Innovative Ideas. Independent Policy.

• 
  

  Report - October 2020

  Surviving the Winter: Helping NYC’s Small Businesses in the Months Ahead

  Open streets and outdoor dining gave the city's small firms a lifeline, but with just a few weeks left until winter, it's time for the city and state to step in with new set of creative solutions to give shops and restaurants a crucial boost. CUF asked over twenty city leaders and experts for ideas and insights on how policymakers can help sustain restaurants and other small businesses through the colder months.
• 
  

  Event - September 2020

  6 Ideas to Boost New York’s Hard-Hit Tourism Economy.

  On September 9, the Center for an Urban Future held a virtual policy forum to explore what city leaders and policymakers can do to help New York City’s hard-hit tourism economy restart and get on the road to recovery.
• 
  

  Report - September 2020

  NYC Minority Businesses in Flux: Black- and Asian-Owned Businesses Grow While Hispanic-Owned Decline

  A fresh analysis of newly released data on New York City's minority-owned employer businesses shows the increasing importance of these businesses to the economies of every borough, adding urgency to the challenges now facing minority-owned businesses during the COVID crisis.
• 
  

  Report - August 2020

  Stark Disparities in Employment and Wages for Black New Yorkers

  The growing mass movement for racial justice has shined a light on harsh disparities affecting nearly every facet of American life—from criminal justice and policing to the health and economic effects of the pandemic. This new analysis examines disparities in employment and wages experienced by Black residents of New York City, finding widespread underrepresentation and alarming wage gaps across dozens of industries.
• 
  

  EventReport - August 2020

  What NYC’s immigrant & minority-owned businesses need now

  During the summer of 2020, CUF convened a three-part series of live-streamed discussions focused on specific policy solutions to support the city’s diverse small businesses. These discussions generated dozens of concrete ideas to help these businesses get through the crisis, including five key recommendations that surfaced during all three of our discussions.
• 
  

  Report - July 2020

  Recovery Signs, New Lows: NYC Employment by Industry Since the Outbreak of Coronavirus

  While the coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every part of New York City's economy, new research and analysis shows that the toll has differed strikingly by industry.
• 
  

  Report - June 2020

  Under Threat & Left Out: NYC’s Immigrants and the Coronavirus Crisis

  Immigrant New Yorkers are enduring unprecedented economic pain from the pandemic—and yet they have been almost completely shut out of government programs created for those in need, CUF research and interviews with two dozen nonprofit leaders reveals.
• 
  

  Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2020

  To help struggling small businesses, the city needs to reconsider its public spaces

  CUF Executive Director Jonathan Bowles and Winston C. Fisher call on the city to think bigger about opportunities for outdoor commerce. Access to open streets, parks, markets and fairs could make the difference for hundreds if not thousands of New York entrepreneurs who have endured three months of business closures and are desperate for customers.