- The following is the introduction and full list of ideas from City of Aspiration: 150 Ideas From New Yorkers for Building a More Equitable NYC.
- Click here to explore the full report and read all of the practical and visionary ideas contributed by 150 New Yorkers.
- Check out this one-minute video about the report.
Introduction
A walk through nearly any neighborhood across the five boroughs reveals a city on the rebound. New Yorkers are dining outdoors on dan dan noodles, jerk chicken, and arepas; flocking to museums, theaters, and nightclubs; launching new businesses; and exploring every inch of the city’s public parks.
However, amid these welcome signs of recovery, more than two years of turmoil unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated deep inequities. New Yorkers of color remain alarmingly underrepresented in most of the city’s well-paying industries, leaving many stuck in low-wage jobs with little opportunity to reach the middle class. Tens of thousands of minority- and immigrant-owned businesses have been hit especially hard since 2020, exacerbating financial vulnerabilities that predated the pandemic. Caregivers have been stretched to their limits and beyond; mental health has emerged as a major public health crisis; and the unequal impact of climate change has grown increasingly severe. The pandemic also exposed longstanding disparities in access to housing, healthcare, education, transportation, and critical infrastructure—from high-speed Internet to parks and open space.
Fortunately, there is widespread consensus among policymakers that bold action is required to make progress toward a more equitable city and lay the foundation for a stronger and broader middle class. However, there is much less agreement over what specific actions should be taken.
This report aims to fill the void. It includes 150 concrete policy ideas for what Mayor Adams, the City Council, and other city leaders can do to create a more equitable city.
To generate fresh and achievable ideas, we turned to 150 exceptional New Yorkers and national policy experts, including community advocates, entrepreneurs, labor leaders, educators, economists, urban planners, artists, designers, public health experts, faith leaders, and more. We asked each of them to contribute a single policy idea that would expand economic opportunity for all, strengthen social infrastructure in communities across the five boroughs, and build a more equitable city.
This report contains ideas both practical and visionary, from providing free online tutoring for low-income students and removing degree requirements for many city government jobs to helping more inventors of color apply for patents, training front-line social workers to become legal advocates, assigning an architect to every community board, and even creating community choirs across the city to spark joy through the power of song. Individually, each of these 150 ideas has the potential to contribute to a more equitable city. Together, they provide a comprehensive blueprint for a renewed city of aspiration, where all New Yorkers can thrive.
As city leaders consider new policies and investments that can make meaningful progress toward a more equitable New York, this report offers concrete ideas in ten key areas: how to close education gaps and help young New Yorkers get ahead; expand opportunities for work-based learning; increase access to good jobs by improving and expanding career training; close the wealth gap by investing in minority and immigrant entrepreneurs, financial literacy, and community hiring; expand childcare and other supports for working New Yorkers; strengthen the city’s social safety net; invest in programs that make the most vulnerable New Yorkers healthier; make New York City a more affordable place to live; build greener, cleaner, and more just communities by investing in infrastructure and open space; and foster inclusivity within and through the arts.
10 Key Areas for an Equitable NYC
(Click links below to view ideas)
I. Close education gaps and empower young New Yorkers to get ahead
II. Expand opportunities for work-based learning
III. Increase access to good jobs by improving and expanding career training
IV. Close the wealth gap by investing in minority and immigrant entrepreneurs, financial literacy, and community hiring
V. Expand childcare and other supports for working New Yorkers
VI. Strengthen NYC's social safety net
VII. Invest in programs that make the most vulnerable New Yorkers healthier
VIII. Make NYC a more affordable place to live
IX. Make NYC's communities greener, cleaner, and more just by investing in infrastructure and open space
X. Foster inclusivity within and through the arts
The following 30 ideas provide a sampling of the urgency and creativity that runs through this blueprint for building and sustaining a more equitable city for years to come:
- Follow the state of Maryland's lead and remove degree requirements from thousands of city government jobs
Lannia Small, Director of Global Strategy and Partnerships, Social Impact, Indeed - Create an economic mobility outcomes fund
Andi Phillips, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Maycomb Capital - Close pandemic learning gaps by investing in coaching for NYC’s public school teachers
Sarah Johnson, CEO, Teaching Lab - Create community choirs across NYC
Schele Williams, Broadway Director; Founding Member, Black Theatre United - Add a planner and an architect to every NYC Community Board to help them become more forceful advocates for New York’s neighborhoods
Rosalie Genevro, Executive Director, Architectural League of New York - Provide doula support to all New Yorkers giving birth in public hospitals and partner with CUNY to train this workforce
Toya Williford, Executive Director, AC & JC Foundation; former Executive Director, Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC - Provide free online tutoring for all low-income students
Aly Murray, Founder and Executive Director, UPchieve - Launch a Golden Ticket for foster youth to guarantee transportation to school and supportive services
Ronald E. Richter, CEO, JCCA - Provide Internet-enabled laptops to New Yorkers enrolled in workforce development programs
Danae McLeod, Executive Director, Grace Institute and Outreach - Help more NYC creators of color patent their brilliance as a way of closing racial wealth gaps
Joseph Scantlebury, President and CEO, Living Cities - Rezone low-rise commercial corridors in middle-income neighborhoods to spur more affordable housing and greater diversity
Marc Jahr, Senior Advisor, Forsyth Street Advisors; former President, NYC Housing Development Corporation - Challenge NYC’s largest employers to develop new pathway programs that would open doors for New Yorkers of color
Kristen Titus, former Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, New York State - Expand mobile health units to bring access to primary care to the most vulnerable New Yorkers
Melanie Hartzog, President and CEO, The New York Founding; former NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services - Hire local environmental stewards to keep low-income neighborhoods free of trash and pollution
Janet Rodriguez, Founder and CEO, SoHarlem - Tap the purchasing and hiring power of hospitals, universities, and other anchor institutions
Linda Gibbs, Principal for Social Services, Bloomberg Associates; former NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services - Transform underutilized commercial real estate into studios for young, diverse creatives
Alain Sylvain, Founder and CEO, SYLVAIN - Remove barriers that prevent undocumented teens from participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program
Brian Cohen, Executive Director, Beam Center - Invest in climate-related workforce development programs in environmental justice communities— funded with a stormwater fee
Maggie Greenfield, Executive Director, Bronx River Alliance - Retrain New Yorkers for better jobs by providing scholarships for short-term career training programs at CUNY
Kenneth Adams, President, LaGuardia Community College - Provide universal basic income to young people aging out of the foster care system
Saroya Friedman-Gonzalez, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Children - Help employers diversify their talent pipeline
Winston Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers; Co-Chair, NYC Regional Economic Development Council - Build the infrastructure needed to launch 10,000 new youth apprenticeships by 2026
Barbara Chang, Executive Director, CareerWise New York - Use bus network redesigns to reduce NYC’s racial access gap
Tabitha Decker, Deputy Executive Director, TransitCenter - Train and support 100,000 older adults in launching second careers and entrepreneurial venture
Angie Kamath, Dean, NYU School of Professional Studies - Train social workers and other frontline staff to become “justice advocates,” providing free legal advice to low-income New Yorkers
Rohan Pavuluri, CEO, Upsolve - Boost support for NYC’s Family Child Care providers
Jaime-Jin Lewis, Co-Founder, Wiggle Room - Create an NYC Health Service Corps that embeds trusted community health workers within healthcare institutions
Tom Frieden, President and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives; former Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; former Commissioner, NYC Health Department - Invest $10 million in the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund to grow the capacity of POC-led nonprofits
Frankie Miranda, President and CEO, Hispanic Federation - Enact comprehensive zoning reform to build the housing that can make NYC significantly more affordable
Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard University; former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers - Launch a pilot program to transfer a NYCHA development into a Community Land Trust to be owned in perpetuity by the tenants
Melissa Mark-Viverito, former Speaker, New York City Council
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Close pandemic learning gaps by investing in coaching for NYC’s public school teachers
Sarah Johnson, CEO, Teaching Lab - Provide free online tutoring for all low-income students
Aly Murray, Founder and Executive Director, UPchieve - Launch a Golden Ticket for foster youth to guarantee transportation to school and supportive services
Ronald E. Richter, CEO, JCCA - Prevent college students from dropping out by requiring CUNY to share financial aid information and track accessibility
Margo Wright, Founder, Yenko - Create a virtual archive of educational classes
David Nocenti, former Executive Director, Union Settlement - Expand CS4All to teach every K-12 public school student computer science every year
Diane Levitt, Senior Director of K-12 Education, Cornell Tech - Launch a major effort to recruit, train, and retain the next generation of public school educators
Herminia Palacio, President and CEO, Guttmacher Institute; former NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services - Upskill school workers into coaches to get kids moving again through sports
Udai Tambar, CEO and President, New York Junior Tennis & Learning - Integrate early childhood education by helping providers blend government funding and private tuition
Alan van Capelle, President and CEO, Educational Alliance - Create new programs, informed by data, to support Covid orphans
Eric Brettschneider, Senior Fellow, Institute for State and Local Governance, CUNY; former First Deputy Commissioner, NYC Administration for Children Services - Assemble a youth council to advise the mayor’s office
Alicia Guevara, CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC - Create a major new push to support disconnected youth
John Mollenkopf, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center; Director, Center for Urban Research - Equip NYC’s public education system to meet students’ cultural needs
Betsy Cohen, Executive Director, Youth Communication - Invest 10 percent of city workforce dollars in training for parents
Anthony Tassi, CEO, Literacy Partners - Integrate youth voices into city policymaking
Members of the Youth Steering Committee of the NYC Youth Agenda
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Build the infrastructure needed to launch 10,000 new youth apprenticeships by 2026
Barbara Chang, Executive Director, CareerWise New York - Require work-based learning opportunities for all high school students and connect them to CUNY
Claudia Schrader, President, Kingsborough Community College - Level the playing field for public school students by creating more paid internships that offer academic credit for their experience
Jason Duchin, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, DreamYard Project - Create a 1,000-student, CUNY-wide paid internship program in partnership with the private sector
Madhuri Kommareddi, former Director of Workforce Development, New York State - Remove barriers that prevent undocumented teens from participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program
Brian Cohen, Executive Director, Beam Center - Develop and expand K-12 programs to prepare young New Yorkers for careers in the legal profession and other industries
B. Seth Bryant, Managing Partner, Bryant Rabbino LLP - Provide paid internship opportunities for undocumented youth
Vanessa Luna, Co-Founder and Chief Program Officer, ImmSchools - Create private sector internships for transition-age youth
Keith Little, President and CEO, SCO Family of Services - Launch a city-wide program for internships at nonprofit organizations
Marvin Krislov, President, Pace University
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Help employers diversify their talent pipeline
Winston Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers; Co-Chair, NYC Regional Economic Development Council - Create an economic mobility outcomes fund
Andi Phillips, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Maycomb Capital - Challenge NYC’s largest employers to develop new pathway programs that would open doors for New Yorkers of color
Kristen Titus, former Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, New York State - Provide Internet-enabled laptops to New Yorkers enrolled in workforce development programs
Danae McLeod, Executive Director, Grace Institute and Outreach - Make community colleges the centerpiece of a citywide strategy to help reskill New Yorkers for a changing economy
Larry D. Johnson, President, Guttman Community College - Train and support 100,000 older adults in launching second careers and entrepreneurial ventures
Angie Kamath, Dean, NYU School of Professional Studies - Scale up economic mobility programs that have already demonstrated results for clients and communities
Doug Bauer, Executive Director, The Clark Foundation - Expand workforce training stipends to help more low-income New Yorkers participate in high-quality career training programs
Virginia Knox, President, MDRC - Follow the state of Maryland's lead and remove degree requirements from thousands of city government jobs
Lannia Small, Director of Global Strategy and Partnerships, Social Impact, Indeed - Retrain New Yorkers for better jobs by providing scholarships for short-term career training programs at CUNY
Kenneth Adams, President, LaGuardia Community College - Leverage NYC’s research universities to spark well-paying jobs in emerging industries and create a more broad-based economy
Andrew Hamilton, President, NYU - Create a workforce development surcharge on large employers
Darren Bloch, CEO and Executive Director, Greenwich House - Provide public matching funds for highly effective job training programs
Scott Thomas, Co-Founder, Arbor Rising - Remove employment barriers for immigrant professionals
Kyung Yoon, President, Korean American Community Foundation - Strengthen the workforce development pipeline for New Yorkers with disabilities
Diosdado Gica, President of Programs and Operations, ICD-Institute for Career Development - Make digital literacy a fundamental part of every CUNY education by launching a universal introductory computer science course
Ann Kirschner, Entrepreneur; former University Professor, CUNY Graduate Center - Bring film and TV jobs into the city's Workforce1 Career Center system and institute community hiring goals for film and TV productions
Rafael Espinal, Executive Director, Freelancers Union; former NYC Council Member - Partner with CUNY to create a one-stop-shop clearinghouse matching employers and students for internships, fellowships, and jobs
Rhonda Binda, Associate Adjunct Professor, Medgar Evers and Queens Colleges, CUNY - Launch 1,000 apprenticeships for diverse and low-income New Yorkers to gain access to tech careers
Dan Teran, Managing Partner, Gutter Capital - Partner with tech companies to provide free STEM skills education for students, educators, and jobseekers
Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President, ESG and Corporate Social Responsibility, IBM - Empower the chief of student pathways and remove college degree requirements from government jobs
Reuben Ogbonna, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Marcy Lab School - Build innovation hubs in low-income neighborhoods to help young people launch tech careers
Jessica Santana, CEO and Co-Founder, America on Tech - Remove degree requirements for many government jobs, setting an example for inclusive hiring throughout the economy
Kate Naranjo, former Director of the STARs Policy Project, Opportunity@Work - Incentivize employers to remove degree requirements from job descriptions
Jennifer Stredler, Vice President, Workforce Development, Salesforce - Fund place-based workforce collaboratives
Ashley Putnam, Director, Economic Growth and Mobility Project, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia - Prohibit inquiries about age and date of birth in job applications
Kevin Jones, Associate State Director, Advocacy, AARP New York - Invest in soft skill training for underemployed and unemployed New Yorkers
Orit Lender, CEO, JCC of Staten Island
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Help more NYC creators of color patent their brilliance as a way of closing racial wealth gaps
Joseph Scantlebury, President and CEO, Living Cities - Help minority entrepreneurs win more city contracts by collateralizing loans for CDFIs through contract assignments
Connie Evans, President and CEO, Association for Enterprise Opportunity - Tap the purchasing and hiring power of hospitals, universities, and other anchor institutions
Linda Gibbs, Principal for Social Services, Bloomberg Associates; former NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services - Hire MWBE climate tech startups to meet NYC’s ambitious green infrastructure goals
Sonam Velani, Founder and CEO, Streetlife Ventures - Use the forthcoming boom in infrastructure spending to create a cohesive small business support system
Xavier de Souza Briggs, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution - Use NYC government procurement to advance the economic interests of low income communities
Stanley Brezenoff, former NYC Deputy Mayor; former President & CEO, NYC Health+Hospitals - Use alternative criteria for business funding other than zip codes and census tracts
Victoria Lee, Co-Founder and CEO, Welcome to Chinatown - Expand NYC’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to give higher-quality financial services to more New Yorkers
Lisa Servon, Kevin and Erica Penn Presidential Professor of City and Regional Planning, UPenn Weitzman School of Design - Leverage entrepreneurship education to disrupt the cycle of poverty in public housing communities
J.D. LaRock, President and CEO, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship - Create and scale up entrepreneurship programs for Hispanic women
Myriam Rebling, Executive Director, Qualitas of Life Foundation - Make it easier for MWBEs to become certified and win city contracts
Jill Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO, Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership - Provide startup funds and technical assistance to cooperatives for undocumented domestic violence survivors
Nathaly Rubio-Torio, Executive Director, Voces Latinas - Help home-based entrepreneurs become small business owners
Kevin Alexander, President and CEO, Rockaway Development Corporation - Teach every high school student financial literacy skills
Chymeka Olfonse, former Regional Executive Director, BUILD NYC - Ensure that small businesses receive documentation on fines and regulations in multiple languages
Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director, Asian American Federation - Help more New Yorkers invest in the digital economy
Ramik Williams, Co-Executive Director, Kings Against Violence Initiative - Provide free financial and legal counsel to property owners in low-status communities
Majora Carter, MacArthur Fellow; Urban Revitalization Strategist; Real Estate Developer; Author of Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have To Move Out Of Your Community To Live In A Better One - Accelerate the use of technology to build a more equitable city and prepare all New Yorkers to use it
Michael Blake, CEO, Atlas Strategy Group; former NYS Assembly Member
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Boost support for Family Child Care providers
Jaime-Jin Lewis, Founder and CEO, Wiggle Room - Enact new protections related to employees’ working time
Janet Gornick, Director, Stone Center of Socio-Economic Inequality; Professor of Political Science and Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center - Implement supportive workplace policies for all women at every stage of life
Anu Duggal, Founding Partner, Female Founders Fund - Partner with CBOs to provide free childcare to undocumented mothers
Yesenia Mata, Executive Director, La Colmena - Lobby state leaders to increase NYC's minimum wage so that it is truly a living wage
David Garza, President and CEO, Henry Street Settlement - Enable more New Yorkers to access well-paying healthcare jobs by providing free childcare for those in job training programs
Maria Castaneda, Senior Executive Vice President, 1199SEIU - Establish new financial relief for single mothers that don't qualify for existing public programs
Garnesha Ezediaro, Greenwood Initiative Lead, Bloomberg Philanthropies
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Supplement the Empire State Tax Credit so that the poorest and youngest children benefit the most
Irwin Garfinkel, Mitchell I. Ginsberg Professor of Contemporary Urban Problems; Co-Founding Director, Columbia Population Research Center, Columbia School of Social Work - Provide universal basic income to young people aging out of the foster care system
Saroya Friedman-Gonzalez, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Children - Narrow the racial wealth gap with baby bonds
Gary Cunningham, President and CEO, Prosperity Now - Institute a minimum basic income for NYC residents earning below 250 percent of the federal poverty level
Dia Bryant, Executive Director, Education Trust−New York - Remove barriers to employment for people on public benefits with at least six months of earned income disregard
Katy Gaul-Stigge, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey - Enable more New Yorkers to access food benefits by expanding eligibility and centering user needs
Bill Cromie, CEO, HelpKitchen - Scale up the Service Design Studio and hire service designers across city agencies
Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director, BetaNYC - Collect feedback from residents before rolling out new city services
Simon Sylvester-Chaudhuri, Founder and Executive Director, CIV:LAB - Train social workers and other frontline staff to become “justice advocates,” providing free legal advice to low-income New Yorkers
Rohan Pavuluri, CEO, Upsolve - Build data bridges so that government agencies and human services organizations can more efficiently share data
Ben Thomases, Executive Director, Queens Community House - Streamline NYC’s background check process for prospective employees
Geoff Canada, President and Founder, Harlem Children’s Zone; Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and Executive Director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies - Invest $10 million in the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund to grow the capacity of POC-led nonprofits
Frankie Miranda, President and CEO, Hispanic Federation - Provide tech support via 311 to help the many older New Yorkers who struggle to navigate the Internet, access telemedicine, and apply for benefits online
Christian González-Rivera, Director of Strategic Policy Initiatives, Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging - Ensure pay equity and create growth opportunities for nonprofit workers of color
Darlene Williams, President and CEO, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow - Boost NYC’s smallest, most vulnerable nonprofits by making it easier for them to access common, multi-year grant applications
Matt Miszewski, CEO, Catchafire - Enact a COLA for human services workers and make it recurring
Judy Zangwill, Executive Director, Sunnyside Community Services - Raise wages for municipal employees and workers at nonprofits that contract with the city
Ana Oliveira, President and CEO, The New York Women’s Foundation - Establish a minimum wage of $22 an hour for social service workers
Davon Russell, President, WHEDco - Cover the indirect costs of human services in perpetuity and ensure nonprofits are reimbursed on time
Janelle Farris, President and Executive Director, Brooklyn Community Services - Fund a 24/7 arrest support hotline to guarantee Early Legal Representation for arrested New Yorkers
Jelani Anglin, Co-Founder and CEO, Good Call NYC - Forge more nimble partnerships between city agencies, nonprofits, and philanthropic foundations
Laura Jean Watters, Executive Director, The Staten Island Foundation
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Expand mobile health units to bring access to primary care to the most vulnerable New Yorkers
Melanie Hartzog, President and CEO, The New York Foundling; former NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services - Provide doula support to all New Yorkers giving birth in public hospitals and partner with CUNY to train this workforce
Toya Williford, Executive Director, AC & JC Foundation; former Executive Director, Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC - Create an NYC Health Service Corps that embeds trusted community health workers within healthcare institutions
Tom Frieden, President and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives; former Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; former Commissioner, NYC Health Department - Fund community health improvement plans for the ten NYC neighborhoods facing the steepest inequities
Sharon Greenberger, President and CEO, YMCA of Greater New York - Provide basic home repairs to improve health outcomes
Kassa Belay, Executive Director, The Brownsville Partnership - Remove law enforcement from mental health crisis response
Cal Hedigan, CEO, Community Access - Invest in worker- and community-led innovation to improve indoor air quality for frontline workers and low-income residents
Michael Partis, Executive Director, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Provide comprehensive housing support for youth exiting foster care, including dedicated housing specialists at CBOs
Michelle Yanche, Executive Director, Good Shepherd Services - Reform land use laws to make it easier to convert commercial buildings into affordable housing
Ingrid Gould Ellen, Faculty Director, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy; Paulette Goddard Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, NYU - Rezone low-rise commercial corridors in middle-income neighborhoods to spur more affordable housing and greater diversity
Marc Jahr, Senior Advisor, Forsyth Street Advisors; former President, NYC Housing Development Corporation - Approach housing as a human right and provide housing vouchers for all who qualify
Beatriz de la Torre, Managing Director of Housing and Homelessness, Trinity Church Wall Street - Launch a pilot program to transfer a NYCHA development into a Community Land Trust to be owned in perpetuity by the tenants
Melissa Mark-Viverito, former Speaker, New York City Council - Update underutilized housing programs to preserve and maintain more affordable housing
Rafael E. Cestero, CEO, The Community Preservation Corporation - Enact comprehensive zoning reform to build the housing that can make NYC significantly more affordable
Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard University; former Chairman, President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers - Build 600,000 units of housing to meet the needs of New Yorkers today and change the rules to allow for a wider range of housing types in the future
Eric S. Lee, Founder and Chair, Bennett Midland - Legalize Single Room Occupancy housing to provide affordable housing
Muzzy Rosenblatt, CEO and President, Bowery Residents Committee - Help faith-based institutions with pre-development funding to convert underused real estate or sell air rights, enabling more affordable housing and community spaces
Joyce Moy, Executive Director, Asian American/Asian Research Institute, CUNY - Invest $4 billion to build affordable housing for NYC’s older adults
Allison Nickerson, Executive Director, LiveOn NY - Develop new programs that help homeowners of color retain their homes
Valerie White, Senior Executive Director, LISC New York - Empower NYCHA residents to lead the reinvestment and rehabilitation of NYC’s public housing
David Jones, President and CEO, Community Service Society of New York - End family homelessness by prioritizing preventative services, supporting the well-being of current shelter residents, and easing the transition into permanent housing
Jennifer March, Executive Director, Citizens' Committee for Children of New York; Co-Convener, Family Homelessness Coalition - Disrupt the NYC housing market to create more affordable housing
Nicole Branca, Executive Director, New Destiny Housing - Prioritize homeownership as part of NYC’s affordable housing strategy
Jeremy Kohomban, President and CEO, The Children’s Village
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Hire local environmental stewards to keep low-income neighborhoods free of trash and pollution
Janet Rodriguez, Founder and CEO, SoHarlem - Invest in climate-related workforce development programs in environmental justice communities—funded with a stormwater fee
Maggie Greenfield, Executive Director, Bronx River Alliance - Add a planner and an architect to every NYC Community Board to help them become more forceful advocates for New York’s neighborhoods
Rosalie Genevro, Executive Director, Architectural League of New York - Work across city agencies to create public spaces that are accessible, inclusive, and just
Setha Low, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Psychology, Geography, Anthropology, and Women’s Studies; Director, Public Space Research Group, CUNY Graduate Center - Use bus network redesigns to reduce NYC’s racial access gap
Tabitha Decker, Deputy Executive Director, TransitCenter - Strengthen NYC's social infrastructure by reforming the capital construction process
Julie Sandorf, President, Charles H. Revson Foundation - Build a circular New York City by supporting local reuse and repair businesses and organizations
Sandra Goldmark, Associate Professor of Professional Practice in Theatre; Director of Campus Sustainability and Climate Action, Barnard College - Invest in ports and industrial zones to create a cleaner economy and more prosperous city
Bruce Katz, Founding Director, Nowak Metro Finance Lab, Drexel University - Expand transit options by making OMNY the universal "mobility token" for all modes in NYC
Jessie Lazarus, Vice President Go-to-Market, CARMERA; former NYC Chief Digital Officer - Give ownership of our digital future to the people
Derrick Lewis, Co-Founder and Chair, The Bronx Community Foundation - Transform how NYC collects and uses data to improve communities
David Belt, Co-Founder and Chairman, Newlab - Help individuals and small businesses take part in the renewable energy boom
Celeste Frye, Co-Founder and CEO, Public Works Partners LLC - Enforce access to privately owned public spaces
Thomas Balsley, Principal Designer, SWA/Balsley - Revitalize low-income neighborhoods and make cycling more accessible by transforming abandoned infrastructure into a network of biking tubes
Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer-Prize Winning Journalist; Columnist, Foreign Policy; Author of The Coming Plague and I Heard the Sirens Scream - Tie special permits for last-mile delivery companies to quality industrial job creation
Laura Wolf-Powers, Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College - Reenvision markets as a type of civic infrastructure that delivers local, healthy food to New Yorkers
Robert LaValva, Placemaking Consultant, Greensward Advisors; Founder, New Amsterdam Market - Reactivate unoccupied spaces in the city’s business districts as a rotating gallery of community-based ideas and solutions
Laura Sparks, President, The Cooper Union - Create an expedited path for as-of-right changes of use to transform underutilized office and retail spaces
Miriam Peterson, Co-Founder and Principal, Peterson Rich Office - Pilot a Participatory Justice program in low-income neighborhoods, empowering residents to set the direction for ensuring their safety
Jeremy Travis, Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice, Arnold Ventures; former President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice - Redesign zoning categories to meet the city’s current needs and expand opportunities for equity
Leah Meisterlin, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University - Revamp NYC’s subway system
Will Raderman, Employment Policy Analyst, Niskanen Center - Enact new zoning regulations to revitalize unused office space
Eran Chen, Founding Principal and Executive Director, ODA - Launch an SMS alert system to promote civic engagement
Carole Wacey, former President and CEO; Lea Giddins, Senior Program and Policy Manager, Women Creating Change
Click here to read this section of the full report
- Create community choirs across NYC
Schele Williams, Broadway Director; Founding Member, Black Theatre United - Develop a paid internship program in music, media, and entertainment to help expand access to creative careers
Jeanne Houck, Executive Director, Creative Arts Team, CUNY - Transform underutilized commercial real estate into studios for young, diverse creatives
Alain Sylvain, Founder and CEO, SYLVAIN - Launch a Creativity Fund to support projects that advance equity in the creative economy, overseen by a chief creativity officer
Sharese Bullock-Bailey, Festival Director and Chief Innovation Officer, Urbanworld Foundation, Inc - Reimagine and relaunch the Spaceworks model to unlock affordable space for the arts
David Ehrenberg, former President and CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard - Help more young adults prepare for creative careers by expanding the model of creative agency apprenticeships
Quardean Lewis-Allen, Executive Director, Youth Design Center - Direct 1 percent of the city's annual budget to culture and prioritize investments that build cultural equity
Sade Lythcott, CEO, National Black Theatre - Develop a searchable online database of music education programs for underserved families
Anne Fitzgibbon, Founder and Executive Director, Harmony Program - Provide guaranteed income for NYC's artists
Charlotte Cohen, former Executive Director, Brooklyn Arts Council
