{"id":87701,"date":"2026-01-02T22:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87701\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T22:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:17:10","slug":"newly-appointed-commissioner-is-organizer-tascha-van-auken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87701\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly-appointed commissioner is organizer Tascha Van Auken"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GRAND ARMY PLAZA \u2014 BROOKLYN NATIVE TASCHA VAN AUKEN, who is Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s pick for commissioner of the newly-established Office of Mass Engagement, brings her experience as a past chief of staff to Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forest and a past campaign manager for State Senator Julia Salazar. Van Auken, who grew up in Park Slope also worked for former President Barack Obama\u2019s 2008 campaign. Most recently during the Mamdani campaign, Van Auken led the  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityandstateny.com\/politics\/2026\/01\/mamdani-brings-campaign-mobilization-city-hall\/410434\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">highest voter turnout<\/a> in a New York City mayoral race since 1969, with more than 2 million New Yorkers casting ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Under the executive order, which is immediately effective, the Office of Mass Engagement will lead campaigns to organize New Yorkers to participate in city decision-making.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor too long, city government has only listened to the wealthy and well-connected while working New Yorkers remain further and further disconnected from those elected to serve them. The Office of Mass Engagement will fundamentally change this, creating a deeper connection between City Hall and community organizations,\u201d said Mamdani at a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2730\u2730\u2730<\/p>\n<p> <a style=\"font-size: inherit; background-color: #fefefe;\" href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/whats-news-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wnb-read-more aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/read-more-wnb-shad-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSd5hEdpXLwpeWAPMPmcmdn--vHz1InXjphFdhedt_prXKoVFQ\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ultima-reader-response.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t<br \/>\n<a class=\"related-articles comment-link\" style=\"clear: both;padding-top:6px;color:#6cc4e8;\" href=\"#comments\" title=\"Leave a Comment\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337838\/9-11-memorial-events-in-brooklyn\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP24254764142461-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Flags are placed by the names of those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in New York. One World Trade Center rises in the background. AP Photo\/Donald King\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t9\/11 memorial events in Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337822\/americans-mark-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-attacks-with-emotional-ceremonies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25254543237567-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"William Staudt, a firefighter that worked at Ground Zero on the day of the attacks, looks over a reflecting pool during a ceremony to mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Seth Wenig\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmericans mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks with emotional ceremonies<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337613\/volunteers-prep-millions-of-meals-for-fellow-new-yorkers-on-24th-anniversary-of-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25253626445845-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Volunteers work during the &quot;NYC Meal Pack For 9\/11 Day&quot; at the Intrepid Museum, Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVolunteers prep millions of meals for fellow New Yorkers on 24th anniversary of 9\/11<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 10 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337825\/ceremonies-hosted-throughout-brooklyn-to-remember-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/canarsie4-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"A 9\/11 tribute remembering victims and honoring survivors and first responders was held on Sept. 7. Photo by Arthur De Gaeta\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2730PREMIUM <br \/>Canarsie Park holds 9\/11 vigil, other ceremonies hosted throughout Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tLeave a Comment\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GRAND ARMY PLAZA \u2014 BROOKLYN NATIVE TASCHA VAN AUKEN, who is Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s pick for commissioner of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3302,98,100,99,302,9,24,63,42205,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-87701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-breaking","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-city-hall","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-tascha-van-auken","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}