On April 30th, panelists—Maria Torres Springer, Maya Wiley, David Jones, Jose Ortiz, Jr., and Harry Holzer—laid out a number of concrete recommendations for city and state policymakers to ensure an inclusive recovery from this unprecedented crisis. Ideas included: prepare more New Yorkers for the good jobs that exist by investing in CUNY and workforce training programs; close the digital divide by expanding access to affordable broadband, making free devices available to low-income New Yorkers, and enhancing tech education; put unemployed residents to work by launching public works programs that tackle long terms infrastructure needs, including green infrastructure and NYCHA’s aging building portfolio; and developing an equity plan for the recovery. 

This was CUF’s second virtual forum exploring how to plan for an economic recovery in New York. It follows our April 17 symposium, "Planning for a Recovery: Restarting New York City’s Economy in the Wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic."

CUF executive director Jonathan Bowles moderated the discussion, which included the following panelists:

• Harry Holzer, Nonresident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution; the LaFarge SJ Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown; and former Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor 
• David Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York
• Jose Ortiz, Jr., Executive Director of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC)
• Maria Torres Springer, Vice President for US programs at the Ford Foundation; Former Commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and former president of New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
• Maya Wiley, University Professor at The New School; Founder, The New School’s Digital Equity Laboratory; former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio​

A video of the full discussion is available here.