Center for an Urban Future

"At a time when New Yorkers are using parks and open spaces more than ever—and these places have become even more vital to the city’s future livability—the city can’t keep up with their growing needs, especially as its Parks Department absorbs a $20.1 million budget cut. Adequately maintaining the city’s public parks and open spaces will require sustained public investment." Along with calling for more investment in civic infrastructure, this commentary by John Surico elevates why and how New York City should make it easier for nonprofit and community groups to help care for parks and public spaces. And offers recommendations for cities everywhere to consider in moving from a "culture of no" to a "city of yes" when it comes to public-private partnerships for public space stewardship: ✅ Direct the city’s lawyers to simplify agreements around parks and open space care.  ✅ Develop a public space management handbook that includes parks and open spaces. ✅ Reduce the overhead costs for groups that support the needs of public parks and open spaces—starting with insurance. ✅ Ensure that the city’s proposed Public Space Academy includes parks groups. https://lnkd.in/e2faEn9h Center for an Urban Future #parks #publicspace #stewardship #care #maintenance #civicinfrastructure

Parks are some of the most vibrant open spaces in New York City, and at a time when New Yorkers are using them more than ever, the city can’t keep up with their growing needs, especially as its Parks Department absorbs a $20.1 million budget cut. Our new commentary highlights why and how the city should make it easier for nonprofit organizations and community groups to help care for smaller parks and open spaces. By way of a smart strategy prioritizing enhanced maintenance, site-specific programming, and dedicated new sources of revenue, the city can reinvest in its public spaces. This would be a win-win for the city and its residents, but the city’s legal reviews make securing the agreements necessary between community-organizations and city agencies an arduous slog, costing time and money. By overhauling these bureaucratic processes, the city would not lose a penny, and would unlock significant opportunities to improve conditions in smaller, under-resourced parks. A livable city is home to a vibrant, well-maintained public realm, and while the city has made recent strides in creating public-private partnerships around public space, there is much more to be done in order to unlock the full potential of New York’s parks. Check out our full commentary here: https://lnkd.in/e2faEn9h

The Center for an Urban Future is thrilled to be honoring three outstanding New Yorkers at our gala this year: Julie Samuels of Tech:NYC, Sherry Wang of Goldman Sachs, and Susan Fine of Fine Development Partners and Turnstyle Underground Market. Purchase tickets to our gala on October 23rd here: https://lnkd.in/eneWr3uA

It was great to have the opportunity to speak at today’s “What’s Next for Social Security” forum held by POLITICO New York and AARP New York. There’s a lot at stake for New York in shoring up the social security system. As I mentioned on the panel, NYC is home to 1.4 million older adults—those who are age 65 and over. That’s an all-time high, and it’s more than the entire population of San Diego, the nation's 8th largest city. Even with social security intact, an alarming number of older New Yorkers are struggling with financial insecurity. The poverty rate for those 65-and-over in NYC is a staggering 24%, and the number of older New Yorkers in the city’s shelter system has doubled in the past 8 years. Social security is the most important program we have to keep older adults out of poverty, so cutting the program’s benefits would be catastrophic. But as much as federal officials will need to come together to address the pending shortfall in the social security system, city and state officials also ought to be doing a lot more to address economic insecurity for older New Yorkers and strengthen supports from New York’s booming older adult population. To start with: eliminate the state’s EITC age cap, make it easier to develop Accessory Dwelling Units (pass City of Yes!), build a lot more senior housing, and make prescription drugs more affordable. 

As the summer comes to a close, we want to take a moment to appreciate our intern cohort this semester and their hard work researching, writing, interviewing, and more for the Center for an Urban Future!

The Center for an Urban was thrilled to host its first annual NYC Economic Opportunity Summit with over 250 attendees focused on generating concrete ideas—policies, initiatives, and strategies that city and state officials can implement to expand economic mobility in New York City. The event "What’s Next for Economic Mobility in NYC?" featured two solutions-focused panels: one on opportunities to strengthen and expand NYC-based economic opportunity programs that are succeeding but at a small scale, and another discussing successful economic mobility programs from other cities and states that have potential for replication in New York. As part of the event, our team from the Center for an Urban pitched 5 ideas for expanding economic opportunity in New York, including: •Create a competitive Scale-Up Challenge Fund for nonprofit-run economic mobility programs that are working. •Tap CUNY's students to build a greener university. •Replicate Cincinnati’s Minority Business Accelerator in NYC. •Help thousands more New Yorkers earn bachelor’s degrees by expanding the highly successful CUNY ACE program. •Launch a talent pipeline initiative for creative economy careers. Check out the full report with Center for an Urban Future policy ideas for expanding economic mobility: https://lnkd.in/eawNb9JQ And check out the full replay of the event here: https://lnkd.in/euQHVeV5 Thank you to our speakers including NYC First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Barbara Chang, Linda Gibbs, Danielle S. Goonan, Melanie Hartzog, Kirstin Hill, Matthew Klein, John Martinez, Lisette Nieves, Vincent Quan, Scott Thomas, and Hope Wollensack.

💡 Mayor Adams: Tap CUNY's students to build a greener university 🌳 I was thrilled to share this idea at yesterday's first annual NYC Economic Opportunity Summit. Many thanks to the hundreds of passionate, thoughtful New York City leaders who joined us or tuned in. Achieving New York City’s ambitious climate goals will require major new efforts to reduce emissions from city-owned buildings where significantly more progress is needed. To achieve this, Mayor Adams should spearhead a major new initiative to create a greener CUNY, and launch a first-of-its-kind program to harness CUNY’s students to implement these system-wide upgrades. By doing so, the city will not only accelerate progress toward its climate goals, but also help prepare thousands of mostly low-income, first-generation college students for the green economy jobs that are coming online now and in the years ahead. This new initiative can succeed in transforming the nation’s most powerful economic mobility institution into its greenest one, too. Check out this and four other Center for an Urban Future policy ideas for expanding economic mobility in our latest report: https://lnkd.in/eiyePMbi

There's still time to sign up for Wednesday's panel discussion — "What's Next for Economic Opportunity in NYC?" — sponsored by the Center for an Urban Future and featuring MDRC's John Martinez, among many other experts!

CUF In the News Roundup: Last week, an op-ed in the Daily News by Beth Finkel, state director of AARP, featured findings from our 2023 report, “Keeping Pace with an Aging New York State.” Finkel argues that the city’s housing crisis has an acute effect on older New Yorkers, as it impacts the ability of trusted caregivers to find affordable options near them and help older adults age in place. As Finkel highlights, our report found that New York City’s 65-and-over population had a 36 percent growth between 2011 and 2021. Additionally, our report found that older adults are driving the state’s population growth; in 2021 18 percent of all New Yorkers were 65 and older, a larger share of the state’s population than ever before. Finkel expands on this research, noting, “As the older adult population rapidly increases, the need for more economical and accessible housing choices will soar.” She also presents a recommendation for how the city can protect this vulnerable population and expand support networks close to their homes: build accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which are smaller, independent units on the same lot as someone’s property, which can provide flexible living arrangements for a family member or trusted caregiver. Check out the op-ed here: https://lnkd.in/edcNQEXQ For more data on New York’s older adult population, check out our report: https://lnkd.in/euiDAgni

Some NYC budget takeaways: The City University of New York & NYC Department of Parks & Recreation enter the new year with fewer resources. The bigggest % increases? NYC Health + Hospitals and #debt service.