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- Opportunity NYC
- City of New York press release
- NYC.gov, video
- Newsday.com
- New York Observer Editorial
- New York Post
- Hoy Internet.com; in Spanish
- Washington Post
- Reuters
- Gothamist
- New York Sun
Other Coverage
New York City to Reward Poor for Doing Right Thing
March 30, 2007
New York Times
By Diane Cardwell
excerpts
Yesterday's announcement of Opportunity NYC drew media coverage from The New York Times, Newsday, the New York Post, Hoy, and AM New York, among others. Following are some excerpts from the New York Times story:
top of the pageSeeking new solutions to New York’s vexingly high poverty rates, the city is moving ahead with an ambitious experiment that will pay poor families up to $5,000 a year to meet goals like attending parent-teacher conferences, going for a medical checkup or holding down a full-time job, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday.
Under the program, which is based on a similar effort in Mexico, parents would receive payments every two months for family members meeting any of a series of criteria. The payments could range from $25 for exemplary attendance in elementary school to $300 for a high score on an important exam, city officials said.
Likening the payments, known as conditional cash transfers, to tax incentives that steer people of greater means toward property ownership, Mr. Bloomberg said that the approach was intended to help struggling families who often focus on basic daily survival make better long-term decisions and break generational cycles of poverty and dependence.
...the program is being financed by several high-profile organizations, including the Rockefeller, Starr and Robin Hood Foundations, as well as the Open Society Institute and the insurance and financial firm American International Group.