Community Development & Institutions
How can anchor institutions support New York City in its post-pandemic economic recovery?
While the size of the New York City government is formidable, as we emerge from this crisis, the mayor must recognize that the enormity of the challenge cannot and should not be tackled by the city government alone. The mayor can use the powerful voice of the office to ask for help, activating all the institutions that make the City great, leading them into action in a shared strategy for an equitable recovery. The power of large civic and business institutions that are tethered to community can be leveraged in partnership to reinforce and fuel overall strategies, to address the challenges unique to each neighborhood, and drive the imperative to ensure a more equitable return.
By Linda Gibbs
How can New York City reform its family regulation system to better serve families and communities of color?
A growing movement, led by families harmed by the "child welfare" system, is demanding that the City recognize and take responsibility for the harm the system has caused families and communities of color. This paper proposes a solution that ensures families' rights to an informed investigative process.
By Parent Legislative Action Network (PLAN) Coalition The Bronx Defenders
How can social infrastructure investments bolster New York City's recovery post pandemic?
Social infrastructure is the set of physical places and organizations that shape our interactions. When we invest in social infrastructure – when we design it well, when we build it well, when we maintain and program it – we create new opportunities for interaction, civic engagement, community-building, and mutual support. We do the opposite when we fail to invest in social infrastructure, reducing opportunities to connect and making it far more likely that city residents will hunker down, physically distanced and home alone. This paper identifies the role of social infrastructure in the City's recovery.
By Eric Klinenberg
What role does public safety play in achieving economic vibrancy in New York City?
New York City’s next mayor has an opportunity to jumpstart our civic life, increase racial and economic equality and create a durable peace. These are not separate enterprises but interlocking pieces of a single goal: to create a thriving city, attending to the well-being of every New Yorker. But as a nation and a city, we have largely treated safety as the province of the police and the criminal justice system alone, instead of one thread in a strong and self-reinforcing social fabric.
By Elizabeth Glazer
How can NYC redesign its current education and classroom learning environments in elementary grades through a large-scale initiative that places two teachers in every classroom from K-5?
As the City emerges from the pandemic, our school system must face two tremendous challenges that, if left unaddressed, will have profound implications for the long-term recovery of the City. First, the pandemic has affected all students, with the shift to remote and blended learning causing inconsistent access to lessons and lost instructional time. And, second, the City has for many years been troubled by persistent and systemic inequities that routinely leave too many students behind, particularly low income students of color. The following proposal seeks to address these two problems simultaneously, by providing schools and classrooms with a specific resource that will help children who have fallen behind and that will also raise the bar and provide each child with more of the supports that are found in high quality schools.
By The Office of Former New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer
How can New York City create an equitable and competitiveNYC workforce that delivers in-demand skills for employersand creates economic opportunities for job seekers?
The latest data show that too many New Yorkers–and Blacks and Latinxs, in particular–are unable to compete in the local labor market against out of state candidates. But, projections about job market growth in the coming years offer an opportunity for New York to address these disparities. New York City’s new administration can shape an effective public policy and partner with local employers to improve career prospects for local talent in a way that will equally benefit job seekers and local businesses.
By Angie Kamath