience in a managerial, consultative, administrative or supervisory capacity. Supervision must include supervising professional staff in one of the areas described in “1” above.

Demonstrated success as a strategic leader capable of designing and driving community engagement strategies and program transformation in a large health equity-oriented program or organization. Demonstrated knowledge about and experience in public health principles, and with specific knowledge pertaining to Social Determinants of Health, Social Well-Being, Violence as a Public Health Issue, Food Security /Sustainability, Housing and Health, Behavioral Health, and Trauma and Resiliency. Proven experience in creating and implementing new programs with measurable outcomes. Demonstrated ability to develop and implement creative solutions to resource, policy, and political challenges. Creative problem-solver who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment, highly motivated and able to coordinate multiple projects/tasks. Superior decision-making skills, including demonstrable critical thinking skills and impeccable judgement. Ability to develop and work with budgets and other financial records. Ability to direct monitoring and evaluation of programmatic work. Highly collaborative team player able to build effective relationships across sectors. Skilled negotiator with ability to compromise. Skilled public speaker, able to represent the Health Department Able to work effectively in a high-pressure, time-sensitive, political environment Must be responsive, possess effective people skills, and can build and maintain effective working relationships across programs and with employees at all levels Ability to demonstrate a professional, positive attitude and work ethic

Except as otherwise provided herein, a person serving in a mayoral agency in any of the following civil service or office titles shall be a resident of the City on the date that he or she assumes such title or shall establish city residence within ninety days after such date and shall thereafter maintain city residency for as long as he or she serves in such title: agency heads, including but not limited to Commissioner, Director and Executive Director, First Deputy Commissioner, Executive Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, General Counsel, Borough Commissioner, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Associate Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, and other senior level staff titles, identified on a list established pursuant to section 2(b) of this Order.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.