On July 9, 2025, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appeared on 94.7 The Block’s “Jonesy In The Morning” to discuss the city’s doula program, which has successfully supported over 3,000 women, particularly Black and brown mothers, with no pregnancy-related deaths reported. Highlighting disparities in maternal healthcare, Adams emphasized the program’s role in addressing systemic issues, such as the higher mortality rates among Black women during pregnancy. He also addressed political challenges, refuting allegations and outlining his commitment to New Yorkers despite ongoing controversies. For more information on the doula program, visit the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website.
Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls In For Interview On 94.7 The Block’s “Jonesy In The Morning”
Tarsha Jones: Ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams. Good morning.
Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning, how are you?
Jones: I’m doing well, how are you, doula?
Wayne Mayo: So stupid.
Jones: Because he’s got the whole doula program, I’m excited about that. Thank you for giving a [] about pregnant women.
Mayor Adams: No, it’s so important. And it is a program that’s going to help women overall, specifically Black and brown women. We know that Black women die four times the rate as white women during pregnancy-related complications. And I was committed to this as borough president, and we wanted to make sure that we put in place a real program.
And of the women who have gone through the program, not one pregnancy-related death has taken place. And it’s just a real success. We believe over 3,000 women have been a part of the program, and it’s just showing a great level of success. We’re really pleased by the result.
Jones: I’m pleased by the notion. See, for a little backstory, Black women are more likely to not receive the proper healthcare, especially during pregnancy. So a lot of them have started having midwives and having their children at home. And so Mayor Eric Adams and his staff have created a program that supports that. How do people sign up for it? How does that work?
Mayor Adams: A great question. And I just want to point out something else that you just stated, that when I was dealing with late stage diabetes, I had late stage diabetes that caused severe vision loss, and I had to go into a diet that was able to reverse it. And I wrote a book, and during the book, I learned that Black women, they’re often not receiving proper medical care, even with pain related.
Jones: Yep, they always think we’re so tough that we don’t need the pain meds, or they can just rip off stitches or bandages. This has happened to me in that [] Montefiore Hospital.
Mayor Adams: And the survey was just really amazing, the number of doctors felt that Black women had a higher tolerance for pain, and they were able to get tolerance for pain. And it was just rooted in ignorance, and it just really wasn’t rooted in any fact. And so we have to always be clear, I think about my sisters and my mom, what they went through.
Jones: It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s not excuses. We are inherently tough because we mentally and spiritually historically have had to be. But we bleed like y’all bleed, and like your mothers and your daughters bleed.
Mayor Adams: Right, right, no, so true. If anyone wants to get involved in the program, and where it’s located, they can reach out to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. If you go on our website, it will walk you through how to get in contact with the appropriate agency and get involved with it. And just to explain, people may not know what a doula is.
A doula, they’re really there to help a woman going through pregnancy with emotional support, with the knowledge and the information. Because many women who are first time pregnant, there’s just a ton of information that sometimes our medical facilities don’t take the time to walk you through and give you that support throughout. And it’s just shown to be extremely successful when this is done.
Jones: I appreciate that. Especially as a first time mom, because you don’t even know what you don’t know. And every pregnancy I would learn later on is not the same. So-
Mayor Adams: Interesting.
Jones: Having the information. Now let’s take a break and come back with the good part, that Dave Paterson, let’s get in that [] when we come back.
[Commercial Break.]
Jones: Welcome back Mayor Adams. David Paterson, former, was he former governor?
Mayo: Former governor, yes.
Mayor Adams: Yes, former governor.
Jones: He’s talking spicy and hot. He’s talking hot and spicy. And he’s trying to, I don’t know. He’s trying to– is he encouraging you and Cuomo both to get out of the way? Or what is he doing, Wayne, that I didn’t like?
Mayor Adams: First, let’s talk about Andrew for a moment. Andrew has a real issue with Black men, specifically in politics.
Jones: Oh you better talk honey [Eric].
Mayor Adams: When Carl McCall ran to become the first Black governor, Andrew Cuomo joined the race and really sabotaged Carl McCall and Carl McCall lost. When a person named Charlie King ran to become attorney general, an African American, raised $5 million, was one of the top leading candidates. Andrew Cuomo got in the race and pushed him out. Andrew Cuomo becomes attorney general.
Then when David Paterson was governor, Andrew Cuomo did things behind the scenes to push David Patterson out of running for re-election, and he became governor. And then Keith Wright wanted to be the first African American to be the speaker of the assembly. Andrew Cuomo broke behind the scene and sabotaged his race by some of his actions, and Keith Wright lost.
And finally-
Jones: So this is what he does.
Mayor Adams: Finally, here you have Eric Adams running for re-election. I was running on an independent line, which I did. Mamdani is going to be on the line no matter what because he’s on another line called Working Family Party. Andrew files a petition after that and also [runs on] an independent line.
So he knew no matter what happened, we were going to have this scenario. And so he basically felt no matter what happens, I’m going to run Eric out like I ran out other Black elected officials. But I keep telling him–
Jones: Nasty work.
Mayor Adams: I’m from Brownsville. I never run, and I never will.
Jones: Come on, that’s my mayor. That’s my mayor. Alright, everybody just calm down.
Mayo: You calm down over there.
Jones: Alright, so I have to say this. The only way at this point, I’m glad you said all those things. People are feeling Mamdani because he’s making them feel warm and fuzzy. He’s like the Joel Osteen of this whole race. No, Joel Osteen is great, but it’s just warm and fuzziness. And he’s talking talk and making promises that he knows he has no clue how he’s going to keep them.
He’s young, he’s 33, but to a lot of people seems like the only option. For you, in my opinion, since they think you and Andrew Cuomo are both a little shady, you got to get out first. Acknowledge it, take accountability. Don’t tell all your business, but apologize and say, I know I did this, or I know I might have done that.
But, and I think once you do that, you know we’re forgiving people, and we really don’t want him. And we probably don’t want Mamdani, that’s just my opinion, I don’t know, but you better talk happy this morning.
Mayor Adams: Let’s think about this for a moment, because I think you’re right. And immediately after the indictment was dropped, I stood in front of New Yorkers and apologized for what I put them through. Because I made some poor judgment choices on people I trusted that I shouldn’t trust. I did nothing wrong, I never broke any laws.
And Jonesy, I was indicted because I called the Fire Department commissioner and asked him to inspect a building. Not to pass the inspection, but to inspect the building. And when they looked at the text message, it says, “If you can’t do it, let me know, and I’ll manage their expectations.” They said, well, you had upgraded on flights you paid for, not free flights. And because you have brought flights over those years, we are going to charge you with bribery. And you’re going to be facing 33 years in prison. It just made no sense.
And this came during the time that I was fighting for the onslaught of migrants and asylum seekers that came to our city. And so I did not want to put the city through that. And I apologize for all of that activity. But look at the day that I was indicted, until the day the indictment was dropped. And you’ll see that this city did not stop moving forward.
We still build houses, we dropped crime. We broke the job records 11 times. We continue to have childcare for our children, dropped unemployment among the city, and Black and brown communities by 30 percent. So no matter what I was going through, I got up and did my job. Because that’s what we do as people.
Andrew went through something, he abandoned his job. And now he decides that being a mayor is a consolation prize. We’re not a consolation city. We’re a city that deserves hard [workers], that could take body shots and stay in the ring, and that’s what I did.
And so when you look at the primary [with] Zohran, the things that he’s promising are just unfair to struggling New Yorkers. Because [I grew] up in poverty, he grew up in luxury. And when my mother was promised things that were not delivered for her and my five siblings, it broke our heart. He can’t deliver what he’s promising to struggling New Yorkers. I delivered for struggling New Yorkers. $30 billion I put back in the pockets of New Yorkers. And that’s what this campaign is about.
Jones: Mayor Eric Adams, just remember what I said, people have short term memory. So don’t be afraid to remind them of the apology and maybe say it once again, because the first one of [you all] that does it is going to be the one that people have the excuse now to vote for and ride with.
Mayor Adams: It sounds true to me, sister.
Jones: I think there’s a job over there in that administration for a job perhaps one day.
Mayo: Okay, all right. You got a day job, girl.
Jones: Thank you, Mayor Adams.
Mayor Adams: Alright, great to be on with you. Take care
.July 9, 2025 Manhattan New York
Sources : NYC.gov , Big New York news BigNY.com
TV503 News New York
