by JONATHAN LEMIRE
Elliot Belnavis had never dreamed of becoming a firefighter. Yet at a job fair at his Queens college last week, a surprised Belnavis found himself nodding at the sales pitch of an enthusiastic FDNY recruiter and asking for a pen to fill out an application for the department's upcoming entrance exam. "This is not something I'd ever thought about, but they made it sound like a really rewarding career," said Belnavis, 18, a freshman at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. "You know, I could do this - I've always liked helping people." Prospective applicants like Belnavis are exactly who the FDNY is targeting in an unprecedented multimillion-dollar recruitment campaign intended to bolster the number of minority firefighters in the nearly all-white department. The Daily News was given an inside look into the campaign as it enters its final weeks. With the Oct. 13 application deadline approaching, the FDNY is flooding communities of color with billboards, calls and, most important, recruiters. FDNY critics remain skeptical, however, that the drive will have any effect on these sobering stats: Of the department's 11,600 firefighters, only 5% are Latino, 3% are black and 30 are women. That imbalance has made the FDNY a lightning rod for controversy, and attracted the attention of the Justice Department. "Their efforts this time are improved," said Paul Washington, head of the Vulcan Society, which represents the city's black firefighters. "But it's going to take real change, real reform, before this longstanding problem is corrected." A crucial part of the campaign, which is managed from a warren of cubicles in the FDNY's downtown Brooklyn headquarters, is an increased number of on-site visits from recruiters. In 2002, the year of the last exam, recruiters attended 278 events, a far cry from the 2,300 or so they have hit so far this year. Moreover, the vast majority of these visits are in minority neighborhoods. Predominantly using firefighters from both the Vulcan Society and the Hispanic Society, the FDNY has saturated colleges, community centers, street fairs, parades, malls and even local DMVs. "People [of color] come up to me and say they've never seen a black firefighter before," said Tracy Lewis, 33, of Engine 257 and a member of the Vulcan Society, as she staffed a recruitment table at LaGuardia. "They ask, 'Is there racism at the FDNY?' and I say, 'There is racism everywhere,' and challenge them to do their part to change things." At LaGuardia, the firefighters jockeyed with representatives from Macy's, Time Warner Cable and Avon for the students' attention, and were encouraged by their enthusiastic response. "We're really trying to sell what the FDNY has to offer, a good job with good benefits," said Lt. Mike Lynch, who, like many of his fellow recruiters, exuded relentless energy when talking to applicants. "It's not just running into burning buildings, and people seem to get it." But the firefighters are not always so warmly received. Though most passersby at a Harlem DMV listened to the FDNY's sales pitch, others heckled the recruitment table, and one even yelled, "I would never work at a place that doesn't want black people in the door." "Not everyone wants to listen," said Kirk Coy, 48, a 20-year veteran of the FDNY. "It's hit-or-miss: Some guys seem dedicated and interested, and some guys walk away when you ask if they have a prior felony conviction." Some critics have labeled the FDNY's outreach strategy haphazard and unlikely to produce applicants who will score well enough on next year's written and physical exams to join the department. "They're going after the wrong people," said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, who has urged the FDNY to focus on military bases and high school athletic programs. "For the money they've spent, this campaign is a failure." Aware that the real challenge will be to get people to register for the exam and then actually take the two-part test, the FDNY has set up a phone bank in a Long Island City warehouse to blanket potential applicants with reminders and tips. "We're really encouraged and excited with how things have gone," said Michele Maglione, the FDNY's director of recruitment, "but we know we have a long journey ahead of us."
 |
