Commentary/Op-Ed - July 2016
Rethinking New York’s Summer Jobs ProgramCity officials should be commended for expanding the city's flagship summer-jobs program, but a large gap remains between six weeks of summer employment and the beginnings of a career. Christian Gonzalez-Rivera, senior researcher at the Center for an Urban Future, argues for a new approach that invests in quality of experience over quantity of program participants and helps young people prepare for success in the workplace.
Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2016
Op-ed: Albany blows a chance to streamline city projectsIn this Crain's op-ed, CUF's Adam Forman calls out the New York state legislature's failure to pass a bill allowing cities to benefit from "design-build" contracting for public works, noting that state agencies already enjoy this advantage. In New York City, where infrastructure projects regularly blow through budgets and deadlines, design-build offers an opportunity to save time and reduce costs.
Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2016
Op-ed: City’s New Arts Funding Should Be Shared More FairlyThe city's recent budget agreement includes a $10 million boost for the Department of Cultural Affairs. In an op-ed for City Limits, CUF's Adam Forman argues that this welcome influx can be spent most effectively by prioritizing individual artists and small and mid-size organizations whose continued presence in the city is in jeopardy.
Commentary/Op-Ed - June 2016
Op-ed: A small boost in arts funding would go a long wayThe arts provides thousands of jobs, enriches communities, enlivens public spaces, and gives voice to immigrant and low-income residents. In this New York Daily News op-ed, CUF's Adam Forman urges the city to prioritize spending on cultural affairs.
Data - June 2016
Libraries Teach Tech: Building Skills for a Digital WorldThis new data brief finds that NYC’s public libraries are playing an increasingly important role in helping New Yorkers develop the technology skills needed in today’s economy. It shows that the city’s libraries provided tech training to more than 150,000 New Yorkers in 2015, an 81 percent increase from just three years earlier.
Data - May 2016
The Rise (and Fall) of Middle Wage Industries in NYCWhile the share of middle income jobs in New York City has declined over the past couple of decades, there is evidence that industries with middle income wages are staging a bit of a comeback.
Data - May 2016
Brooklyn Design BoomOur new data brief highlights the growing importance of the design sector to New York City’s economy, and details that a disproportionate share of the growth in the sector is now occurring in Brooklyn. It shows that employment at architecture and design companies in Brooklyn increased by 86 percent between 2010 and 2014, significantly outpacing the growth citywide (23 percent) and in Manhattan (19 percent).
Commentary/Op-Ed - April 2016
New York City Must Support Its Immigrant Population to Ensure a Successful WorkforceIn this City & State op-ed, CUF's Christian González-Rivera and CPD's Kate Hamaji argue that Career Pathways—New York City's new framework for its workforce development system—doesn't address the unique workforce challenges faced by the city's immigrant population. They lay out several steps that policymakers could take to better incorporate immigrants into the new workforce development strategy.
Testimony - April 2016
Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs in New York CityIn this testimony before NYC Council’s Committee on Economic Development, CUF’s Jonathan Bowles presents several recommendations from our Breaking Through report to support women entrepreneurs and the growth of women-owned businesses in New York City.
Report - April 2016
A City of Immigrant Workers: Building a Workforce Strategy to Support All New YorkersImmigrants make up nearly half of New York City’s labor force but face significant challenges when it comes to accessing decent paying jobs and connecting to city-sponsored workforce development programs. With Career Pathways, Mayor de Blasio’s ambitious new approach to workforce development, the administration has an important opportunity to better incorporate the city’s immigrant workers into its workforce development strategy.
Commentary/Op-Ed - April 2016
Closing the NYCHA Funding GapIn this City & State op-ed, Senior Researcher Adam Forman urges Governor Cuomo and state legislators to help alleviate NYCHA’s $17 billion funding gap and ensure that state funds are dedicated to its most important long-term needs, like the Authority’s aging and decaying building facades and roofs.
Data - March 2016
Library Times Are A-Changin’Our second annual assessment of library hours in New York shows that 40 percent more branch libraries in NYC are open at least six days a week than this time last year. But while city libraries are open an average of 4 hours more per week than a year ago, they still lag behind many of the largest library systems in the state and nation in hours of operation.
Data - March 2016
Fast City, Slow CommuteNew Yorkers are efficient, direct and fast moving. Their commutes: anything but. In this data analysis, we examine New Yorkers’ commutes by neighborhood and across industries.
Report - March 2016
Breaking ThroughWomen entrepreneurs of all ages, races and ethnicities are having an increasingly large impact on New York City’s economy. But even as the number of female-owned firms is soaring in every borough, the city has only begun to harness the full potential of women entrepreneurs.
Data - March 2016
Women-Owned Businesses in the Nation’s 25 Largest CitiesThis index provides data on women-owned businesses in each of the nation’s 25 largest cities, including the overall number of women-owned firms, the growth rate for women-owned businesses and male-owned businesses, and average revenues per women-owned business.
Data - March 2016
Data from Breaking ThroughCharts and tables from our 2016 Breaking Through study. The report found that though women entrepreneurs of all ages, races and ethnicities are having an increasingly large impact on New York City’s economy, the city has only begun to harness the full potential of women entrepreneurs.
Testimony - March 2016
3 Ways to Support NYC’s Aging ImmigrantsIn this testimony before NYC Council’s Committee on Aging, CUF’s Christian González-Rivera presents three recommendations from our New Face of New York's Seniors report that the city should prioritize this budget cycle.
Commentary/Op-Ed - February 2016
Catapulting New Yorkers into the Middle Class, ASAPIn this City & State op-ed, CUF senior researcher Tom Hilliard argues that the upcoming expansion of CUNY ASAP to cover all students at Bronx Community College presents an opportunity to catapult thousands of New Yorkers into the middle class each year – but only if state and city policymakers commit to more fully supporting ASAP.
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.
