New York City’s public schools are held accountable for their students’ educational progress. But what happens when problems at home hold students back, or when young children aren’t coming to school? Could the city create a school-based safety net in the lowest-income neighborhoods?
Read MoreMore than ever before, immigrant voters are key players in electoral politics and the presidential race. Yet their opinions and concerns are often overlooked by mainstream media. What are the top issues and priorities for today’s immigrant voters? How are the nation’s immigrant communities responding to the candidates’ efforts to woo them—and who will win their votes?
Read MoreNew York City’s foster care system has made headway in finding family homes for young people who once would have lived in group homes and residential treatment centers. But city officials and nonprofit leaders face tremendous challenges in creating effective support systems, crisis teams and training programs that can help foster parents care for these children.
Read MoreAmerica’s cities are confronting growing populations, a changing climate and rising fuel prices. While political leaders debate the development of alternative energy sources, most experts agree energy efficiency is fundamental to the urban future. Can cities combat global warming and the high cost of power with less wasteful infrastructure and other strategies?
Read MoreThe Bill Green Lecture Series memorializes Bill Green (1929–2002), who represented the East Side of Manhattan in Congress from 1978 to 1992. Rep. Green, a Republican, was an independent thinker who frequently crossed the aisle to collaborate on critical issues such as the environment, urban policy, and affordable housing.
Read MoreThe city’s economy is slowing and construction costs remain extraordinarily high, but the Bloomberg administration still has its sights set on far-reaching development projects. Will New York be able to maintain its fast pace of residential and commercial renewal? How are neighborhoods responding to zoning changes intended to spur growth?
Read MoreState leaders are debating proposals to close several near-empty juvenile facilities and revamp a system that has long invested only modest resources in community-based alternatives. Meanwhile, New York City is deploying family supports and services designed to keep more young people from being locked up, send others home faster, and still ensure public safety. Could New York have a juvenile justice system that depends less on incarceration and detention?
Read MoreNew York has long depended on subsidy programs to facilitate affordable housing development. But because most such incentives sunset over time, tens of thousands of units have reverted to market rate over the last decade, and 15,000 more may do so in the near future. What strategies and regulatory structures can be put in place to assure affordability not just for the present, but the future as well?
Read MoreWhen Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office one of his top priorities was to repair the city’s ailing public schools. The state gave him control of the school system five years ago and must soon decide whether to extend that power to future administrations. Are the schools more accountable today? Students and teachers more successful?
Read MoreElected in a landslide in 2006 with a strong mandate for change, Governor Eliot Spitzer’s political fortunes soon took a turn for the worse. This winter, he’s gone from “reformer” to “conciliator.” Can he make a comeback and achieve his ambitious agenda? What will it take for the governor to regain his political clout?
Read MoreThe Bloomberg administration is mounting an all-out campaign to reduce the length of time children spend in foster care and to make preventive and post-reunification supports for families more effective. Few disagree with these goals. But in a child welfare system managed by nonprofits, the city must use its power over contracts to drive change. It’s an enormous and controversial challenge.
Read MoreA fast-growing number of people receiving government-funded developmental disabilities services in New York are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. And in city schools, the number of pupils with autism has increased 72 percent in only five years. How are government, service providers, schools and parents responding?
Read MoreOn July 1, 2008, New York City emerged from 30 years of financial oversight by the state with the expiration of key provisions of the 1978 Financial Emergency Act. What does this pivotal event in the city’s fiscal history mean for the future of the nation’s fourth largest governmental budget? What requirements will sunset, and what procedures will remain in place?
Read MoreThe New York City Housing Authority is in dire financial straits. Although the state recently increased its rent subsidy, it will barely make a dent in the $225 million annual shortfall and renewed federal investment is nowhere on the horizon. A roundtable discussion with key stakeholders to determine what can be done to rescue public housing—the city’s primary source of affordable housing, and home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers.
Read MoreAs part of PlaNYC 2030, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed opening 290 city schoolyards to the public during non-school hours. Reclaiming urban community space can strengthen families and neighborhoods, but it's never as easy as "throwing open the gates." What should the city do to ensure that these spaces benefit communities, families, and children?
Read MoreThe federal immigration policy debate may soon reach its climactic moment, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Meanwhile, our city’s immigrant communities face unique—and not so unique—local challenges related to schools, poverty, housing and more. If you read or listen to the mainstream English-language press, what are you missing?
Read MoreWith large-scale developments underway in every borough, the physical face of New York City is already changing on a scale unseen in decades—even as the Bloomberg administration is planning for sustainable growth of nearly a million more residents by 2030. What are the implications formore livable neighborhoods and community renewal?
Read MoreNearly $3 billion in state funds will be spent on corrections and criminal justice services in New York this year. Under the state's rst Democratic administration in 12 years, will there be a new vision—and new policies—on sentencing, prison conditions and drug treatment, health care and education behind bars?
Read MoreThe office of the governor is about to change hands for the first time in 12 years, likely representing a seismic shift—not just in ideology, but in management approaches, leadership styles and appointments. An in-depth discussion of the challenges facing New York in the areas of health care, affordable housing, public education and government reform.
Read MoreParents who combine the uncompensated work of childcare with paid employment have two jobs, yet workplaces and government have done little to accommodate their dual roles. Why is domestic work unpaid? How does the U.S. compare to other countries in terms of work/family policy?
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