The think tank quietly influencing New York’s top officials

Two years ago, newly pregnant and fleeing a violent partner, Briana Drummer left her life behind and checked into a family shelter. There, feeling overwhelmed, she spotted “a big, bright poster” advertising CUNY Reconnect, a program that allows adults with partial college credit to finish their degrees at the City University of New York.“I took that as a sign from God, and soon after, I stepped onto campus to begin my new life,” Drummer told a rapturous audience at Manhattan’s Jazz at Lincoln Center in March, where she spoke ahead of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ State of the City speech. Drummer will graduate this year from CUNY’s Brooklyn College, she said, and plans to pursue her dream of attending medical school.Drummer’s story traces its origins to a specific source: the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank that has quietly emerged as a force in New York politics. CUF proposed CUNY Reconnect in a 2022 policy paper, and within months saw the idea enacted and funded with $4 million after being championed by the council speaker. Through last year, it had received another $5 million and re-enrolled more than 42,000 people in college, with 6,000 earning degrees — a pathway, supporters hope, to new lives and better-paying jobs.The council speaker drew heavily from Urban Future’s ideas in her March address, where she embraced the group’s other recent proposals to create an accelerator for minority-owned businesses and to forgive student debt so that... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'

[ Crains New York | 2025-04-03 09:48:13 UTC ]

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