On September 28, 2022, the Center for an Urban Future published its new report, “City of Aspiration: 150 Ideas from New Yorkers for Building a More Equitable NYC.”
There is growing consensus among city policymakers that New York needs to create a more equitable city. This new report provides a roadmap for how the city can get there, with 150 New York-based leaders and national experts each sharing a single policy idea for what city officials should do to make progress towards a more equitable city.
The 150 ideas come from a diverse mix of contributors, including former Deputy Mayors Melanie Hartzog, Stanley Brezenoff, Linda Gibbs, and Herminia Palacio; former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito; former Chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors Jason Furman; former CDC Director Tom Frieden; former HPD commissioner Rafael Cestero, former ACS commissioner Ron Richter, former HDC president Marc Jahr, Harlem Children’s Zone founder Geoff Canada, NYU president Andrew Hamilton, Guttman Community College President Larry Johnson; CareerWise New York Executive Director Barbara Chang; Marcy Lab School Co-Founder Reuben Ogbonna; Mandela the Musical director Schele Williams; Landscape architect Tom Balsley; Wiggle Room Co-Founder Jaime-Jin Lewis; Upsolve CEO Rohan Pavuluri; Korean American Community Foundation President Kyung Yoon; Hispanic Federation CEO Frankie Miranda; New York Women’s Foundation President Ana Oliveira, Bronx Community Foundation Chair Derek Lewis; Good Shepherd Services Executive Director Michelle Yanche; National Black Theater CEO Sade Lythcott; and Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program Founding Director Bruce Katz.
The report, which was made possible through support from Winston C. Fisher and Fisher Brothers Foundation, 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.
The Center for an Urban Future (CUF) is a think tank focused on building a stronger and more inclusive economy in New York and expanding economic opportunity for all New Yorkers. This report is part of CUF’s Middle Class Jobs Project, a research initiative made possible by the generous support of Fisher Brothers Foundation and Winston C. Fisher. CUF receives general operating support from The Clark Foundation, the Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation, and the Altman Foundation.
See full report.