Res. No. 427
Resolution calling upon the White House Office of Urban Affairs to include within its Inter-Agency Working Group's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative the development of a "Recovery Neighborhoods" plan that would capitalize on the availability of federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to revitalize high poverty communities within New York City and other American cities.
By Council Members Vann, Chin, Gentile, James, Koppell, Palma, Williams and Mendez
Whereas, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, colloquially known as ARRA, was enacted by the United States Congress in February 2009 with the intention to both preserve and create jobs as an aspect of promoting economic recovery; and
Whereas, As set forth in Section 3 of ARRA, one of the purposes of the Act was to assist those most impacted by the recession; and
Whereas, In the First Quarter of calendar year 2010, New York City received a total of over $7 million; and
Whereas, During the quarter, the number of created or retained jobs through stimulus funding reported for New York City totaled 21,787; and
Whereas, Addressing the needs of high poverty communities continues to remain a key task for community development in the City; and
Whereas, In order to effectively address the problem of concentrated poverty, public policy strategies are needed that will simultaneously improve neighborhood conditions and connect low-income residents with better economic prospects; and
Whereas, The Thurgood Marshall Plan, a proposal of the DuBois Bunche Center at Medgar Evers College of CUNY, complements the federal stimulus recovery program by urging the creation of new localized systems for employment opportunities and business development within urban centers; and
Whereas, Part of this plan urges the creation of a neighborhood development program entitled "Recovery Neighborhoods," which would put an emphasis on smart growth in the areas of green spaces, transportation, workforce development, minority business development and sustainable community economic development; and
Whereas, In establishing a local delivery system of resources in order to accomplish the short term and long term goals of ARRA, participating neighborhoods within the development program should be selected using the following indices: (1) high rates of long term chronic unemployment, (2) large concentrations of out-of-school and unemployed youth between the ages of 16 and 24, (3) older public and private buildings in need of retrofitting to meet current building code standards, (4) a disproportionate number of low performing schools, (5) underdeveloped minority and local business infrastructure, and (6) high rates of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons; and
Whereas, The White House Office of Urban Affairs (OUA) was established in February 2009 to provide leadership and coordination on all aspects of urban policy - thus enabling metropolitan areas in developing local strategies and/or expanding integrated programs that capitalize on their assets; and
Whereas, OUA's Inter-Agency Working Group has established a Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, an interagency collaboration towards creating "neighborhoods of opportunity" throughout the country's cities and metropolitan areas through the coordination of Federal policies and programs to design a holistic effort that will maximize life outcomes for low-income children; and
Whereas, This initiative should also incorporate elements of the Thurgood Marshall Plan's "Recovery Neighborhoods" development program, in order to approach the goal of creating more opportunities for the neighborhoods that need them with a focus on public policy efforts towards getting the entire community out of poverty and not just its children; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the White House Office of Urban Affairs to include within its Inter-Agency Working Group's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative the development of a "Recovery Neighborhoods" plan that would capitalize on the availability of federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to revitalize high poverty communities within New York City and other American cities.
LS # 1059
AS 7-21-10