This report, co-authored by Sarita Gupta of National Jobs with Justice and released by the Institute for Policy Studies, concludes that the economic crisis is still on the rise for millions of Americans, while at the same time the social safety net is failing to support many of them. It offers one of the boldest, most comprehensive plans to combat poverty and unemployment — beginning now.
The Roundtable, convened by Urban Agenda, developed a Green Jobs Roadmap to identify concrete steps that our City’s leaders can take to develop a comprehensive, coordinated strategy to prepare New Yorkers for green collar jobs. The Roadmap represents the culmination of the great work done in the Roundtable process aimed at building an inclusive green economy for the City’s future.
Designed to make specific and targeted recommendations, the Green Jobs Roadmap creates a workforce development plan for green collar jobs.
Achieving meaningful economic development in New York means reforming New York’s 116 IDAs, which are the drivers of economic development in every part of the state. We need a better solution for economic development in New York. Statewide IDA reform-- rooted in business standards, accountability measures, and transparency reforms—can lead the way.
This National Unemployment Law Project report shows how America's workplace laws are failing to protect our country's workers. In industries ranging from construction and food manufacturing to restaurants, janitorial services and home health care, workers are enduring minimum wage and overtime violations, hazardous working conditions, discrimination, and retaliation for speaking up or trying to organize. They have little recourse because of their need for work, especially during the recession. Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers is the first study of its kind, exposing systematic and routine violations of employment and labor laws in core sectors of the economy.
As the City moved its redevelopment plan through the zoning process, we joined with community residents and activists to ensure that the City’s plan would benefit the entire community and bring opportunity to residents. Several community residents were active during the campaign, raising their voices at public hearings and meetings with elected officials.
Under a cap-and-trade plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a limit is set on the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) – carbon dioxide and five others - that can be emitted by regulated entities – e.g. the power plants that produce electricity, chemical refineries, and other carbon emitting industries. This is the cap.
Regulated entities purchase, or are given, allowances equal to the amount of GHG they will be emitting over a given period of time. For example, a power plant could be given x number of allowances for the x metric tons of CO2 they will be emitting through their operations. Entities that purchase more allowances than they need may sell additional allowances to entities that are unable to keep their emission level under the cap. This is the trade.
A cap may be set slightly higher than the existing level of GHG emissions across the participating sector. This limit is then gradually lowered, making allowances more expensive over time and reducing emissions – the ultimate goal. Cap-and-trade enables emitters to choose whether to reduce their emissions at the source, or, if this is prohibitively expensive, to purchase allowances from other emitters that have been able to reduce their own emissions.
Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas produced by human activity, followed by methane, then ozone. Because greenhouse gases are carbon based, plans that monetize GHG emissions are considered to be “putting a price on carbon.”
Continue reading more on the elements of Cap-and-Trade, an alternative to cap-and-trade, existing cap-and-trade initiatives, and additional resources.
In 2008, the City of New York proposed to rezone 47 acres in Coney Island and set the stage for a massive redevelopment project. Although the City’s plan promised thousands of new jobs and housing units would arrive in Coney Island, residents feared they had more to lose than to gain from the proposed revitalization. The Coney Island for All coalition developed a policy platform and pushed for the plan to include guarantees for good jobs, increased affordable housing, a stronger amusement area, and the creation of much needed public amenities.
One City/One Future Blueprint is the product of four years of collaboration by civic leaders, neighborhood advocates, community development organizations, labor unions, affordable housing groups, environmentalists, immigrant advocates, and other stakeholders to make economic development work for all New Yorkers. It’s been endorsed by 65 leading organizations. Ours is an ambitious new vision for economic development, in which growth delivers living wage jobs, affordable housing, environmental sustainability, and livable neighborhoods. It provides an urgently needed framework for recovery from the current economic recession. It is a vision for shared prosperity that puts the needs and voices of communities front and center. And it is a vision that is attainable, using concrete policies that can be implemented here and now.
New York needs the kind of economic development that will allow workers to move up the career ladder and into the middle class, guarantee healthcare and other benefits for low-wage workers and their families, attract and keep college-educated workers in Upstate communities to create a diversified workforce, and to ensure that workers remain Upstate for the long-term.
