Center for an Urban Future

💡 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.

The City of New York just adopted its $112.4 billion budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The budget includes several restorations and investments inspired by the Center for an Urban Future’s recent research, testimonies, and recommendations, including: •Restorations to CUNY's Budget and Funding for Key Opportunity Programs We are encouraged to see Mayor Adams and the City Council restore $64.2 million in funding for CUNY. The FY25 adopted budget fully funds the CUNY Reconnect program at $5.9 million, the highest level to date. CUNY Reconnect has helped more than 33,000 working-age adults with some college credits but no degree to re-enroll at CUNY. CUF's January 2022 report inspired Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to create the program. During our November 2023 testimony before the Council, we recommended that "the City Council continue supporting CUNY Reconnect and work with the administration to renew funding in the upcoming budget.” The budget also fully restores $10.1 million for the CUNY Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) program, which helps students at senior colleges complete their bachelor’s degrees on time. Our March 2023 report, Playing NYC's ACE Card, as well as our testimonies in March and June, urged Mayor Adams and the City Council to expand economic mobility by investing in CUNY ACE. •Establishing Human Services-Focused Fellowship The city's FY25 budget allocates $500,000 in new funding for a CUNY Social Work Fellows program, echoing a key recommendation from our May 2024 report Solving the Staffing Crisis Facing NYC’s Human Services Organizations. We urged the city to establish a "CUNY Human Services Fellowship" program, designed to build stronger pipelines from CUNY into human services careers and fill positions with high vacancies. •Restoring Funding for Adult Literacy Programs, Including ESOL The adopted budget includes a $10 million restoration for adult literacy programs, the city's key funding source ESOL classes. CUF's September 2023 report, Preparing Today's Asylum Seekers to Be Tomorrow's Workforce, revealed unprecedented demand and lengthy waiting lists for ESOL classes. In June, we testified before the Council that the city should “restore and baseline funding for adult literacy programs” to help “more of the newest New Yorkers on the path to economic self-sufficiency.” •Bolstering the Capacity of CDFIs to Support More Underresourced Entrepreneurs The City Council also allocated $1 million in new funding to support the operations of the city's community development financial institutions (CDFIs), enabling these crucial nonprofit lenders to serve more underresourced entrepreneurs. Our December 2022 report argued that one of the most effective investments the city can make in strengthening underresourced small businesses is by enabling CDFIs to scale up their operations. Check out our research and testimonies related to the budget here: https://lnkd.in/eymv__dW

I'm incredibly excited to be moderating the panel discussions at CUF's first annual Economic Opportunity Summit two weeks from today, feat. Sheena Wright Barbara Chang Linda Gibbs Danielle S. Goonan Melanie Hartzog Kirstin Hill Matthew Klein John Martinez Lisette Nieves Vincent Quan Scott Thomas & Hope Wollensack. Check out the all-star line-up and let me know if you'd like to join us to explore "What’s Next for Economic Mobility in NYC?" https://lnkd.in/eUy_XtFd

CUF In the News Roundup: Last week, a New York Times article featured our recent report, "Expanding Access to Advertising Careers," in a piece titled, “The ‘Mad Men’ Era Is Long Over. Why Is Advertising Still So White?” As highlighted in the article by Stefanos Chen, our research reveals that the advertising industry remains one of the city’s fastest growing sectors, yet New Yorkers of color are disproportionately underrepresented. The industry has seen a 49.5 percent job growth in the past two decades, and has some of the highest wages among developing sectors. However, in 2022, Black New Yorkers accounted for only 7.7 percent of the city’s workforce, Hispanic New Yorkers only accounted for 14.8 of the industry, and Asian New Yorkers represented only 10.6 percent of advertising jobs. As Chen writes, “The figures made advertising among the city’s least diverse industries in the city.” The lack of diversity in the advertising industry is also a workforce problem, as underscored in the piece by our executive director Jonathan Bowles. “There are a lot of jobs that are growing in New York, but not many that have good wages,” he says. As our report highlights, a similar focus and set of investments seen in the efforts to diversify tech careers should be applied to the advertising sector. Check out the article here: https://lnkd.in/dqtnb4qD For more findings about the state of NYC’s advertising industry, check out our report: https://lnkd.in/erw6_bTk And here are a few other recent articles featuring our research: “Investing in 3-K helps New York City’s economy” New York Daily News, by Grace Rauh & Julie Samuels https://lnkd.in/e33_ASBu “All 51 City Council members back internet affordability program in new letter” City & State, by Sahalie Donaldson https://lnkd.in/gaYAhWnf

In recent years, city leaders have admirably taken steps to expand pathways into the well-paying jobs being created in New York City’s fast-growing tech sector, supporting initiatives such as the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline, Computer Science for All, and CUNY 2X Tech. But for New York to succeed in building a more equitable economy, it will be essential to extend a similar strategy to other growing industries with middle- and high-wage jobs that, like tech, employ too few New Yorkers of color. Our new Center for an Urban Future report argues that one place to start is the advertising sector. There are nearly 70,000 advertising jobs in NYC, and it has been one of the city’s fastest-growing industries over the past two decades, with its 49.5% rate of growth outpacing the 36.7% growth for all private sector jobs in the city. Advertising is also one of a few high-wage sectors that has seen notable job growth in the city. The median annual income for the advertising industry is $91,712 a year, nearly double the city-wide private sector annual median income of $55,108. However, there is a huge opportunity to diversify the city's advertising workforce. In 2022, Black workers accounted for only 7.7% of the city’s advertising workforce, significantly lower than their 20.7% share in the city’s total workforce and 21.9% share of the city’s overall population. Similarly, Hispanic New Yorkers make up only 14.8% of the sector’s jobs (compared to 27.6% of the city’s total workforce). Our report, which I co-authored with Rachel Neches, urges city leaders to take a similar approach—with a similar set of public and private investments—to the efforts undertaken during the past decade to expand access to tech careers. At the same time, employers in the industry will need to step up with new and enhanced commitments to recruit and hire New Yorkers of color and help young people explore opportunities in the industry and access paid internships. Check out our report to learn more. https://lnkd.in/eP6aPDhS 

Advertising is one of New York City’s fastest-growing industries, with a 49.5 percent job growth over the past two decades, and some of the highest wages amongst the city’s developing sectors. The industry has grown so rapidly that as of December 2023, New York was home to an incredible 13.4 percent of all advertising jobs nationwide. But, as a new report by the Center for an Urban Future highlights, the advertising industry remains one of the city’s least diverse sectors. In 2022, Black workers accounted for only 7.7 percent of the city’s advertising workforce. Similarly, Hispanic New Yorkers only accounted for 14.8 percent of the advertising industry. Asian New Yorkers represented only 10.6 percent of advertising jobs as well. The industry has seen progress in diversifying its workforce in recent years, but more can be done by policymakers to close racial disparities. To create a more diverse workforce in New York’s advertising industry, a similar focus, and similar set of public and private investments seen in efforts to diversify tech careers, should be applied to the advertising sector. Check out our full data brief here: https://lnkd.in/erw6_bTk

Even before the recent influx of migrants, New York City was struggling to help many of the city’s 2.79 million working-age foreign-born residents —including over 1.4 million with limited English proficiency—with job training, workplace certifications, learning English, and connecting to other services that lead to employment. Since then, the stream of arrivals has continued, and policymakers have taken some important steps to provide assistance that goes beyond humanitarian aid. But a lot more is needed to help build the capacity of the city’s immigrant-serving organizations and support more of the newest New Yorkers on the path to economic self-sufficiency. Today, our Senior Editor Dorian Block testified before the New York City Council Committees on Immigration and Small Business to call for more support for workforce development organizations and adult literacy programs that serve asylum seeker and migrant populations. Our research finds a striking inadequacy of funding for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). Fewer than 4 percent of all adult New Yorkers who could benefit from literacy education are able to take ESOL classes each year. In addition to the need for English classes, contracts and rules are limiting the reach and effectiveness of many workforce training programs, including that many cannot serve immigrants who do not yet have official work authorization. Our recommendations for the city included: •Restore and baseline funding for adult literacy programs in the FY 2025 budget •Ensure that new RFPs support joint ESOL-job training programs run by CUNY, the city’s public libraries, and nonprofit training and literacy assistance organizations, which absorb the bulk of the demand •Support job-specific ESOL and certification programs for migrants who do not yet have work authorization Check out the full testimony and other recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/e8K9YtGk