In late January, Mayor Adams delivered his second State of the City address and announced three key proposals to help New Yorkers get ahead that were directly inspired by the Center for an Urban Future’s recent research and policy recommendations.

We applaud Mayor Adams and his administration for running with these three proposals, which include: 

Launching an Apprenticeship Accelerator 

The mayor announced the creation of an NYC Apprenticeship Accelerator to help drive the creation of 30,000 new apprenticeships by 2030. The Center has specifically urged city leaders to launch an Apprenticeship Accelerator in our November 2021 Expanding Apprenticeships in New York City report. Several other CUF reports commentaries have made the case for a major expansion of apprenticeship in New York City, particularly in fast-growing industries outside of the building trades. Check out our reports The Promise of Apprenticeships in New York and Expanding Tech Apprenticeships in New York. 

Expanding CUNY 2X Tech

The mayor announced a proposal to expand the CUNY 2X Tech initiative to more campuses, including the city’s community colleges, with the goal of enabling far more CUNY students to succeed in technology careers. CUF called on the Adams administration to do just this—scale up CUNY 2X Tech and expand it to the city’s community colleges—in our November 2022 report, Harnessing CUNY as a Launchpad Into Tech Careers. Our report shined a light on the program’s successes but revealed that it was serving only 7 of 25 CUNY campuses and no community colleges. 

Connecting New Yorkers with Disabilities to Jobs 

The mayor proposed a significant new effort to connect New Yorkers with disabilities to quality jobs, while helping make workplaces across the city more accessible. This proposal draws directly from the core recommendations of our March 2022 report Access Opportunity: Expanding Economic Opportunity for New Yorkers with Disabilities.

These promising proposals will create a more equitable economy in New York, and we look forward to helping ensure they come to fruition.