In April 2026, the New York City Council released its response to the FY2027 Preliminary Budget, which featured several proposals that are directly inspired by ideas and recommendations from the Center for an Urban Future.

The Council closely echoes CUF’s language around expanding economic mobility by investing in CUNY to boost college attainment, writing, “One of best ways to improve a person’s earning potential is to maximize their access to higher education, whether that be vocational school, community college, or a four-year college.”

The Council backs that up by a record $7.8 million in funding for CUNY Reconnect, a program that helps working-age adults with some college credits re-enroll in CUNY and complete their degree. CUF played a leading role in creating the program 2022. The Council also proposed $10.1 million for CUNY ACE, which has had measurable success in boosting graduation rates for students attending CUNY’s four-year colleges and which CUF has called for scaling up numerous times.

The Council explicitly cites CUF when calling for the need to create new revenue streams for the city’s parks: “The Center for an Urban Future (the Center) has reported that there is significant room to expand concessions in Park’s properties. They have recommended that the City should launch 20 new destination concessions in City parks.” CUF first proposed this funding mechanism as a part of a 2024 report featuring 20 ideas to help fund parks' growing maintenance and infrastructure needs. CUF’s 2025 report that dives deeply into an expansion of parks concessions determined that 20 additional concessions in parks could generate $10 million in annual revenue.

The City Council also calls for raising marina dockage rates to generate recurring revenue for the city’s parks. CUF recommended attaching a surcharge to city marinas in a 2024 report, noting that the city’s dockage fees are well below those of privately operated marinas nearby.