Commentary/Op-Ed - March 2018
Weather Emergencies and Emergency RoomsDuring severe weather, getting around New York City can be all but impossible. Yet these moments are also the times when doctors, nurses, home health aids, and other medical professionals are most desperately needed. Given the unique challenges storms present, we wanted to share that story here, which ran as a sidebar in our report, An Unhealthy Commute.
Commentary/Op-Ed - March 2018
Op-Ed: NYC’s New Schools Chancellor Should Make College Success MatterIt’s a rare moment when the city’s attention is focused on what it takes to lead the city’s schools. Yet the most important item on the next chancellor’s to-do list is hardly being discussed: preparing vastly more students to succeed in college.
Testimony - February 2018
Fixing Healthcare Workers Commutes Can Improve Transit for All New YorkersIn this testimony before the MTA's Transit and Bus Committee, CUF policy director, Matt Chaban shares findings from a recent report on how healthcare workers have the worst public transit commutes of any New Yorkers, as well as ways the MTA can not only improve transportation for them but millions of other lower-income New Yorkers, as well.
Commentary/Op-Ed - February 2018
Op-Ed: The Transit Crisis Without a Rescue PlanEven as the subways reach the breaking point, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers face an additional commuting crisis: the lack of fast, reliable transit service in huge swaths of the boroughs outside Manhattan. No industry has felt the effects of these punishing commutes more than the city's healthcare sector.
Report - January 2018
An Unhealthy Commute: The Transit Challenges Facing New York City’s Healthcare SectorSubway and bus service in the four boroughs outside Manhattan has not kept pace with massive increases in the number of healthcare employees living and working there. By partnering with hospitals and other health providers, New York City can develop solutions befitting the city’s world-class healthcare system and ensure that this critical source of employment and opportunity can continue to grow.
Commentary/Op-Ed - January 2018
Op-Ed: How To Prepare New Yorkers to Benefit from AmazonMany New Yorkers are worried that a new home base for the world’s largest internet company would be more burden than boon. But a bold proposal to land 50,000 good jobs deserves an equally ambitious plan to invest in the city’s workforce. New York should want Amazon’s jobs, while ensuring more New Yorkers get them.
Commentary/Op-Ed - January 2018
Op-Ed: Taking on Rochester’s College Success ProblemGraduation rates are alarmingly low at community colleges in Rochester and surrounding counties, and they are making very little progress. College leaders are already developing new models to support student success, but they need state backing to scale up their best ideas.
Commentary/Op-Ed - January 2018
Op-Ed: Putting Automation on the Mayor’s AgendaA fully automated city may still be more science fiction than fact, but era-defining changes are already here. The city must prepare for the wave of automation or be left in its wake.
Report - January 2018
Work to Do: How Automation Will Transform Jobs in NYCIn a first-of-its-kind analysis, CUF studied the automation potential of every occupation in New York City, evaluating the likelihood that a machine could perform each job’s component tasks and revealing which ones are most likely to be done by machines in the decades to come.
Report - December 2017
State of the Chains, 2017Our 10th annual ranking of national retailers in New York City shows that the number of chain store locations across the city increased for the ninth year in a row, but fewer chains have expanded this year than in the past.
Report - December 2017
Struggling to the Finish Line: Community College Completion in New York StateWhile a college credential has become the single most important platform for the middle class today, only one in four New York State residents who enroll in the state’s community colleges end up earning a degree.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2017
Assessing NYC’s Plan to Create 100,000 Good JobsMayor de Blasio deserves credit for developing a plan to create 100,000 good jobs. But a recent CUF forum made it clear that there are several other promising ideas that, if added to the city’s plan, could bolster middle class job creation and help more low-income New Yorkers access them.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2017
Op-Ed: Tapping NYC’s Community-Based Organizations to Boost College SuccessThere is a vital ally in the campaign to help more New Yorkers reach graduation day: the city’s constellation of community-based organizations. But policymakers and education officials need to do more to ensure these organizations are integrated throughout the system.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2017
Op-Ed: Next Step for Mayor’s Inequality Agenda: Tackle NYC’s College Success ProblemIf Mayor de Blasio is serious about making headway on his signature issue of reducing inequality, his administration should now turn its attention to boosting the rate at which New Yorkers earn a college credential.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2017
Op-Ed: Making Small Business a Bigger Part of the Workforce EquationThe nation’s workforce training and job placement programs have long focused on large businesses. But with small businesses driving economic growth and job creation in cities nationwide, it’s time for smaller employers to become a larger part of the workforce equation.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2017
Op-Ed: Want to Expand Economic Opportunity, Governor Cuomo? Help NYC Tackle Student SuccessGovernor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature took steps to make college more affordable by launching the Excelsior Scholarship program. Now it’s time to tackle another critical challenge: making sure more students actually graduate with a degree.
Report - December 2017
Degrees of Difficulty: Boosting College Success in New York CityNew York City has a college success problem. Today, far too few New Yorkers who graduate high school are succeeding in college, with serious consequences for their economic mobility. To lift more of its residents into the middle class, the city will need to make dramatic improvements to its college completion rates.
Testimony - December 2017
New York State’s Excelsior Scholarship ShortcomingsIn this testimony before the New York State Assembly Committee on Higher Education, CUF's Senior Fellow for Economic Opportunity, Tom Hilliard, argues that the Excelsior Scholarship program has shortcomings that threaten to cripple its effectiveness, while offering little to help more college students graduate with a degree.
Commentary/Op-Ed - November 2017
Commentary: Taking Career Pathways from Vision to RealityMayor Bill de Blasio's administration has made important progress on Career Pathways, a vital plan to overhaul New York City's workforce development system. But in order to realize the full potential of this transformation, the city needs to commit to implementing what it began nearly four years ago. Here’s how policymakers can take Career Pathways from vision to reality.
Testimony - November 2017
JFK’s Air Cargo Industry Provides a Runway to the Middle ClassIn this testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Economic Development, CUF's policy director, Matt Chaban, argues that the city, state, and Port Authority must address the woes of JFK's shrinking air cargo industry. Not just global commerce but thousands of good-paying jobs are at stake.