NEW YORK — Gary Jenkins, the recently deceased New York City Social Services Commissioner, will join Oaktree Solutions, the consulting firm founded by former mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff, Frank Carone.
The new company engaged real estate clients with agreements before the Adams administration, but Carone and Jenkins said they would not lobby because of the year-long lobbying ban affecting former city officials.
Just last week, when our sister network NBC New York asked Carone if he could confirm reports from three sources that he had hired Jenkins, Carone said it was “not a done deal.” .
But on Tuesday, a Carone spokesperson confirmed the hire, saying in a statement, “Gary is an extraordinary public servant who has done great things for New York City. We are delighted to have him on our team for the next chapter of his career. “.
Jenkins’ more than three-decade career in New York City social services came to an abrupt end, when he announced his departure in February after just over a year as DSS commissioner. Nonprofits and lobbyists said he had been unsuccessfully looking for a job since last fall, shortly after a series of embarrassing missteps.
The Investigations Department opened an investigation in August after NBC New York reported that Jenkins fired its top spokeswoman, Julia Savel, after claims she tried to cover up housing rights mandate violations in the the city’s homeless system, flooded with an influx of migrants. This investigation is still ongoing. Jenkins denied trying to hide illegal conditions in his hosting system, saying he was unaware that hosting families with children in banks and offices violated widely publicized court orders.
“Helping others is my calling,” Jenkins said in a phone interview Monday.
An Oaktree spokesperson said Jenkins will serve as the company’s general manager of social services beginning April 3. But Jenkins couldn’t name any social services clients she would help.
Oaktree spokesman David Meadvin acknowledged that the company does not represent any social services clients at this time. But Jenkins said he thinks the publicity around his new role will get “people to reach out” to hire the company.
Jenkins insists his departure from the top DSS post after 37 years has nothing to do with the DOI investigation or other controversies related to the city’s handling of tens of thousands of immigrants since then. last spring. When asked why he was looking to leave his post as early as last fall, Jenkins said his family received residential services when he was a child growing up in New York.
“I wanted to be the commissioner of the agency that helped me, so I landed that role,” he said, adding that he was now ready to retire and “branch out.”
Some sources familiar with Jenkins’ job search say they believe Carone was doing Mayor Adams a favor by hiring Jenkins. Jenkins told NBC New York that the city played no role in his job search. Mayor Adams has always championed Jenkins as a competent and dedicated public servant.
Jenkins said she looks forward to using her social services experience to help clients in other states and abroad in her new role.