Commentary/Op-Ed - May 2020
Infrastructure Investment Can Restart the Economy, but Prioritize Fixing What We HaveA bold public works program would help put New Yorkers back to work while strengthening the city's economy for the long term. But New York’s infrastructure needs are different than they were during the 1930s. Today, what the city needs most is a massive campaign to upgrade and maintain the infrastructure it already has.
Report - May 2020
Bearing the Brunt: Where NYC’s Hard-Hit Sector Workers LiveWhile coronavirus has devastated much of NYC's economy, our research shows that the impacts are not equally dispersed across the city: workers in the most hard-hit sectors—including restaurants, hotels, retail, and personal care services—predominantly live in lower-income neighborhoods outside Manhattan.
Report - May 2020
Essential Yet Vulnerable: NYC’s Human Services Nonprofits Face Financial Crisis During PandemicIn the midst of an unprecedented surge in demand, NYC's human services nonprofits are confronting millions of dollars in unexpected costs and lost revenue. This report, based on interviews with over two dozen nonprofit leaders, documents the challenges facing New York’s human services nonprofits due to coronavirus.
Report - April 2020
Tech Disrupted: How Coronavirus is Challenging NYC’s Tech SectorWritten in partnership with Tech:NYC, this report provides a new level of detail about the impacts of the coronavirus crisis on NYC-based tech companies, based on interviews with nearly two dozen founders, executives, investors, and industry leaders.
Commentary/Op-Ed - April 2020
Amid Crisis, Mayors Can Build a Workforce for the Second Machine AgeThe economic fallout of Covid-19 combined with growing automation is poised to transform millions of jobs nationwide. Mayors should start developing plans to create a more adaptable workforce for a rapidly changing economy.
Report - April 2020
Art in the Time of Coronavirus: NYC’s Small Arts Organizations Fighting for SurvivalNYC's vibrant arts and cultural sector has endured extraordinary challenges over the past weeks. CUF interviewed small and mid-sized arts organizations, community arts leaders, and working artists themselves to better understand the existential threat facing organizations and artists citywide.
Report - April 2020
Supporting Older Adults Through Coronavirus: Ideas from Experts and Leaders Across NYCNew York's growing older adult population is facing unprecedented barriers accessing meals, groceries, medicine, and support services, and new levels of social isolation brought on by the novel coronavirus. CUF asked nearly two dozen experts in older adult services for specific recommendations on how city and state policymakers can support older New Yorkers during this crisis.
Report - March 2020
A Blow to the Boroughs: Many Industries Hit Hardest by Coronavirus Concentrated Outside ManhattanWith the novel coronavirus already devastating New York City's economy, many of the industries suffering the most—including restaurants, retail, personal care services, childcare services, and air transportation—are overrepresented in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island and have grown fastest outside Manhattan.
Report - March 2020
Supporting small business through coronavirus: ideas from experts and leaders across NYCNew York’s small businesses are facing an existential threat from the novel coronavirus. CUF asked two dozen small business owners and small business experts for recommendations on how city and state policymakers can help them survive this crisis.
Report - March 2020
New York’s Free Tuition Promise Falling ShortFaced with major economic disruption, New Yorkers are likely to turn to higher education. But while the Excelsior Scholarship program is growing, CUNY students and community college students statewide continue to be underserved.
Report - March 2020
Growing and Diversifying Brooklyn’s Innovation EconomyBrooklyn is now a national leader in the innovation economy—tech start-ups, creative companies, and innovative manufacturers—but it still has a ways to go. This report outlines the key obstacles to continued growth and considers how the borough can realize its immense potential to develop a larger and more inclusive innovation economy.
Commentary/Op-Ed - February 2020
NYC tech jobs for all types: Improve education across the boardIn this Daily News op-ed, CUF Executive Director Jonathan Bowles and Tech:NYC Executive Director Julie Samuels call on city leaders to commit to a bold, long-term agenda to expand and improve the tech skills-building ecosystem.
Report - February 2020
Plugging In: Building NYC’s Tech Education & Training EcosystemThe fast-growing tech sector has become NYC's most reliable source of new well-paying jobs. But while tech companies are hungry for talent and increasingly eager to hire locally, too few of the good jobs in tech are going to New Yorkers from low-income communities. The city can do more to expand access to tech careers by strengthening the city's tech skills-building ecosystem and preparing thousands more New Yorkers for the jobs of the future.
Report - January 2020
A Blueprint for Expanding & Improving Older Adult Services in New York CityThese 63 achievable policy recommendations from CUF's forthcoming report on older adult services in New York City form a blueprint for how city and state policymakers can meet the needs of New York’s fast-growing older adult population—in policy areas such as housing, financial security, social isolation, elder abuse, and transportation.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2019
Apprenticeships Can Help Expand Access to Tech Careers in NYCNew York City’s thriving tech sector has become a crucial source of middle-class jobs. But too few of those jobs are accessible to New Yorkers without a college degree and work experience, which means thousands are being left out of the boom. To help more residents access these powerful opportunities, New York will have to build much stronger pathways into tech employment—and tech apprenticeship should be part of the solution.
Report - December 2019
State of the Chains, 2019Our twelfth annual ranking of national retailers in New York City finds a year-over-year decrease in the number of chain store locations for the second consecutive year, and the largest overall decline since this study began.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2019
Op-Ed: NYC’s Creative Industries are the Future of Middle-wage JobsNYC's creative economy has seen record-setting job growth but gotten only modest support from city officials. In this Crain's op-ed, CUF Executive Director Jonathan Bowles and Winston C. Fisher make the case that the creative industries should play a much larger role in the city's middle class jobs strategy.
Report - December 2019
Expanding Tech Apprenticeships in New York CityTech apprenticeships present a major opportunity for New York to expand pathways into well-paying technology careers, all while strengthening and diversifying the talent pipeline for the city's booming tech sector. New York can do more to greatly expand tech apprenticeships in the city and realize the promise of this powerful model for boosting economic mobility.
Testimony - November 2019
Preparing New York City’s Workforce for the Coming Impacts of AutomationIn this testimony before the NYC Council Committee on Civil Service & Labor, CUF editorial and policy director Eli Dvorkin outlines the potential effects of automation on New York City's workforce, and offers policy solutions that can help the city get ahead of these powerful economic forces.
Testimony - November 2019
Fixing NYC Parks Capital Construction Process to Revitalize Aging ParksIn this testimony before the NYC Council Committee on Parks and Recreation, CUF editorial and policy director Eli Dvorkin details the issues facing New York City's aging parks infrastructure and identifies key steps to improve the capital construction process for parks projects.
