Jonathan Mintz is Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). Mintz was appointed Commissioner by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2006 and has been with the Department since 2002, having previously served as Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and Acting Commissioner. During his tenure, Commissioner Mintz has tackled large-scale enforcement and litigation work focused on ending industry-wide deceptive practices in the consumer marketplace. Under his leadership, DCA has increased consumer protections in areas such as debt collection, tax preparation, employment agencies and used car sales, and also founded the Department’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE), which provides free citywide financial education and counseling services, and has created safe banking products now available across the City to individuals and families in need. Mintz also leads the nation’s most comprehensive campaign to boost awareness and uptake of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and has founded and co-chairs the ground-breaking Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Coalition.

Commissioner Mintz launched the Department’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) in 2006 as the first local government initiative in the nation aimed expressly at educating, empowering, and protecting those with low incomes, so they can build assets and make the most of their financial resources. It is also the first program implemented under the Center for Economic Opportunity as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s aggressive efforts to fight poverty in New York City. The Office of Financial Empowerment represents a unique approach to poverty reduction, long-term financial stability and asset building by leveraging the powers and opportunities of municipal government not just to target key protections for those of modest means. OFE’s successes have been profiled in such media as the Economist, American Banker, and American Public Media.

The Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Coalition is a natural outgrowth of OFE, with member cities using their City Hall leverage to advance innovative financial empowerment initiatives that promote access to safe and affordable financial products and services, increase financial literacy and asset-building opportunities, and provide greater consumer protections for city residents.

Prior to joining the Department of Consumer Affairs, Mintz taught second grade at the Little Red School House in Greenwich Village and was a founding faculty member of the Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. He taught at Chicago Kent College of Law and practiced at San Francisco’s McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen law firm.

The Commissioner earned his Juris Doctor from Cornell University and holds a Masters degree in Education from the Bank Street College of Education. A native of Munster, Indiana, Mintz holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Indiana University.

Commissioner Mintz resides in the West Village with his partner, New York City Criminal Justice Coordinator John Feinblatt, and their two daughters, Maeve and Georgia.

Show full bio

Hide full bio