Adams 2021: In-depth - People's Plan
Cash, Childcare & Housing Assistance—And A City That Delivers
New York City has always been a place of immense wealth and persistent poverty. Generation after generation, whether our overall economy is up or down, most New Yorkers struggle to get by either some of the time or all of the time. That is because most New Yorkers do not have a firm foundation on which to build their wealth—and the government services and programs that are meant to provide that foundation are either inadequate or inefficiently managed.
I experienced this as a young man facing hunger and homelessness while my single mother struggled to keep food on our table and a roof over our head. More than 40 years later, our city’s problems are the same.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the holes in New York City’s safety net—but it also led to an opportunity for historic change. The next mayor and City Council will inherit billions of dollars in new funds from the federal and State governments that — if used wisely and morally — can fundamentally change our city. Most importantly, smarter, fairer, more effective government can reverse inequality.
That is why as mayor I will launch my “People’s Plan”, combining my NYC AID, Housing Voucher+ and UCare universal childcare programs—all united by my MyCity platform to better deliver services and benefits efficiently and effectively to New Yorkers who need them.
This unprecedented effort will revolutionize the City’s approach to caring for New Yorkers in need by providing assistance through automatic monthly cash assistance, free or subsidized childcare, housing vouchers that actually pay the rent and more efficient delivery of City services.
At the center of the People’s Plan will be a unified digital platform that connects all City agencies through a single portal. To receive the cash, credits, services and other assis tance they need, New Yorkers will simply fill out one application and the City will do the rest. With the right set of data points, the City will be able to determine what each New Yorker needs, and then use its resources to assist them, whether that means putting cash into a bank account or placing their child at a local daycare center.
My People’s Plan will bring our city into the 21st Century, leaving no New Yorker behind. At this pivotal moment, we finally have the resources and technology to deliver on the promise of New York. Here is how I will do it.
Three Keys To Equality And Prosperity Linked Through One Platform
Ucare
Children without adequate childcare are much less likely to succeed, and are much more likely to be Black and Brown. It is a moral imperative that we provide universal childcare for every parent who cannot afford it, starting with children ages 0 to 3. This will close a massive gap in care for the youngest New Yorkers at the most critical point of their brain development, and free up parents—especially women of color—to power our economy and excel in their own careers. Under my UCare program, we will significantly reduce the cost of childcare by removing the biggest cost to childcare providers: space. We will do this by prioritizing space in City-owned buildings for childcare, offering density bonuses to residential building developers who guarantee permanently free or low rent to providers, and with a tax break to office building owners and other private building owners who create free space for providers—savings which will be required to be passed on to parents.
NYC Aid
New Yorkers are in crisis because of COVID-19--and they need immediate, serious financial assistance to get through. To get New Yorkers the money they need right now, we will launch the NYC AID (Advanced Income Deployment) initiative to get struggling individuals and families their Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) in advanced monthly payments, while also substantially increasing the amounts of the credits to deliver the high level of aid needed during our financial crisis. Under our plan, a New York City family with two children on the edge of poverty earning $30,000 a year would receive approximately $3,000 annually, or about $250 a month from a boosted City EITC program. Currently, that same family would receive about $250 for the entire year from those same credits.
Housing Voucher+
New Yorkers on the brink of homelessness and in shelters need far greater assistance than is available now to stay in their apartments or find new ones that they can afford. One way we will accomplish this is with my Housing Voucher+ program, increasing the value of the City FHEPS vouchers to the federal market value so they are adequate to help pay the rent in our city. This will increase the amount available per month nearly $500 to approximately $2,500 a month for a three-bedroom apartment and about $250 more a month to about $1,950 a month on one- and two-bedroom units. When the cost of a person in the shelter system is $124 a day and $196 per day for a family, increasing the value of vouchers is common sense governing. It’s also the right thing to do.
MyCity
All of these programs can help struggling New Yorkers considerably in addition to other City benefits--but not if they’re run inefficiently and New Yorkers do not have easy access to them. That is why at the center of the People’s Plan is my MyCity platform, a single online portal for all City services. Imagine typing only one number into a secure app or Web site and instantly receiving everything you qualify for without any paperwork, as well as constant up-to-date information that will help you protect you and your family. In addition to NYC AID, UCare and Housing Voucher+, you can also instantly have access to a bank account, discounted food and healthcare. With the technology now available, there is no reason New York City cannot do that for every New Yorker. This is a 311 for the digital age, and so much more.
Adams 2021: In-depth - Reviving The Heart Of The Arts
Heart Of The Arts
The arts are essential, but too often artists and members of our creative class feel left behind in a city that is too expensive and too bureaucratic to make their works come to life. We felt how important our cultural community is during this pandemic, as children were cut off from arts education and our museums, studios, and theaters all went dark. The arts are truly healing, with research showing the positive impact on coping, reduced levels of depression and anxiety, and higher levels of self-esteem. For our aging population, it is a helpful aid in the fight against loneliness, strengthening social connections. For our young people, the arts help diversify their perspective and develop their full personhood, encouraging them to break out of their siloes and comfort zones.
The arts suffered as much as any sector of our society due to COVID-19, and as performances and gallery openings return we have a responsibility to not only assist freelancers and organizations struggling to make ends meet, but also to fully tap into the power of our creative class and invest in it. We know that when we have a thriving local arts scene, our small businesses thrive and new jobs are created. We know that when our major cultural institutions shine, people come from all over the world to experience the arts like only New York City can deliver it. We know that when we are intentional in bringing art into the physical spaces of our communities, there is a positive impact on quality of life and an overall feeling of a safe, healthy, inclusive environment. And we know when our artists feel welcome and supported, their work soars to new heights.
With Our “Reviving The Heart Of The Arts” Plan, We Will:
- Provide free space for artists to create by repurposing vacant storefronts to create free co-working and studio spaces for creatives and collaborators
- Turn our open spaces into spaces for art by tasking the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) to greenlight more open spaces to be utilized as stages and for art installations.
- Invest in green art by commissioning artists to paint murals with paint that turns pollutants and harmful compounds into harmless nitrates and carbonates in the atmosphere, beautifying our city as we rejuvenate it.
- Create a public/private partnership to create murals on blighted properties.
- Develop, fund and implement a marketing plan for our city to the rest of the world unlike any ad campaign we have ever undertaken, rooted deeply in the city's arts and cultural attractions
- Provide small arts and cultural community-based organizations with greater access to the use of school facilities, without incurring the costs of space usage
- Conduct a citywide audit of City infrastructure and properties — including cultural institutions and other groups that lease City property — to determine where accessibility needs are not being met, and then turn that into a plan for action.
- Issue City and State cash grants to help studios upgrade their systems (e.g., air filtration) and pay rent
- Build partnerships through DCLA and other organizations for a listing/ecosystem of facilities for subsidized rehearsal rental rates
- Work with DCLA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to best monetize the recently launched “Open Culture” program and share resources with non- DCLA funded groups, including how best to monetize regular programming and classes versus one-off performances
- Enlist the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) to ease permitting and give greater support to small cultural events
- Extend the eviction and mortgage moratorium for cultural and arts institutions
- Create a City/State-level mortgage subsidy for landlords of arts institutions
- Invest in performing arts audience development through a subsidized ticket program, targeted to essential workers and youth in underserved communities
- Engage in more marketing for small arts organizations with social media campaigns that involve all City agencies and platforms
- Create a professional development program for educators to ensure they are culturally responsive to those students, which will also include arts education from these cultures to share
- Ensure schools are delivering the high-quality arts education that students and families deserve, including connections with local cultural organizations to support programming
- Help diversify the arts top-to-bottom through robust pipelines like an expanded, year-round Summer Youth Employment Program and efforts to bring new voices to boards of cultural institutions
Adams 2021: In-depth - Upstream Justice
Upstream Justice
The Spofford juvenile detention center was long a symbol of what’s wrong with New York, and it will always be a reminder to me of how I started on my path to fixing this city. It was there — inside those walls as a juvenile — that I turned my
pain into purpose. I spent the night as a 15-year-old, just hours after officers repeatedly beat me in the basement of the 103rd Precinct. It felt like that place was my destiny, that I couldn’t escape the pipeline to incarceration, hardship, and hopelessness.
I was one of the lucky ones. Most of the boys I was in with did not succeed. They were not given the care it takes to change a life.
I will make upstream investments to combat the crises that have held Black, Brown, and immigrant New Yorkers back for far too long. As mayor, my mission will be to do what our government has failed to do over and over again: Go upstream and prevent people from falling into the river of crime and poverty. No longer will we settle for just pulling people out of that river, winding up in places like Spofford and the jail barge. No longer will we settle for re-patching together a broken system and broken lives.
My “Upstream Justice” agenda is focused on keeping our young people out of the juvenile justice system and giving them the evidence-based support they need to get on the right track.
- Making the Summer Youth Employment Program year-round and expanding slots for youth in the highest-risk communities.
- Fully funding Fair Futures to provide a life coach for every young person in the foster care system through age 26.
- Implementing universal dyslexia screenings in our City schools, as well as our juvenile justice facilities.
- Establishing a citywide program for brief sessions of meditation and mindfulness to start the school day.
- Expanding access to counselors and social workers trained in effective mental health therapy strategies.
- Fully funding the City's Crisis Management System, and being more proactive in recruiting, hiring, and training community residents who have real-life experience with gun violence-associated trauma to provide an immediate post-crisis healing space for impacted youth, as well as to develop a working relationship with them.
- Scaling up successful restorative justice models like the Center for Court Innovation that are community-based and shown to reduce recidivism.
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