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Dealing With Disgrace 2007: A Look Ahead Faso's HQ Burgled Bloomberg' Political Contribution Investments Come Up Short First Spitzer Transition Team Meeting Set Up in the Air� Up in the Sky� It�s the Mayor of New York? Diversity Remains Beyond FDNY's Grasp Political Consultant Round-Up Taking the Temperature of Health Laws Solar Power's Not-So-Bright Future Greens Hope for Ballot Access through Lawsuit Working Families and Conservatives Parties See Mixed Results Despite Big Election Turnover, Limited Changes for Big Apple Ahead
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Diversity Remains Beyond FDNY's Grasp
In 1982, Brenda Berkman was one of 41 women to break the gender gap in the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). This was hailed as a victory for diversity, the end of the last so-called boys' club in the city.
Things did not change quite as quickly as some anticipated. When Berkman retired this fall with the rank of captain, the FDNY was left with only 32 women in its ranks.
That is why Maureen McFadden, a lawyer with the women's rights group Legal Momentum, called the department's efforts to diversify in the last 24 years “an abject failure.”
Though some have complained that women might need additional training to join the force, McFadden calls it a “disgrace” that less than 1 percent of New York firefighters are women, when women comprise over 15 percent of the forces in cities like San Francisco and Miami. As in past cycles, women this year made up about 4 percent of applications received in New York.
The FDNY's diversity problem is not limited to women. The overwhelming majority of New York City firefighters—91 percent—are not only men, but white men. The 300-member Vulcan Society, also known as the Fraternal Order of Black Professional Firefighters, has filed two separate discrimination charges against the department with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
One is a broad claim that the written test is discriminatory. The other was filed on behalf of three particular applicants from the last applicant pool who claim to have been subject to discrimination.
Seeking to head off a federal investigation into those discrimination charges, the city allocated $2.4 million in the past year on a new Recruitment and Diversity Unit. Assigned to raise the number of applications from minorities, the unit held roughly 2,400 recruitment sessions throughout the city this year alone.
“We want a department that reflects the communities we serve, and are working vigorously to achieve this goal,” said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta in a Nov. 2 statement on the diversity program.
These efforts seem to have met only limited success: according to preliminary figures provided by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, 22,994 applications had been received, just under 1,000 fewer than the last application period in 2002. (Applications are open once every four years.) The processing of applications continues, though, and the city expects several hundred more to arrive.
Minority applications did show modest improvement. Of all the applications, 15.7 percent were from African-Americans, up from 9 percent of the 2002 group. Applications from Latinos also rose to 17.7 percent, up from 12.4 percent in 2002. Applications from Asians rose slightly to 2.2 percent this year, compared to 1.7 four years ago.
Critics of the Fire Department, however, say that, though the department's efforts are an improvement, they still do not go far enough.
“What's really encouraging is they did some of what we wanted them to do, and you can see it's had an effect,” said Paul Washington, an 18-year veteran firefighter and president of the Vulcan Society.
Washington said the department now needs to do more to retain those minority candidates it does attract. Shayana Kadidal, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who represents the Vulcan Society in their discrimination suits, pointed out that only 3 percent of the firefighters ultimately hired in 2002 were black.
The FDNY has announced changes that promise to help minority candidates get to the Fire Academy. This year's applicants will take a new test, the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT), which more accurately represents the skills candidates will need as firefighters. The test requires candidates to perform tasks like a hose drag and carrying equipment while wearing a 50-pound vest.
Also, unlike previous application periods, candidates from this pool will take the physical test only once, immediately before entering the academy. In past years, some candidates had to take the physical test twice.
Kadidal said that while spending money on recruitment is a lot cheaper than fighting a lawsuit, incremental changes will not be enough. He says the city should consider changing the written test, putting in place a vigorous apprenticeship program and possibly instituting hiring quotas.
“The ball is really in the city's court if it wants to try something new and innovative,” Kadidal said.
Some of these recommendations are more controversial than others. Council Member Miguel Martinez (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Council's Fire & Criminal Justice Services Committee, believes that a quota system “would be embarrassing” and should be avoided at all costs.
Instead, Martinez hopes to shorten the time between application and matriculation to the Fire Academy. In the present system, it can take up to three years for eligible candidates to be admitted.
Martinez said the Council was considering other solutions, including restarting the cadet program. An apprenticeship program that allowed roughly 300 CUNY students to shadow firefighters on the job, the cadet program was cut due to budgetary constraints in the early years of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's (R) administration.