THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
CITY HALL
NEW YORK, NY 10007
http://council.nyc.gov
(212) 788-7116

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**  February 9, 2012

Contact: 212-788-7116
Release# XX-2012
Please email photo requests to walatriste@council.nyc.gov 

IN STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS, SPEAKER QUINN OUTLINES PLAN TO STRENGTHEN NEW YORK CITY’S COMMUNITY

In her 6th annual State of the City address, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn outlined plans to make New York City an even stronger place to work and to live. Quinn’s proposals effectively seek ways to help New Yorkers across the board – from securing homes for families to providing a quality education for children to providing job opportunities for the unemployed to bolstering the five boroughs’ economic potential.
Quinn highlighted the power of individual communities to create lasting impacts on the entire city: “Now more than ever, we need to tap into the power of our communities. We need to restore the promise that everyone can succeed in New York, no matter how humble their origins, with a bit of help and a lot of hard work.”

NEW INITIATIVES TO SPUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND JOB GROWTH
Speaker Quinn proposed tackling the need for job growth in three ways:
• Harnessing the potential of some of New York’s strongest industries – Two new programs will strengthen the design and manufacturing industries. New York City Design Week will be a global event to highlight New York City designers and a new state-of-the-art shared manufacturing center will provide shared space and equipment for professionals and students.
• Creating job opportunities in neighborhoods with high unemployment – Speaker Quinn announced plans to create a $10 million small business loan fund exclusively for businesses in low-income neighborhoods.  Additionally, a new program will be formed together with the organization Kickstarter to help turn ideas into reality by helping raise needed funding for projects that will spur development in communities that need it most.
• Removing the barriers that keep many from accessing good jobs – The City will launch a new program called “New Skills, New Jobs” that will help the long-term unemployed gain skills and a pathway to full-time permanent employment. The program will be an 8-week, paid training program leading to a full-time permanent position. The Speaker also announced new legislation making it unlawful for employers to request or use an applicant’s unemployment status for hiring purposes.

STRENGTHENING THE CITY’S COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Mandatory Kindergarten – Speaker Quinn proposed making kindergarten mandatory for all New York City five-year-olds. Currently, kindergarten is not required and nearly 3,000 children are not attending kindergarten and receiving critical early education. High-need communities are the most severely impacted by a lack of early education. Some of the City’s most vulnerable children – including English language learners, children with special needs, and foster children – are turned away when they attempt to enroll in kindergarten in overcrowded districts.
Speaker Quinn stated, “Every year nearly 3,000 5-year-olds in New York City don’t enroll in kindergarten. That means thousands of kids enter first grade every year having never set foot in a classroom. Many of them are kids who need kindergarten the most. We’re working with the State Legislature to introduce a bill allowing New York City to make kindergarten mandatory.”
Affordable childcare for middle class families – Speaker Quinn also highlighted a new program for providing high quality childcare for working families that will affect tens of thousands of New York City children.
Daycare provides early childhood education experiences that are critical to children’s success throughout life - early childhood education reduced dropout rates, raises graduation rates, and has been calculated to have a 7 to 1 return on investment. Access to quality child care is critical for working families, both because of the proven benefits for children and in that it allows parents to enter or remain in the work force.
There are currently no financial programs or services available for families making more than 275% of the Federal Poverty Level. While the City should continue efforts to increase access to high-quality childcare for low-income families, more should be done to support middle-income families as well.
Speaker Quinn proposed that the City create a new low-cost loan program that would provide a loan to families that would cover up to 50% of the cost of high quality childcare. 
“This program is the first of its kind in the nation – and could become a model that provides financial stability and quality care for families across the country. Because it’s not just about helping people get jobs today.  It’s about keeping them secure far into the future, and making sure that the next generation has the opportunity for success,” stated Quinn.
Student Empowerment Partnership – New York City currently lacks a comprehensive strategy for turning around struggling schools and improving the quality of choice of schools across the system.  To address this, Speaker Quinn called for a data-driven cradle-to-career approach to education that will work with community-based organizations and government agencies to raise academic achievement among students of all ages.
Speaker Quinn and the City Council will partner with the Department of Education and Zone126 in Community School District 30 (CSD 30) in Queens to create a Student Empowerment Partnership (StEP) and will seek partners interested in moving this initiative into other neighborhoods that have struggling schools.
City Honors College – Speaker Quinn called for the creation of a tuition-free CUNY Honors College for the city’s top students. The proposed college will have a campus, facilities and programs that will allow it to compete with the nation’s top institutions.
“Let’s give our brightest students an incentive to really work hard in school with the promise of a free education and a degree that can open any door.”

PROTECTING AND EXPANDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES
Today’s speech built on Speaker Quinn’s years of work on affordable housing with a number of new proposals. Speaker Quinn proposed ways to strengthen affordability, protect renters from negligent landlords and create a path to permanent housing for homeless New Yorkers.
Speaker Quinn announced an agreement with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to double the standard term of affordability required in many new projects from 30 to 60 years, and an agreement to work together towards a plan for permanent affordability.
“Our goal will be a new kind of deal with developers - as long as the City keeps renewing your benefits, you have to keep your housing truly affordable,” said Speaker Quinn. “With permanent affordability, we’ll make sure the people who built a community get to stay in that community.”
The Speaker also announced new legislation that would give HPD the power to require landlords to fix underlying conditions that lead to poor housing conditions. 
A new initiative presented in today’s speech will address the need for repairs in NYCHA housing, while creating training and job opportunities for NYCHA residents.  NYCHA facilities house over 400,000 New Yorkers in units across the City, and many of these units are in need of repair, often due to funding cuts that have delayed maintenance. Speaker Quinn announced that the Council will provide NYCHA with $10 million which will allow it to hire 176 residents for union jobs and complete 100,000 outstanding repair requests. 
Speaker Quinn also addressed the needs of those that do not have housing at all—the homeless.  She said that the current shelter system has become a dead end for many, and called for the city to create a new rental assistance program, and to allocate a portion of NYCHA apartments and Section 8 vouchers that become available each year to homeless families and individuals.

SECURING HEALTH CARE FOR NEW YORKERS
Speaker Quinn proposed a groundbreaking initiative to improve worker health and reduce health care costs. The City Council will provide $100,000 in funding to launch the Freelancers Union’s flagship Brooklyn health clinic.  Through this partnership, the Council will support innovative health delivery for a vulnerable class of New York worker.  At the same time, the Council will work with the Freelancers as it expands its model, to study the possibility of opening the clinics up to city employees. 
“This kind of creative health care model has the power to connect more New Yorkers to primary care, take some of the burden off of struggling hospitals, and strengthen our non-profit healthcare system,” said Speaker Quinn.
Speaker Quinn’s proposals included numerous innovative and clear ideas for strengthening New York City and presented a commitment to helping support communities across the five boroughs.
“That’s how we make good on the promise of New York. – By ensuring that every generation has greater opportunity than the ones that came before.”

The full text of Speaker Quinn’s 2012 State of the City Address can be viewed at: http://council.nyc.gov/html/releases/2012socspeech.shtml