Investment Priority 3:

Catalyze economic recovery and broaden access to education

We will use the City’s capital investments to bolster economic recovery and meet the evolving needs of workers and employers in all boroughs. To support our students and their families, the City will direct investment toward schools, technology, and early childhood education facilities.

Adapting investment to support an evolving workforce and bolster recovery

At the writing of this TYCS, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hold back New York City’s economy. As of December 2020, New Yorkers had lost an estimated 557,000 jobs, a level that may take us through 2025 to fully recover. These losses have fallen disproportionately on the city’s low-wage workers who have also suffered the greatest toll from the virus.

Over the next 10 years, we are making strategic investments to help prepare and connect New Yorkers to jobs in every sector of the city’s economy. We will continue to invest in workforce centers in each of the five boroughs through new construction and improvements. EDC, SBS, and the Mayor’s Office of Technology are planning to spend $162.0 million for the rapid and equitable deployment of low-cost broadband service in areas most impacted by COVID-19 and those with the lowest broadband connectivity rates.

The City is also focused on supporting COVID-19 impacted industries in their recovery and catalyzing job growth through major economic development investments. For example, at Sunset Park’s Bush Terminal, EDC is developing the Made in New York Campus. The campus will provide affordable space for garment and light manufacturers, in addition to sound stages for film production companies. Infrastructure investments are also being made to ensure that the emerging job center is accessible and pedestrian friendly, such as streetscape improvements, new plaza space, and utility upgrades. EDC is also leading the creation of a research and development partnership across public health and public policy programs that focuses on developing innovative strategies for addressing chronic health disparities in neighborhoods and treating chronic diseases that disproportionately impact communities of color. This effort includes $20.0 million in funding to establish the Pandemic Response Institute, which will serve as a physical hub to prepare the City for future pandemics and public health emergencies, and ensure equity in public health response.

Facilitating long-term recovery through education

Over the next ten years, the City will continue to expand the use of technology to promote learning and access to early childhood education for all New Yorkers. In particular, increasing our investments in early childhood and daycare facilities plays a dual role of caring for our children and supporting working parents.

With more than 1.1 million students across 1,700 schools, New York City has the largest public-school system in the country. The SCA’s Fiscal Year 2020-2024 Capital Plan invests $19.3 billion in support of building and improving facilities and expanding initiatives. The current plan supports almost 57,000 new seats to alleviate overcrowding and improve access to schools in growing neighborhoods.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, DOE has worked to make sure that all students have access to remote learning devices. The City added $266 million to DOE’s capital plan to fund over 500,000 LTE-enabled tablets to support students in need during the pandemic. DOE plans to expand on this effort by investing an additional $750 million in school technology infrastructure and critical systems upgrades in the next five years. This includes improving the overall internet bandwidth to 240Gbps and ongoing upgrades of network infrastructure and critical equipment including routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless access points in school buildings. These upgrades will ensure that DOE is using the latest technology with essential security protections and controls.

For more detail on how SCA is making our schools more accessible for children, staff, and parents with mobility impairments and other disabilities, see call-out box on Accessibility Initiatives.

Early childhood education and daycare initiatives reduce the childcare cost burden for families and help young children succeed as they transition through the public-school system. This creates a multi-generational upwards mobility ladder, positioning both parents and children for greater success. Research has shown that these investments also provide social and economic benefits to the broader community.

DOE and SCA will support early childhood learning initiatives by investing $1.5 million over five years to build new 3-K and Pre-K classrooms. We will also continue to invest in new community-based childcare centers, early childhood programs, and the modernization of existing centers.