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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Commentary/Op-Ed - May 2015
Make Commercial Spaces Affordable TooIn this City & State op-ed, CUF executive director Jonathan Bowles analyzes the growing demand for commercial spaces in New York. He argues that as Mayor de Blasio develops innovative proposals to address the city's affordable housing crisis, the administration should also move to unleash the potential of commercial spaces that have long gone vacant or underutilized.
Commentary/Op-Ed - May 2015
Fulfilling CUNY’s workforce promiseIn this commentary, CUF senior fellow David Jason Fischer takes a close look at the City University of New York’s role as a workforce development provider. While he finds that CUNY’s adult and continuing education programs provide a path to economic advancement for thousands of New Yorkers, he argues that CUNY must address several structural, funding and cultural obstacles if it is to reach its potential as an engine of economic mobility and high-volume source of workforce talent for city employers.
Commentary/Op-Ed - April 2015
Keeping the Water On: New York Must Address Infrastructure, CostsIn this op-ed in the Gotham Gazette, CUF researcher Adam Forman argues that with last year’s spike in water main breaks throughout all five boroughs, Mayor de Blasio should hold firm on increasing water rates and consider additional methods to finance and modernize New York’s water infrastructure.
Commentary/Op-Ed - April 2015
The MTA needs to get on the age trainIn this op-ed for the New York Daily News, CUF researcher Adam Forman argues that New York’s public transit system is not ready for the city’s booming senior population. He urges Governor Cuomo, as well as City Hall to make dramatic investments to improve accessibility for aging New Yorkers.
Commentary/Op-Ed - March 2015
Tap Reform: Part-Time College Students Need Financial Aid TooIn this op-ed in City & State , CUF researcher Christian González-Rivera argues that while Governor Cuomo has put education at the forefront of his Opportunity Agenda, his plan is missing a door to opportunity for the large and growing number of part-time college students in New York who struggle to finish their degree with almost no access to financial aid.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2014
Libraries of the FutureIn this op-ed in City & State, CUF’s Jonathan Bowles and Jeanette Estima highlight some of the visionary ideas presented by design teams at our December 4th conference to re-imagine and rethink New York City’s branch libraries.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2014
Tap Into Part-Time StudentsIn this op-ed in Albany's Times Union, the Center’s Christian González-Rivera and Jonathan Bowles argue that at a time when a postsecondary credential is more critical than ever for economic success, public officials should modify the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to allow more grants to go to part-time students. Doing so would benefit tens of thousands of poor and working poor students, who are now effectively barred from financial aid because of their part-time enrollment.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2014
Green Light for Career Pathways in New York CityFollowing the report released by the Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force last month, the Center’s Tom Hilliard offers four recommendations to help the de Blasio administration make lasting cultural changes toward a career-focused workforce system and succeed in fulfilling the bold vision laid out in the report.
Commentary/Op-Ed - December 2014
Fulfilling the Promise of the Jobs for New Yorkers Task ForceCUF workforce fellow David Jason Fischer calls the final report by the Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force the “most ambitious workforce reform effort ever undertaken by an American city,” and in this commentary, he provides his own observations and recommendations for how the city can fully capitalize on the possibilities of this moment for positive change.
Commentary/Op-Ed - November 2014
De Blasio’s time to lead on librariesIn this op-ed in the New York Daily News, the Center’s David Giles argues that the de Blasio administration should commit to a 10-year capital plan to address the library systems’ $1.1 billion in pressing capital needs and re-invigorate the city’s long-neglected branches.
