Center for an Urban Future

The think tank quietly influencing New York’s top officials The Center for an Urban Future has caught the attention of city leaders with pragmatic policy ideas.

Proud to share this article about the Center for an Urban Future and the impact we’ve been having in NYC. @nycfuture.bsky.social @crainsnewyork.bsky.social @nickgarber.bsky.social www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...

How One City Cut Its Poverty Rate in Half Over the past decade, Richmond, Va., has managed to cut its poverty rate by 45 percent. Many things broke right for the city, but a pair of mayors stuck with a longterm plan to make it happen.

How One City Cut Its Poverty Rate in Half www.governing.com/policy/how-o...

Overall, the number of chain stores in NYC declined by 1.3% over the past year, the 5th time in 7 years with a net decline in chains. Food chains increased by 1.6%.

State of the Chains, 2024 | Center for an Urban Future (CUF) CUF report finds downtick in chains stores across the five boroughs over the past year.

One of the findings of our new State of the Chains report: NYC’s 13 largest retailers have a combined 797 fewer store locations in the city today than in 2019. nycfuture.org/research/sta...

Chart showing immigrant share of the US population from 1850 to 2023.

A record 47.8 million immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2023, up from 46.2 million in 2022.

While the number of immigrants in the U.S. reached a new record high last year, their share of the population (14.3%) remained below the all-time peak (14.8% in 1890).

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Parents are quitting jobs, passing on raises — to qualify for child care NEW YORK — To keep working, Amy Lee Funes desperately needed help paying for child care. Funes loved her job at a New York City-based child and family nonprofit, but she earned only $35,000 a year. In a city where child care can easily consume more than half of that, Funes was optimistic that she would qualify for a government-funded subsidy to help her afford the cost. She had no other real options: After moving into a Harlem homeless shelter to escape an abusive relationship, Funes was too far from her mother to rely on regular help with her baby boy.

Parents are quitting jobs, passing on raises — to qualify for child care

NEW YORK — To keep working, Amy Lee Funes desperately needed help paying for child care. Funes loved her job at a New York City-based child and family nonprofit, but she earned only $35,000 a year. In a city where child care…

A graph illustrating income gains at the peak of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, showcasing financial growth trends.

Recently at CBPP, we focused on #poverty and #inequality, #ClimateChange, #health, and the #economy. www.cbpp.org/blog/in-case...

Helping NYC’s Low-Income Adult Learners Succeed at CUNY | Center for an Urban Future (CUF) One quarter of undergraduate students at CUNY are over age 25, and too many of them never graduate. New York City and state must expand supports so more

Nearly a quarter of undergrads at CUNY are over 25, but too many of them never get to the college finish line. Our new report calls for new city & state supports tailored to the needs of adult learners, to help ensure far more of them succeed in earning a credential. nycfuture.org/research/hel...

Tweet from Senator Tina Smith: “So proud of the great work happening in Minneapolis, which shows that boosting housing supply helps make homes more affordable.” Graphic: “Minneapolis has built more housing than other Midwestern cities...” Graph shows Minneapolis approving 50 new dwellings per 1000 people since 2017, more than Omaha, Columbus, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis “...and is reaping the rewards as rents fall relative to inflation” Graph showing Minneapolis at 80% of 2017 rents, while Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Columbus, and Omaha are all above 2017 rents.

More homes mean lower rents.

If Minneapolis can do it, so can we.

Good morning ☕️

Today’s DN editorial in support of our scaffolding reform efforts:

“There's more to do, as City Councilmen Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher among others keep reminding the city. Smart legislation they are sponsoring would make it easier to get scaffolds to come down expeditiously..”

Important story!

Several years back, we published a report breaking down much of NYC's aging infrastructure, including leaky water and gas lines. nycfuture.org/research/cau...

Leaky Water Pipes Cost New York Billions of Gallons of Water per Year one thing is clear: Aging infrastructure is costing customers.

Amid a historic drought, New York water utilities are losing millions of gallons of drinking water every day.

My latest for @nysfocus.bsky.social: nysfocus.com/2024/11/27/n...

How One Library Is Filling the Gaps in Homeless Services The Salt Lake City Public Library's in-house social workers and suite of other services help the unhoused find their way.

How One Library Is Filling the Gaps in Homeless Services www.governing.com/urban/how-on...

It’s Time to Launch SUNY Reconnect | Center for an Urban Future (CUF) Center for an Urban Future calls for New York to launch SUNY Reconnect for working age adults who have earned some college credits but have no degree.

Two yrs ago, NYC launched CUNY Reconnect, which helps adults who have some college credits but no degree to re-enroll in CUNY & finish their degree. 40,000 have already re-enrolled. Our new report calls for replicating this successful program at the state level. nycfuture.org/research/its...

It’s Time to Launch SUNY Reconnect | Center for an Urban Future (CUF) Center for an Urban Future calls for New York to launch SUNY Reconnect for working age adults who have earned some college credits but have no degree.

There are 1.5 million adults in NYS who have some college credits but no degree. Our new @nycfuture.bsky.social report urges state leaders to create a new program, SUNY Reconnect, to help these adults re-enroll at SUNY & get over the college finish line. nycfuture.org/research/its...

Could a Contest Lure More A.I. Companies Here? A report suggests a competition where the prize is a multimillion-dollar city contract.

Our new report lays out 5 ideas to maximize NYC’s opportunity with AI. James Barron wrote about it in his @nytimes.com newsletter. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/n...

Restaurants have become increasingly vital to NYC’s storefront landscape. As one indication of this, 20 years ago NYC had 102,000 more jobs in retail trade than in restaurants. Today, 30,000 more people are employed in restaurants.