One of the challenges for today, according to the opening speaker from the Urban Studies group, is for participants to come up with specific ideas for the next mayor to build on. This format is similar to that used during the community forums held earlier this year to discuss leadership in Philadelphia and what characteristics citizens want in the next mayor.
Today's first speaker is Veronica White, executive director of New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity. She says the mayor often says "Prepare New Yorkers to work and make work pay." The city comissioned a report that recommended focusing on three groups: The working poor, young adults 16-24 and young children, 0-5. Since 1990 the percetage of working families living in poverity in NYC has grown from 29 to 46 percent.
Some examples of efforts under way:
- providing a local child care tax credit;
- trying to help families claim their Earned Income Tax Credit;
- creating an Office of Financial Empowerment to help empower low-income people to protect their assets
- working with the City University of New York to increase graduation from community colleges;
- implementing nurse-family partnerships to provide regular home visits to first-time mothers. (Although expensive, this plan pays off in the long run.);
- funding condidtional cash transfers, which means providing money to families to do certain things, like going to the doctor or getting preventive care, that might fall through the cracks for people working multiple jobs. This last program has been success in other countries, she says.
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