This report laid out a legislative package to establish a truly independent ethics watchdog on the City Council, ban discretionary funding, require disclosure of lobbyist meetings, and strengthen punishment for elected officials that betray the public's trust.
On the eve of groundbreaking reforms to strengthen political disclosure in New York State, the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending (CAPS) and New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio released a new report highlighting a dramatic rise in secret spending by out-of-state political groups. This report focuses on the evolving role of social welfare organizations, also known as 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations, in American elections.
New York State loses approximately 60,500 jobs a year when small businesses with fewer than 100 employees close their doors for good. While many businesses close because of rising rents or failed business plans, in New York State we estimate that 3,700 businesses close each year simply because of the owner's retirement. As a result 13,260 New Yorkers lose their jobs annually.
This report recommends improvements to New York City's stringent Tenant Selection Criteria for affordable housing. The current criteria set forth by the City's Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) bars low-income New Yorkers, families, those experiencing homelessness, and the elderly from access to safe and stable housing. Public Advocate James' report suggests that the current criteria puts too great an emphasis on past financial challenges rather than a household's ability to pay rent, and that the housing lottery process needs greater transparency and accessibility.
In order to determine how government services can best assist immigrant entrepreneurs, the Fund for Public Advocacy, in partnership with ACCION USA, surveyed 625 small business owners in all five boroughs. Nearly 80% of the survey respondents self-identified as foreign born. Through an analysis of current City services and the survey findings, this report illustrates how current practices are falling short in assisting and supporting immigrant owned businesses.
This report examines foster care in New York City through the lens of children who have struggled within the system, and is based on first-hand accounts from Public Advocate James' foster care hotline and publicly available data.