Mayor Mamdani Makes Two Appointments and Establishes Office of Mass Engagement

Mayor also signs executive order for Committee to engage wider legal community in judicial selection process & create database to increase transparency

Najmi is a renowned civil rights and election attorney

Tascha Van Auken to lead new Office of Mass Engagement, bringing unprecedented mass-organizing success to City Hall

Today, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the appointment of renowned civil rights and election attorney Ali Najmi as the Chair of the newly revitalized Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. The Mayor also signed an executive order to ensure that the Committee makes the judicial selection process more transparent and accessible to New Yorkers.

Under the Mamdani Administration, the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary will be charged with increasing transparency around the judicial selection process and promoting engagement. The new executive order requires the Committee to engage the wider legal community in the judicial selection process, including public defenders, attorneys who represent parents and children in family court, and those working in indigent legal services. The executive order instructs the Committee to regularly publish demographic data on the judicial applicant pool, as well as create a searchable database for New Yorkers to monitor upcoming appointments. The executive order also extends the term of members of the Committee from two years to four years.

The judicial committee appoints judges for family and criminal and interim appointees for civil courts.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani today signed an Executive Order establishing the Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement (OME), a new City Hall office designed to transform how New Yorkers engage with their government. The office will work within City Hall and across City agencies to strategize, coordinate, and execute on engagement that reaches the masses of everyday New Yorkers.

The Mayor announced that Tascha Van Auken will lead the Office of Mass Engagement as Commissioner. On Mayor Mamdani’s campaign, Tascha spearheaded a historic field operation — mobilizing more than 100,000 volunteers, knocking on over 3 million doors, and making more than 4.5 million calls to New York City voters. Now she will bring this experience and approach to City government.

The Office of Mass Engagement will revolutionize how City government conducts community engagement. City government functions best when there is a direct line of communication between the Mayor, his team and the people who built this city and keep it running. The Office will transform community engagement to ensure that it reaches New Yorkers where they are, organizes them, and builds long-term participation. It will also serve as a constant drumbeat within City government to ensure that New Yorkers’ needs and perspectives are integrated into all elements of New York City government.

Van Auken is a veteran grassroots organizer who previously served as campaign manager for State Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, and as Deputy Campaigns Director for the Working Families Party. On the Mamdani campaign, she led the highest voter turnout in a New York City mayoral race since 1969, with more than 2 million New Yorkers casting ballots — nearly double the turnout of the previous mayoral election and approaching presidential-level participation across neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Earlier in her career, she served as Artistic Direction Manager for the Blue Man Group, bringing a creative, people-centered approach to large-scale public engagement.

The Office of Mass Engagement will:

• Lead mass engagement campaigns that organize New Yorkers to participate in City decision-making;

• Create and maintain accessible, inspiring channels and events for residents to share feedback with government;

• Proactively reach communities that have historically been excluded from policymaking;

• Embed public feedback directly into City policies, programs, and services through strong, transparent feedback loops;

o Support agencies in delivering high-quality engagement and more effective public services.

Under the Executive Order, the Office of Mass Engagement will oversee and coordinate the City’s key engagement entities, including:

• The Public Engagement Unit (PEU)

• The Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships

• NYC Service

The Executive Order takes effect immediately.

Grand Army Plaza

Brooklyn

January 2, 2026