Mayor Eric Adams is contemplating appointing former Metropolis Councilman Fernando Cabrera to run to run the Mayor's Workplace of Neighborhood Psychological Well being.
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Mayor Eric Adams is contemplating a controversial former Bronx councilman to run the rebranded $1.5 billion psychological well being initiative that critics say former Mayor Invoice de Blasio used to advertise his spouse Chirlane McCray, The Submit has discovered.
Fernando Cabrera, whose 11-year Metropolis Council tenure ended on Dec. 31, is the brand new mayor’s most popular decide to run the Mayor’s Workplace of Neighborhood Psychological Well being — the company previously referred to as ThriveNYC, based on a supply conversant in the choice.
Cabrera, who serves because the pastor of New Life Outreach Worldwide Church, has taken warmth from LGBTQ advocates for a 2014 YouTube video wherein he praised the notoriously homophobic authorities of Uganda.
The 57-year-old pol advised The Submit in 2019 that he personally opposed abortion and homosexual marriage, however revered the regulation of the land. He took that place a step additional in an op-ed within the Bronx Chronicle final 12 months throughout his failed bid for Bronx borough president.
" class="wp-image-21088595"/>“I resoundingly assist and respect the Supreme Court docket’s resolution on homosexual marriage and respect the proper of any New Yorker to marry whomever they love and select to start out a partnership with,” Cabrera wrote. “This concern is settled regulation of the land. Interval.”
Cabrera can also be the previous graduate program director for the psychological well being and counseling program at Mercy Faculty.
De Blasio launched ThriveNYC in 2015 and put it underneath the management of his spouse, regardless of her having no skilled expertise in psychological healthcare or social providers.
This system confronted scrutiny for its excessive prices and lack of efficiency metrics or proof that it had helped significantly mentally in poor health New Yorkers. Final 12 months, the de Blasios rebranded the initiative because the Mayor’s Workplace of Neighborhood Psychological Well being.
Allen Roskoff, head of the Jim Owles LGBT Liberal Democratic Membership stated Cabrera’s report makes him ill-suited to go any metropolis company.
“Fernando Cabrera is a homophobe and a bigot and has no place in authorities,” Roskoff stated. “That is essentially the most egregious appointment I can consider a politician making. It’s outrageous.”
Cabrera’s potential Metropolis Corridor function was first reported by Politico New York. He didn't return a number of requests for remark.
A Metropolis Corridor spokesman initially stated the administration doesn't touch upon pending appointments. Nonetheless, after outrage from the LGBT group a Metropolis Corridor spokesman denied that Cabrera was being eyed for the spot.
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