on that mission. Jobs are up, our streets are safer with crime down across the city every month this year, and we have a record 183,000 small businesses across the five boroughs — the highest ever in our city’s history.
This past year, we awarded the highest number of city contracts to M/WBEs ever and set a record for M/WBE awards within our city agencies, awarding a total of $1.59 billion dollars to M/WBEs across the five boroughs — that is a 15 percent increase since Fiscal Year 2022, the first fiscal year of our administration.
Our M/WBE program is supporting that young couple who is dreaming of building a small business, the mom-and-pop stores that mean so much to our neighborhoods and tapping into the talent we have in our communities that want to help build our economy and our city. Under our administration, Black and Brown unemployment in New York City is at its lowest point in half a decade. We have narrowed this gap by delivering new opportunities to communities across the five boroughs that have been overlooked for far too long. Our administration understands that a job is what enables us to achieve the American Dream. That is why we have made historic investments in M/WBEs — working to connect New Yorkers to city contracts, career opportunities, and good-paying jobs.