Click here to view the conference photo gallery.
Some 200 participants – including over 50 Eisenhower Fellows from around the world – attended EF’s November 15 conference in
The conference opened with remarks by Dep. Mayor Doctoroff, who focused on the four factors that are critical to a city’s long-term success: fiscal discipline, long-term planning, investment, and leadership. Doctoroff stressed that improvements take leadership. For example, recognizing that global warming is a major threat to cities such as New York City, the administration put together a 25-year plan with 12 separate initiatives that address every facet of the city's urban environment. The plans call for projects from planting 1 million new trees to retrofitting coal-burning plants. [Click here to see a copy of the plan: PlaNYC 2030]
Successful Approaches to Serving a Diverse Urban Population
Led by moderator Florence Davis, president of the Starr Foundation and EF Trustee, panelists shared their insights into best practices for working with the many faces of cities.
Panelists and commentary included:
Nancy Biberman, President, WHEDCo
Biberman focused on the availability and delivery of affordable housing, particularly in underserved communities. For example, she noted that home-ownership is far out of reach for many New Yorkers. Only 5% of homes for sale in the NYC-area are affordable to median-income earners in NYC. To address the affordable housing issue, NYC has been turning many of its city-owned properties into affordable units, by selling them to tenant and other nonprofit groups and, with restrictions, to for-profit entities. It is also encouraging new building through rezoning efforts. However, Biberman noted that much more needs to be done. [View Biberman's powerpoint presentation]
Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor, Health and Human Services, City of New York
Gibbs described the typical model of service delivery for cities in which information and service delivery is disseminated centrally. The problem is that those in need often aren’t aware of available programs or have trouble accessing them. The city’s Health and Human Services Department is now taking a more community-based approach. With regard to public health, the city has three new initiatives. One is designed to reduce
Chung-Wha Hong, Director, New York Immigration Coalition
Hong stressed that the crisis of undocumented immigrants in the
David R. Jones, President & CEO, Community Service Society of New York
Jones focused on the challenge of providing services to urban minority men, particularly “misconnected” 18- to 24-year-olds who are neither working nor in school. Jones emphasized the need to shift the popular mindset about young minority men. Ideas he suggested include a new national dialogue that focuses solutions for this group; a revamping of the prison and parole system to make job-training and jobs are available for parolees; the creation of a new revenue stream of tax dollars to help employers hire unemployed youths; and the establishment of a new “Civilian Conservation Corps” to rebuild the today’s failing infrastructure.
Preparing the Urban Workforce of the Future
Moderated by David Jason Fischer, project director at the Center for an Urban Future, panelists discussed ways in which to ready America's youth for the working world.
[Read the Center for an Urban Future's report on workforce devlopment here.]
Panelists and commentary included:
Deborah King, Executive Director, 1199SEIU Training and Employment Funds
King focused on healthcare as the one of the strongest employment-opportunity areas, particularly for urban youth. She noted that healthcare jobs offer meaningful work, relatively good pay and childcare, health, and educational benefits. The opportunity is particularly strong for Spanish speakers, as currently only 4.5% of nurses speak Spanish. However, she pointed out that by 2012, the city will have a shortage 20,000 RNs. The profession’s lack of prestige has prevented many potential nurses from entering the field. Preteens, for instance, rarely mention wanting to become a nurse when they talk about careers. Lack of faculty at nursing schools is another hurdle. Revitalizing volunteer programs would help increase interest in this profession, King said.
Gerald McElvy, President, ExxonMobil Foundation and EF Trustee
McElvy concentrated his presentation on K-12 education, in particular on the need for stronger math and science education to improve the prospects of the American workforce. He emphasized that in the
Jonathan Murray, WW Public Sector Technology Officer, Microsoft Corp.
Murray focused on the economic impact of technology on workforce development. He stressed that skills and education are the two sides of the technology coin.
Rob Walsh, Commissioner, New York City Department of Small Business Services
Walsh focused on the divide between workforce development and social services delivery. One of his organization’s primary goals is determining how to place employees in permanent career paths. Companies need to focus on higher wages and retention in order to get employees to the next level. [View Walsh's powerpoint presentation]
Keynote Address: General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)
The midday keynote address was delivered by General Powell, who focused on the need to help young people develop their potential. He spoke of the need global cities have to cultivate their human capital and the leadership this takes: “Vision without execution is hallucination,” he said. “The bottom line for global cities is to invest in human potential.”
"The answer starts with caring adults," Gen. Powell said. Then he told a story of his interaction with a 9-year-old at a Boys and Girls Club who asked him, 'Can I make it if I don't have a family who supports me?" Powell told the child, "You can make it. You are here. People have spent money; they come here every day to be with you and mentor you."
Afternoon Session: Town Hall Meeting
One of the conference highlights was a town-hall style meeting with Eisenhower and CCNY Fellows moderated by General Powell.
During the session, EF Common Interest Program Fellows Arbind Singh (India), Alicia Guajardo (Mexico), and Don Hobart (USA) reflected on their fellowship experiences and fielded questions from Powell about strategies they had learned to address contemporary urban problems that might be applicable in their home countries. They were joined by DeShaunta Johnson and Monique Sulle Bowen, both doctoral candidates in clinical psychology and New York Life Fellows at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies.
Closing Address
Richard D. Parsons, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, delivered closing remarks. [Read the full text of his speech here.]
Effective cities, he stressed, create and support institutions and pathways that move their needy citizens from poverty to relative prosperity. He gave an example: In the 1970s, a group of what has grown to be some 200 leading companies and CEOs came together to form the Parnership for New York, for the express purpose of enhancing the economy of the five boroughs and maintaining this city's position as the global center of commerce, culture, and innovation. The Partnership was formed not out of a sense of charity, but out of a sense of enlightened self-interest. Corporate leaders understood that they could not continue to build a strong and vibrant business community in a city that did not deal with critical urban problems like education and joblessness.