Commentary/Op-Ed - February 2016
The City’s Next Steps to Ensure Vibrant, Creative CommunitiesThe city’s new Building Community Capacity initiative aims to fortify small and midsized art organizations in communities outside of Manhattan. In this Gotham Gazette op-ed, CUF Senior Researcher Adam Forman shares several ideas for making the initiative a success – helping strengthen cultural organizations in the midst of neighborhood change.
Testimony - January 2016
A promising start for NYC’s new approach to workforce developmentIn this testimony before NYC Council’s Committees on Economic Development, Small Business and Civil Service & Labor, CUF’s Christian González-Rivera analyzes the first year of the Career Pathways initiative, the city’s new and comprehensive approach to workforce development.
Commentary/Op-Ed - January 2016
6 Ways the State Can Expand Economic Opportunity in 2016As Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature set priorities for 2016, they should put economic opportunity for New Yorkers at the top. CUF Senior Researchers Christian González-Rivera and Tom Hilliard offer six concrete and affordable ideas to build the skills of the New York workforce, boosting low-income workers and their employers.
Report - December 2015
State of the Chains, 2015Our eighth annual ranking of national retailers in New York City shows that growth in chain store locations across the city slowed considerably over the last year, with only Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens experiencing a net increase in the number of national retailers.
Testimony - December 2015
Addressing NYC’s Affordable Housing CrisisIn testimony submitted before the City Planning Commission, CUF's Jonathan Bowles argues in favor of Mayor de Blasio's affordable housing zoning amendments, saying that the shortage of affordable housing is a threat to the city’s continued economic growth and a barrier to elevating low-income New Yorkers into the middle class.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2015
Why I support the plan to redevelop the Brooklyn Heights LibraryDespite the essential services the city’s public libraries provide to residents across NYC, their physical infrastructure is in trouble. In this City & State op-ed, CUF Executive Director Jonathan Bowles highlights the Brooklyn Public Library’s innovative approach to addressing its crumbling infrastructure.
Data - November 2015
Manufacturing in NYC: A SnapshotThis data analysis, the inaugural publication of the Center for an Urban Future’s Middle Class Jobs Project, provides a new level of detail about New York City’s manufacturing sector. It reveals that the city has gained nearly 1,000 manufacturing jobs since 2011, reversing a long decline, and documents which manufacturing subsectors in the five boroughs are growing the fastest.
Commentary/Op-Ed - November 2015
Open up schools to priced-out artists: A resource that’s sitting underutilizedIn this Daily News op-ed, CUF Senior Researcher Adam Forman advocates for opening up underutilized spaces in public schools and churches to New York City artists. With leadership and collaboration between government agencies, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, he argues that these spaces would allow New York City’s creative community to continue to create and thrive in the city.
Data - October 2015
Creative New York, At A GlanceFrom museums to film studios, dance companies to design firms, the creative sector is one of New York City’s most important economic assets. Using data from CUF's 2015 Creative New York report, this infographic shows the incredible growth, as well as the ongoing challenges of the city’s creative industries.
Testimony - September 2015
A New Approach to Funding Library ImprovementsWith the city’s public libraries facing a maintenance crisis, CUF executive director Jonathan Bowles says that policymakers should be open to innovative funding approaches. In testimony before the City Planning Commission, he argues in favor of a proposal to build a modern new branch library in Brooklyn Heights as part of a larger residential development. Under the proposal, the developer would also contribute around $50 million towards library improvements at branches across Brooklyn.
Data - August 2015
NYC’s Tech ProfileThis analysis offers a fresh look at New York City’s tech sector. Using the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s new definition of tech industries, our analysis documents employment growth by borough and subsector and offers a demographic profile by age, sex and race/ethnicity.
Testimony - August 2015
Better Libraries for BrooklynIn testimony before Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, CUF Researcher Jeanette Estima makes the case for redeveloping the Brooklyn Heights branch library. Not only will a new library better serve the neighborhood, it will also help address decades of deferred maintenance in branches throughout Brooklyn.
Commentary/Op-Ed - August 2015
Help artists revive NYC neighborhoods: Build up culture and housing at the same timeIn this Daily News op-ed, CUF Senior Researcher Adam Forman makes the case for integrating cultural planning with city planning to provide much needed affordable space for New York artists, designers and cultural organizations, and jobs for local residents — ensuring a more diverse creative sector.
Data - July 2015
Parks Facilities, How the Boroughs CompareNew York is home to the country’s oldest, busiest and most expansive parks. These facilities, however, are not equally distributed across the city’s neighborhoods and boroughs. In this data brief, we look at the per capita distribution of Department of Parks and Recreation pools, tennis courts, handball courts and baseball diamonds.
Commentary/Op-Ed - July 2015
Boosting Adult Education in New YorkWith 1.6 million adults in New York lacking a high school diploma, Tom Hilliard and Brenda Dann-Messier argue that the state needs a bold new commitment to strengthening its adult education system. In this commentary, they lay out several steps policymakers could take to rebuild the adult ed system for the 21st century economy.
Report - June 2015
Creative New YorkFrom museums to film studios, the creative sector is one of New York City’s most important economic assets. But the city’s working artists, nonprofit arts groups and for-profit creative firms face a growing number of challenges.
Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2015
The Virtuous Cycle of Keeping Your City Affordable for ArtistsIn this Next City op-ed, CUF researcher Adam Forman discusses how New York’s affordability challenges are threatening its remarkable community of artists, nonprofit arts groups, and for profit creative industries. He outlines three ideas for what the city should do to support and retain New York’s now thriving creative economy in the years ahead.
Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2015
City Officials Must Do More To Boost New York’s Creative SectorIn this City & State op-ed, CUF executive director Jonathan Bowles calls on the de Blasio administration to support the arts and the broader creative sector. He argues that the creative sector provides the city with its greatest competitive advantage, but notes that New York faces growing competition from other cities that are aggressively cultivating their creative economies.
Data - June 2015
Data from Creative New YorkCharts and tables from our 2015 Creative New York study. The report found that the creative sector is one of New York City’s most important economic assets but that the city’s working artists, nonprofit arts groups and for-profit creative firms face a growing number of challenges.
Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2015
What can cities do to nurture the arts & the creative sector?In an online essay for Zócalo Public Square, the Center’s Jonathan Bowles argues that the healthiest creative economies owe their success not to gilded performance halls, but to large and sustainable clusters of artists, musicians, dancers, designers, writers, and other creative professionals. He writes that cities wishing to bolster their creative economy should start by developing policies that attract and retain artists.
