But the number of SNAP participants in the city keeps falling. That could reflect good news about the economy, the impact of federal benefit cuts or the persistence at the city level of obstacles to families getting the help they need.
The Center for Economic Opportunity was the high-profile heart of an anti-poverty push that earned Mayor Bloomberg many plaudits and some flak. The initiative lives on under his successor.
‘Narratives about those receiving public benefits depict them as scammers living large off the hard work of tax-paying Americans. This is far from the truth.’ Watch a video op-ed.
The Trump administration withdrew the United States from the United Nation’s Human Rights Council on Tuesday, citing the body’s frequent criticism of Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians. But that was just one area of disagreement.
The Council backs a $212 million proposal for half-price MetroCards for poor families. Mayor de Blasio balks at the price-tag. Why not compromise on free transit for low-income community college students?
Income is up and poverty is down in Central Harlem, West Harlem and Washington Heights. But those neighborhood-wide numbers don’t capture what different segments of each community are experiencing.
The City Planning Commission listened to passionate testimony regarding the proposed Jerome Avenue rezoning.
‘Condemning Neo-Nazis and Klansmen is (or at least should be) an easy first step. Yet, if we as a nation want to fully reject racism, we must commit ourselves to the proposition that every American is entitled to an equally long and healthy life.’
The plan soon to emerge from the Bronx segment of the governor’s Empire Poverty Reduction Initiative will set the stage for the most important question: Will the state apply adequate resources to addressing, rather than diagnosing, poverty?
Rates of poverty and poverty concentration have increased in New York City after an earlier decline, according to the Furman Center—and some neighborhoods considering a rezoning experienced increased poverty and rising rents simultaneously.
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