THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

City Hall
New York, NY 10007
           (212) 788-7116
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** 
October 18, 2011

Contact: (212) 788-7116
Please email photo requests to walatriste@council.nyc.gov 
Release #: 094-2011

SPEAKER QUINN OUTLINES NINE POINT JOB CREATION STRATEGY

New York, NY- In a speech before the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn outlined a plan to create jobs and build long term economic security in New York City. Speaker Quinn’s remarks focused on helping New York City stay on track to become the technology capital of the world, and provide opportunities for low-income New Yorkers to join the middle class. 

“One of the things that has always made New York exceptional is that we look to the future. As the world changes, we see opportunities,” said Speaker Quinn. “Today, many of the ideas that are changing the world are coming out of the tech sector. Biotech companies producing new medications, or programmers designing a mobile app for your phone. With these new ideas come new jobs – not just in research and programming, but in marketing, sales, or human resources.”

Citing the technology industry’s explosion over the last decade, the Speaker laid out a blueprint to ensure that these jobs continue to grow in New York City. Specifically, she announced five new initiatives, including:

• The establishment of the Center for Innovation at CUNY to serve as a tech incubator for NYC’s public universities, connecting researchers, entrepreneurs and business experts who can help turn research into new businesses. 
• Create an Angel Investor Tax Credit for investors who back biotech and medtech start-ups in NYC. Building on the success of the Council-created Biotech Tax Credit, the angel capital it facilitates will help fund research and development, endow fledgling companies and solidify the city’s standing as a biotech hub.
• Creating a Brooklyn Tech Triangle by connecting potential tech office space in Downtown Brooklyn to the nearby tech hubs of DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This would include adapting commercial space to meet the needs of tech start-ups, developing a strategy to attract new companies and working with the MTA to improve transportation within the Triangle.
• Creating a job placement service with hackNY to connect hundreds of New Yorkers with jobs in growing companies within the tech sector.  This partnership will build upon hackNY’s current programming which includes a fellowship that connects talented students with training and internships at local tech startups.
• A Council partnership with CUNY and tech industry stakeholders to develop certificate programs for in demand computer programming languages. This targeted approach will more quickly prepare people for jobs in web design, mobile applications and coding.

Speaker Quinn also focused attention on retaining and creating more middle class jobs, and helping recent immigrants and low income workers to access the middle class. The key, she said, is to look for opportunities in places where others may have given up.

“New York was built by generation after generation of middle class families, who spent their lives working to make our city exceptional,” said Speaker Quinn. “But for decades, we’ve been losing the kinds of jobs that serve as a pathway to the middle class. Some worry it could one day disappear altogether. I’m here to tell you, we’re not going to let that happen. We will not become a city that only has room for the very rich and the very poor.”

To safeguard and create middle class jobs, the Speaker called for several initiatives, including:

• Growing domestic and international exports for city products and services, creating thousands of jobs in the process. This plan will require the Council to work with the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), state and federal agencies, and other stakeholders to link local manufacturing businesses with the resources they need to export their goods. The plan will also support the city’s green service providers to help effectively market their services abroad to cities with high demand for clean energy projects.
• Partnering with the Center for Family Life, a non-profit organization based in Brooklyn, to create three new worker-owned businesses per year - employing nearly 100 people in home cleaning, day care, catering and elder care. Being part of a small business provides these workers with better pay and benefits. Additionally, the Council will partner with the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to generate resources to support these types of businesses that will be available at SBS Business Solution Centers.
• Expanding training for home health care workers to help more New Yorkers get jobs in the growing health care sector. The Council is working with SEIU 1199 and the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) to create more capacity at PHI’s training facility.
• Working to align workforce development and provide incentives to bring offshore jobs back to New York City.

Throughout her speech, the Speaker recognized the sentiments expressed by protesters in Zucotti Park and around the country, anger fueled by continued unemployment and the growing gap between rich and poor.  She also referred to the idea of “New York exceptionalism” – an optimism for our city, a faith in our people, and a belief that through hard work anyone can build a brighter future for their children.

While there is much work to be done, the Speaker said, “I believe there are concrete and immediate steps we can take to create jobs today, and to strengthen our economy for years to come.” She continued, saying, “We can tap into the very source of that New York exceptionalism – the boundless creativity and dogged persistence of the people of our city.”

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