Journalist Aurora Martinez interviewed Maria Torres-Springer, the incoming President of the Revson Foundation and Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s Transition Co-Chair, for Documented. The conversation took place at the NYCETC conference, where speakers, including Torres-Springer, focused on the connection between pathways to good jobs and affordability.
Aurora Martinez: We can start from your own personal experience. How has that shaped your vision for housing, affordability, economic development, workforce policy in New York City? And how do you see that shaping up in a government institution?
Maria Torres-Springer: For me, these issues of opportunity, of housing security, and workforce development — they’re not abstract ideas. They are based on, in many ways, what I experienced growing up as the daughter of immigrants to this country, and having parents who, as I mentioned earlier [at the NYCETC panel], were navigating jobs that were essential but undervalued.
And I saw what it meant when governments seemed to be opening doors or shutting them — what it felt like. It felt like a life-and-death situation to hang on to your housing voucher, where the jobs they had were precarious. I learned these concepts not from a policy document, but from the life that I lived.
What I’ve been trying to do in different roles in city government is find ways to build a city that works better for families like my own — where luck and chance aren’t the deciding factors, and where systems actually speak to the real needs and aspirations of working people.
Everything I’ve tried to make better — programs, policies, processes — is rooted in that, in my life story.
Martinez: Thank you for sharing that.
As a co-chair of the transition team, do you see any concrete steps on affordability that will distinguish this coming administration from prior ones?
Torres-Springer: The extreme, clear, and inspiring focus on affordability is going to be a game changer for the city. Centering working people in the work of government will also be a game changer.
A real commitment to tackling rent, childcare, transportation, the cost of groceries — these everyday issues determine whether a family stays in New York, thrives in New York, or falls through the cracks into one of our systems, or has to leave altogether. What’s at risk is the very identity of the city.
New York is built on the collective ambition of people […] And that doesn’t have to be nostalgia or heroic lore; it can be the way the city actually functions.
We have an [incoming] administration committed to changing that equation for newcomers, longtime New Yorkers, and those who will come because of what the city has always stood for.
Policies, programs, and processes
Martinez: How can city government ensure that no one’s left behind?
Torres-Springer: It starts with policies, programs, and processes.
We need policies geared toward making life easier for working people — housing policy, worker protections, and more.
On programs: we don’t have to start from scratch. There are many strong programs that already lift people out of poverty, help them attach to jobs, or afford their rent. They need to be well-funded, scaled where possible, and — crucially — coordinated. Government often works in silos, and New Yorkers see the cost of that fragmentation every day.
On process: some have told me it feels like a full-time job just to apply for a program or get a permit. That shouldn’t be the case.
My first job, because my parents’ English wasn’t very good, was calling government agencies to make sure we got the benefits we needed. I knew what it felt like when someone on the other end was a helper — and when they weren’t.
We make it too hard. Interactions with government are too often sources of stress and shame. The process has to be compassionate. So: process, policy, programs.
Martinez: Do you foresee any economic trade-offs — prioritizing one sector or plan while neglecting another?
Torres-Springer: They say you campaign in poetry and govern in prose — but really, you govern in budgets. Choices will need to be made. But I see these efforts as investments. The cost of inaction is much higher.
If we don’t invest in housing and workforce development, we pay downstream — in homelessness services, in the criminal justice system. Those costs far exceed what upstream investments require.
Information must be accessible
Martinez: Are there affordability-related reforms that might benefit immigrant tenants, immigrant families, and neighborhoods facing displacement or rent burden?
Torres-Springer: All New Yorkers feel the housing crisis, but certain populations feel it more: very low-income families, and many immigrant households. The data shows high rates of doubling up in apartments, for example.
Increasing the supply of housing benefits everyone, but especially those feeling the most strain.
And regardless of which programs exist now or are created in a new administration, immigrant New Yorkers must understand and access them. Government must meet people where they are.
It’s not enough to hold a press conference — who watches those? Information must be accessible, translated into the right languages, delivered by trusted messengers, and repeated often. Even the best programs fail if not well socialized.
That must be a major focus of any administration.
Martinez: Foreign-born workers are 44.3% of the city’s workforce — more than double the national average. They are heavily represented in construction, transportation, healthcare, hospitality, and food services.
How do we keep them part of the conversation, ensure language access, and make sure these workers — the backbone of the city — aren’t left behind?
Torres-Springer: First, recognize that although they make up 40% of the workforce, they’re not monolithic. Opportunity is elusive for different reasons.
Some immigrants arrive with advanced degrees but face credentialing barriers — so we have to build re-credentialing pathways. Others face language barriers that keep them from training opportunities. For undocumented workers, the jobs available are often underground, so we focus on rights education and meeting them where they are.
But more broadly: [immigrants] cannot be an afterthought. In the disability community there’s a saying — nothing about us without us. Government needs to bring workers in, hear from them continuously, not just in a single focus group.
We did this with impacted homeless advocates in our housing work. We should do the same with workers across issues — especially workforce development — so their voices are front and center. We shouldn’t create, scale, or change anything without firsthand knowledge.
Martinez: You’re also not making assumptions.
Torres-Springer: Exactly. Assumptions are usually well intentioned — “I think the program should work this way.” But once implemented, you learn it doesn’t work for two working parents, or for single-parent households, or because language access wasn’t strong enough. These things must be co-designed with the people affected.
Economic Development and Workforce Development
Martinez: Greg [Morris, CEO of NYC Employment and Training Coalition] mentioned that economic development and workforce development aren’t the same. What’s your take?
Torres-Springer: It’s yes and no — which is partly why challenges persist.
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
If economic development is over here and workforce development is over there, we’re replicating silos.
If we grow the economy but people can’t access the jobs created, what’s the point? The people most in need end up shut out. But if we understand workforce development as economic development, we expand the coalition of people invested in this mission.
Everyone has a unique role, but the more we think about how the whole system works together, the better off we are.
