Opportunity NYC
Opportunity NYC was an experimental Conditional Cash Transfer program (CCT) by the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. Announced in April 2007, it was the first CCT program to be launched in the United States or any other developed nation. Its initial phases were funded by a number of private partners including The Rockefeller Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation, the Open Society Institute, Starr Foundation, AIG, and Mayor Bloomberg's own Bloomberg Family Foundation. The program is being evaluated by MDRC, a nonprofit research firm, using a random assignment research design. Opportunity NYC is administered by Seedco, a nonprofit community development organization. The program ended on August 31, 2010.
Bill de Blasio
De Blasio was sworn into office on January 1, 2014, by former President Bill Clinton. In de Blasio's inaugural address, he reiterated his campaign pledge to address "economic and social inequalities" within the city. "The New York Times" noted that "The elevation of an assertive, tax-the-rich liberal to the nation's most prominent municipal office has fanned hopes that hot-button causes like universal prekindergarten and low-wage worker benefits... could be aided by the imprimatur of being proved workable in New York."
In the first weeks of de Blasio's mayorship, New York City was struck by a series of snowstorms. De Blasio was criticized by Upper East Side residents who said efforts to clear the snow seemed to be lagging in their neighborhood. The Mayor apologized the next day, admitting that "more could have been done to serve the Upper East Side." On February 13, heavy snowstorms again hit the East Coast. Under instructions from the Mayor and the School Chancellor Carmen Fariña, the city's public schools were kept open. The decision was criticized by teacher unions, parents and the media as up to 9.5 inches of snow fell that day. By the middle of February, the city had added $35 million to the Sanitation Department's budget for snow removal costs. In July 2014, de Blasio signed a bill that created municipal identification cards for all residents regardless of their immigration status, helping them secure access to city services. Homeless New Yorkers are also eligible to obtain the IDNYC cards, so long as they register a "care of" address. The IDNYC card program was launched January 1, 2015.