On March 29, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced a major antipoverty initiative, called Opportunity NYC, which will create a conditional cash transfer program to help families break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. In collaboration with Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, a host of city agencies, and Seedco (a private, not-for-profit intermediary organization), MDRC is helping design the initiative and will lead a random assignment evaluation of the program's effectiveness. A $50-million public-private venture, Opportunity NYC is supported by a consortium of private funders, led by The Rockefeller Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Robin Hood Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and AIG. The Mayor’s announcement was featured in the March 30 edition of the New York Times.

Opportunity NYC is an initiative of Mayor Bloomberg’s Center for Economic Opportunity, which was created to implement the recommendations of his second-term Commission on Economic Opportunity, which was also known as the Poverty Commission. The plan is based on the model of successful conditional cash transfer programs in operation around the world, including in Mexico.

“If you’re serious about tackling poverty, an entrenched problem that has proven resistant to conventional government programs, you have to be serious about trying new things, taking a new tack. That’s what we’re here to do today,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Conditional cash transfer programs have proven effective in countries around the world and, frankly, we need some new ideas here in New York City to fight poverty.”

The Opportunity NYC program will include a sample of approximately 5,000 families — half of which will be part of a control group — in Central and East Harlem in Manhattan, Brownsville and East New York in Brooklyn, and Morris Heights/Mount Hope and East Tremont/Belmont in the Bronx. The incentive-based strategies in Opportunity NYC focus not on new social services, but on increasing participation in certain existing activities and programs and on making extra efforts to do things that may help reduce poverty among children and families now and in the long run. Monetary payments, which can help lessen immediate hardships for struggling families, will be awarded only when households meet specific targets. Opportunity NYC will provide cash incentives to families in three key areas: education, health, and employment and training.

• Education incentives will promote superior attendance and good behavior in school, achievement and improved performance on standardized tests, and parental engagement in children’s education.
• Health incentives will be offered to maintain adequate health coverage for all children and adults in participant households as well as age-appropriate medical and dental visits for each family member.
• Employment and training incentives will promote increased employment and earnings or combining work activities with specific job training activities.