New York City is gearing up for a citywide day of action against street harassment. Organizers and elected officials will gather at locations across all five boroughs on Wednesday to promote the city's recently launched public survey.

It aims to track the prevalence and impact of street harassment on New Yorkers and could inform the city on what can and should be done about it. Anne Patterson, the deputy commissioner of community initiatives and external affairs at the Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence, joined Michael Hill on WNYC’s "Morning Edition" to discuss the effort.

The office co-chairs the city's Street Harassment Advisory Board, which created the survey along with local community members and advocates.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Michael Hill: What does the Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence know about the current prevalence of street harassment in the city? Who does it affect and how?

Anne Patterson: The information we have now about the nature and the prevalence of street harassment is largely national data. Data that's been collected by the University of California San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health, along with the organization, Stop Street Harassment. That national information indicates that street harassment disproportionately impacts women, LGBTQIA, and other queer folks. It impacts people who have a religious faith that has a visible identification of that religion, as well as Black, Indigenous and other people of color. So that's what the national information data indicates to us about the prevalence of street harassment and who it primarily impacts.

That's a pretty large group that you've mentioned. What street harassment are we talking about here? What are the actions? What are the words?

We use a very broad definition. In the survey, we defined it as any unwanted language, gesture or touching that occurs on the street or in the public space.

What kind of information does this survey ask for? And what does the office plan to do with that information?

The survey is really simple and accessible. And it just asks New Yorkers to talk about whether or not they've experienced verbal or physical street harassment on the streets of New York City and in other public spaces. We hope to gather this information so that we can inform both the Adams administration as well as the City Council about how New York City can best respond to street harassment.

Many New Yorkers see street harassment as just a fact of life in the city. It's a widespread problem where solutions are long overdue. Why a day of action now? And what relief might this bring to New Yorkers?

We're excited about [Wednesday’s] day of action, because it's the culmination of a local law that was enacted in 2022, which created the Street Harassment Prevention Advisory Board — the group that authored this survey. So this is the culmination of that law enacted in 2022. And we really hope we can get a large collection of New Yorkers who can respond to that survey to give us an opportunity to share their experiences about street harassment so we can have a citywide coordinated response to treat harassment.

I'm curious, are you looking at other places across the country or the world and see how they're dealing with street harassment in their communities?

We absolutely are. The advisory board was really diligent in learning about what's happening globally, as well as locally. We know Washington, DC, has also launched a survey of this kind. But this will be the first time that we're launching it in New York City and the jurisdictions and places around the world that have done this. They've seen a real impact on the way that their city responds to street harassment. We hope the same thing happens here.

Now, some advocates against street harassment themselves say they don't want to see the practice criminalized over concerns it will disproportionately impact low-income communities of color. Is your office considering this point as you discuss possible solutions?

Focusing on interventions beyond criminalization is a key priority of the Adams administration. The intent of the survey is not to limit our responses to street harassment, but to be as expansive as possible. So it's not about eliminating criminalized responses, but to think really broadly about, what are some community-driven responses. What are some innovative and creative responses that already exist globally, and that's happening organically here in New York City. And how can the city really amplify and fund the good work that's already happening to address street harassment in New York City?

Anne Patterson is the deputy commissioner of community initiatives and external affairs at the Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence. Deputy Commissioner Patterson, thanks for coming on this morning.

My pleasure. Take the survey!

You can find the city survey on street harassment here: nyc.gov/endstreetharassment