When To Raise Rates? Boston Fed Chief Pokes Fellow Liberals
When To Raise Rates? Boston Fed Chief Pokes Fellow Liberals
Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, has been famous as an inflation dove – until now....
Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, has been famous as an inflation dove – until now.
Being a dove means he almost always favors smaller and fewer interest rate increases by the Fed, in the hope that more money from the spigot will lead to more jobs and wage increases for workers. Rosengren and Janet Yellen, the Fed chair, have led the dove charge in recent years.
But on Wednesday, Rosengren dissented when the central bank postponed a rate hike at least until December. That surprised his fellow dovish liberals because, to oversimplify, lower rates tend to help workers, while higher rates, making money harder for borrowers to get, can protect accumulated wealth by warding off inflation.
The pro-hike dissent was his first in almost 10 years as a Fed governor; he has certainly opposed rate hikes and urged faster cuts, sometimes with formal dissents.
The move ignited debate not along the usual lines of doves and hawks – those who favor rate hikes to control inflation even before it appears – but between doves and doves, in much the same way that, for example, foreign trade deals divide liberal Democrats.
All of this might seem like an esoteric spat to Joe Grabasandwich, as my old politics professor used to say. But it lies at the heart of how the central bank can prod the economy to help more people, sooner. And it matters especially in Connecticut, where growth is slow even in good times, making rate hikes hurt worse than elsewhere.
On Friday, Rosengren explained his dissent in a public statement in which he said the economy is stronger than many people think.
"By 2019, I expect the unemployment rate to have declined below 4.5 percent," Rosengren said in the statement. "While I have a long track record of advocating for policy that supports robust labor market conditions, that is below the rate that I believe is sustainable in the long run."
What Rosengren is saying is that a 4.5 percent unemployment rate is so low that it would heat up the economy to the point of inflation above 2 percent, and that's the big no-no the Fed is trying to prevent – a clear charge to anyone who remembers the nightmare of the 1970s.
Taking the medicine of a one-quarter of 1 percent rate increase now, immediately, will, in his view, allow for relatively low rates over the long haul. That's part of the so-called soft landing from an expansion that is so hard to achieve.
Not so fast, left-leaning economists say. Or rather, not so slow. In the big picture, economist Jared Bernstein said, workers only see wage increases when the unemployment rate is at or near full employment – as we saw in the Sept. 15 Census report. The report showed a robust 5.2 percent 2015 jump in the income of households at the middle of the scale.
Did Eric Rosengren, of all people, turn his back on this?
"I've always considered him sympathetic to my view, which is that the last thing you'd want to do is tap the brakes and slow down job growth at a time when the economy is finally starting to...help people who have been left behind," said Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of a new book, "The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity."
Bernstein, a former chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden, doesn't believe Rosengren is suddenly looking out for capital at the expense of labor. Rather, the issue comes down to the murky relationship between inflation and unemployment.
The financial media widely reported Rosengren's 4.5 percent jobless figure Friday. But in itself, it's not news, considering the rate is now 4.9 percent. The real news, Bernstein said, is that Rosengren thinks he can tell when too hot is too hot, without data.
Rosengren, in a visit to New Britain in April, explained that the "natural" or "full" rate of employment, the level that delivers the maximum benefits to the economy without accelerating inflation, will be reached when the jobless rate is 4.7 percent.
The trouble with that view, Bernstein said, is that "it is widely understood by people who look very closely at this question that we cannot reliably estimate that rate within 2 points one way or another."
There are too many variables in play, such as productivity and distribution of income, so, why risk punishing workers by applying certainty to a mystery?
Rosengren explained, in his statement Friday: "My goal is to achieve a long and durable recovery – a sustainable expansion...I believe a significant overshoot of the full employment level could shorten, rather than lengthen, the duration of this recovery."
As I noted when Rosengren visited in April, his view of the economy, literally, from his downtown Boston office, is full of cranes in the torrid market of a red-hot city. Is that coloring his fear of inflation? Maybe.
No one thinks another quarter-point increase in the Fed's overnight borrowing rate, after last December's uptick, will make a big difference by itself. But the signal the Fed sends can and does move markets and the economy.
"If we want this recovery to reach down and help people it has yet to reach, that's inconsistent with even a small rate increase," Bernstein said. "Where's the inflation?"
"It's gradually coming up," Rosengren told a Quincy, Mass. audience on Sept. 9.
That's the $15 trillion debate as the U.S. economy either is, or is not, nearing its speed limit.
By Dan Haar
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“Shamelessness Is All The Rage”
Trump’s own lawyer compares him to a mob boss, McConnell helps open the door for Trump to fire Mueller, Beto O’Rourke...
Trump’s own lawyer compares him to a mob boss, McConnell helps open the door for Trump to fire Mueller, Beto O’Rourke closes in on Ted Cruz, and Mike Pompeo meets Kim Jong Un. Then activist Ady Barkan joins Jon and Dan to talk about the special election in Arizona and his new project, beaherofund.com.
Listen to the conversation here.
NYC Public Advocate Urges JP Morgan to Divest From Private Prison Firms Tied to Trump Agenda
NYC Public Advocate Urges JP Morgan to Divest From Private Prison Firms Tied to Trump Agenda
Public Advocate Letitia James called on JP Morgan Chase to end its relationship with two private prison companies that...
Public Advocate Letitia James called on JP Morgan Chase to end its relationship with two private prison companies that she asserted are profiting from President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigrant enforcement agenda.
Read the full article here.
Part-Time Workers Struggle With Full-Time Juggling Act
NPR - March 6, 2015, by Yuki Noguchi - The cold weather did not hamper hiring last month. Employers...
NPR - March 6, 2015, by Yuki Noguchi - The cold weather did not hamper hiring last month. Employers added nearly 300,000 jobs to payrolls, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent.
Despite another strong report, there is little evidence that all the hiring is putting upward pressures on wages.
And there are more than 6.5 million people working part time who would like to have more hours.
Randa Jama pushes airline passengers on wheelchairs to their gates at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. This had been a full-time job when she took it last fall, but then a couple of months later, that changed.
"They told me that you're working only Saturday and Sunday from now," she says.
That cut her hours to 12 a week. Sometimes, her supervisors ask her at the last minute to stay late or do an extra shift. Since she cut back on babysitters, she can't accommodate.
"I let them go because they can't just wait for me to get full time. Now that I want to work full time, no I can't because obviously I changed everything," Jama says.
Higher wages are just one issue workers like Jama care about. They say getting enough hours — and a predictable schedule — are equally important in order to enable them to find additional work or deal with the other obligations in their lives.
"Nowadays you have to say you have open availability and that you're free to work whenever," says Aditi Sen, a researcher for the Center for Popular Democracy, a worker advocacy group.
But pledging open availability limits a worker's ability to plan or get other work.
So far, the law has little to say when it comes to scheduling.
Some states, including Minnesota, Connecticut, Maryland and Massachusetts, are considering legislation that would require several weeks advance notice of schedule changes and institute minimum time off between shifts.
Shannon Henderson says she needs more control over her constantly shifting work schedule. The single mom of two says she asks for more than the 33 hours a week she typically gets working at the Wal-Mart in Sacramento, Calif. But that's also stressful.
"In order to get hours, you have to have open availability," she says. "For instance, last week I worked all late shifts, which was 2 to 11. And then this week I had all early shifts, which was 6:30 to 2."
Wal-Mart last month promised to raise its base wage and give workers more control over their schedules.
Henderson worries the store won't give her more control without cutting back on her hours. She looks for more steady work when she can.
"I do look. But the thing is, with the scheduling being all over the place, it makes it hard for me to actually set time to go look," she says.
Neil Trautwein, vice president of health care policy at the National Retail Federation, says, "Unquestionably those are some difficult hours."
Trautwein says retailers are balancing the consumer demand for 24/7 service, with employees' scheduling concerns. Wal-Mart, he says, is responding to workers' demands.
"That's the way the market self-adjusts and self-regulates," he says.
Jason Diaz, a server at a restaurant in New Haven, Conn., says in order to work 40 hours a week, he's constantly looking for extra gigs.
"Finding the place is the first problem," he says. "And then finding out how to manage that, and travel cost expenses and still being to my next job on time is pretty difficult."
He spends his remaining time trying to find a full-time job and taking care of his son.
"Just in the last two weeks, I got an email from my boss saying, 'Hey, you have to work on Tuesday, so figure out what you're going to do with your son,' " he says.
So Diaz canceled his son's drum lesson and found babysitting, only to discover his boss had made a mistake and he didn't have to work, after all.
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Amid Heightened Tension, Advocates Push Cuomo to Veto Police Discipline Bill
A day after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric...
A day after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, two of most powerful men in the state, said they are interested in passing major criminal justice reforms during next year's legislative session.
There is no need to wait that long to take significant action, says a coalition of groups operating under the banner "This Stops Today" (after words spoken by Eric Garner shortly before his death), that includes Communities United For Police Reform, Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road NY and the NYCLU, among others. The coalition and other advocates are calling on Cuomo to veto a bill passed in both houses of the Legislature that would allow the rules for police disciplinary action to be decided in collective bargaining with unions rather than by elected officials.
The bill, S7801/A9853, and Cuomo's veto of it, is a major platform item for those involved in action across New York City in response to the grand jury decision. For a second straight night on Thursday, protesters flooded streets, chanting, shutting down major roadways and staging 'die-ins.' The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and Assembly. The only votes against in the Senate came from Sens. Liz Krueger and James Seward.
On Thursday, Gov. Cuomo told Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom that he wants to look at reforming police training and the grand jury system, and at instituting body cameras for police across the state. "I think long term this is something we have to look at this session," Cuomo said. "I think we need a comprehensive look."
Speaker Silver issued a statement saying he is committed to "working with Governor Cuomo, my colleagues in the Legislature, Mayor de Blasio and with law enforcement to improve the manner in which we police our streets and to restore the people's faith in our legal system."
Neither Cuomo nor Silver discussed the police conduct bill. The governor's office did not return a request for comment for this story.
New York City Council members including Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams have also called on Cuomo to veto the bill. "If signed into law, this bill would severely undermine the City's ability to hold police officers accountable for their actions," said the two in an August statement.
"The Council Member and many of his progressive colleagues are on record calling on the Governor to veto the bill. The need for strong civilian oversight of police discipline is more important now than ever," a representative from Lander's office told Gotham Gazette on Thursday.
The legislation has been pushed through the Legislature with the support of law enforcement unions only to be vetoed by Govs. David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki, and Mario Cuomo.
The Brooklyn NAACP is asking constituents to call and write to Cuomo to urge his veto. "This bill would strip local public officials of disciplinary authority over the police officers they employ, which would have a detrimental impact on the accountability of local police departments, and thus safety and public confidence in the police," reads the form letter offered by the group.
Cuomo did not veto any legislation before Election Day this year, but has used some controversial vetoes since.
The state's Court of Appeals ruled once in 2006 and once in 2012 that police discipline should be left in the hands of public officials and not determined during collective bargaining with unions.
"Police officers – who put themselves in harm's way for the sake of public safety – have the right to fair treatment and due process," reads the August statement from Lander and Williams, who co-authored the controversial NYPD-related Community Safety Act which passed in 2013 over a veto by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "At the same time the authority to investigate police misconduct, and pursue discipline when appropriate, must be held by government officials who are accountable to the public. As we saw just last week in the police union press conference blaming Eric Garner for his own death, the unions' inclination is to protect their members at all costs."
Source: Gotham Gazette
Reporte revela robo de salario sistemático en NY
NUEVA YORK — Un estimado de 2.1 millones de neoyorquinos son víctimas de robo de salario al año, lo que implica una...
NUEVA YORK — Un estimado de 2.1 millones de neoyorquinos son víctimas de robo de salario al año, lo que implica una suma de $3.2 mil millones en pagos y beneficios, según el reporte “By a Thousand Cuts: The Complex Face of Wage Theft in New York” delCenter for Popular Democracy Action (CPDA).
El estudio, calificado como el más completo desde 2009 por organizaciones defensoras de los derechos de los trabajadores, se fundamenta en entrevistas a expertos, quejas de víctimas de robo de salario, resultados de investigaciones recientes y estadísticas de los sindicatos más representativos.
Los hallazgos del CPDA sugieren que los empleadores recurren a métodos difíciles de detectar, probar y erradicar, como minutos no registrados en los relojes del lugar de trabajo, una deducción del 5% por cada propina y salarios por debajo del mínimo.
Un análisis de las estadísticas más recientes –diciembre de 2014- del Departamento de Trabajo de Estados Unidos (USDOL) encontró que en 2013, unos 12.700 trabajadores del estado de Nueva York recibieron un total de $23 millones en reembolsos por salarios robados, lo que representasólo el 2% del total de $1 mil millones en salarios robados para ese año.
Los autores del reporte, que estudiaron 11 casos específicos de trabajadores, encontraron que el estado de Nueva York pierde hasta $20 millones por semana en violaciones cometidas por empleadores que no pagan el sueldo mínimo.
Los trabajadores más vulnerables son aquellos que trabajan frecuentemente jornadas de más de 40 horas a la semana. Según la ley, los empleadores deben pagar una hora y media por cada hora extra luego de las 40 horas a la semana, pero en 2010 el 77% de los trabajadores de bajos ingresos no recibieron esta compensación, según un estudio del National Employment Law Project (NELP) citado por los autores.
El mexicano Ángel Rebollero (53), quien en octubre de 2014 alzó la voz por mejores condiciones de trabajo en Vegas Auto Spa, en Park Slope, contó que por casi una década no recibió el pago mandatario por las horas extras trabajadas.
“Los trabajadores inmigrantes somos los más expuestos a empleadores inescrupulosos, pero nuestras victorias laborales demuestran que unidos podemos cambiar las condiciones indignas en el lugar de trabajo”, comentó. “Muchos fuimos amenazados con la deportación. El miedo puede hacernos callar, pero no siempre estaremos en las sombras sufriendo el abuso”.
El reporte de la CPDA encontró que los empleadores comúnmente recurren a la intimidación, acoso, represalias y falsificación de récords de pago para perpetrar un robo de salario sistemático. Otro método común es la clasificación errónea de sus empleados como contratistas independientes, a fin de evitar el pago de impuestos sobre la nómina de sus empleados.
El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS) estima que los empleadores clasifican erróneamente a millones de empleados cada año en el país, evitando en promedio cerca de $4.000 en impuestos federales por cada trabajador.
El CPDA advirtió de la reincidencia en las violaciones de las leyes laborales como un factor difícil de erradicar en la lucha por los derechos de los trabajadores. En los últimos cinco años, el USDOL ha registrado cerca de 400 casos de robo de salarios en el estado de Nueva York, en los cuales el empleador reincidió en las infracciones de las leyes que protegen a los empleados más vulnerables.
Entre los casos que analiza el reporte destaca el de los “carwasheros” de Vegas Auto Spa, quienes estuvieron expuestos a condiciones inseguras de trabajo y robo de salario.
Source: El Diario
Help Puerto Rico and Other Islands as Hurricane Maria Pummels the Caribbean
Help Puerto Rico and Other Islands as Hurricane Maria Pummels the Caribbean
Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, destroying homes as rain, powerful winds, and floods...
Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, destroying homes as rain, powerful winds, and floods devastated the island.
The storm is moving northwest tonight, but Puerto Rico has been badly battered. The mayor of San Juan, the country’s capital, said the island of 3.5 million people could go “four to six months without electricity.”
Here’s how you can help far from the eye of the storm.
Read the full article here.
Black Lives Matter Coalition Makes Demands as Campaign Heats Up
Black Lives Matter Coalition Makes Demands as Campaign Heats Up
More than 60 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement have released a series of demands on Monday...
More than 60 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement have released a series of demands on Monday, including for reparations.
The list of six platform demands is aimed at furthering their goals as the presidential campaign heads into the homestretch.
The release of the six demands comes a few days before the second anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., which set off months of protests and led to a national conversation about police killings of blacks.
As part of the effort, the groups are demanding, among other things, reparations for what they say are past and continuing harms to African-Americans, an end to the death penalty, legislation to acknowledge the effects of slavery, as well as investments in education initiatives, mental health services and jobs programs.
“We wanted to intervene in this current political moment where there is all this amazing and inspiring work that is resisting state violence and corporate power,” said M. Adams, co-executive director of Freedom Inc., a nonprofit group based in Madison, Wis., which focuses on violence within and against low-income communities of color.
The list comes right after the Republicans and Democrats held their respective national conventions, and as the general election fight is heating up, with the two nominees, Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton, now crisscrossing the nation campaigning. But the coalition will not be endorsing any presidential candidate.
Marbre Stahly-Butts, who is part of the leadership team of the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table, which worked on the demands, said: “On both sides of aisle, the candidates have really failed to address the demands and the concerns of our people. So this was less about this specific political moment and this election, and more about how do we actually start to plant and cultivate the seeds of transformation of this country that go beyond individual candidates.”
The groups worked on creating the demands for a year before making their demands known on Monday. They now plan to start local campaigns aimed at pushing for changes in law enforcement and community programs in cities across the country.
“We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform,” Michaela Brown, communications director of Baltimore Bloc, another participating group, said in a statement. “As the 2016 election continues, this platform provides us with a way to intervene with an agenda that resists state and corporate power, an opportunity to implement policies that truly value the safety and humanity of black lives, and an overall means to hold elected leaders accountable.”
By YAMICHE ALCINDOR
Source
These Cities Aren’t Waiting for the Supreme Court to Decide Whether or Not to Gut Unions
These Cities Aren’t Waiting for the Supreme Court to Decide Whether or Not to Gut Unions
In the face of the Janus case, local elected officials across the country are renewing our efforts to help workers...
In the face of the Janus case, local elected officials across the country are renewing our efforts to help workers organize—in traditional ways, and in new ones. Brad Lander is a New York City Council Member from Brooklyn and the chairman of the board of Local Progress, a national association of progressive municipal elected officials. Helen Gym is a Councilmember At Large from Philadelphia and Vice-Chair of Local Progress, a national network of progressive elected officials.
Read the full article here.
Chicago Mayor Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, New York City Mayor de Blasio and Citi Launch Cities for Citizenship
MarketWatch - September 17, 2014 - Today, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, New York City...
MarketWatch - September 17, 2014 - Today, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Citi jointly launched Cities for Citizenship – a major initiative aimed at increasing citizenship among eligible U.S. permanent residents to forge more inclusive and economically robust cities.
Cities for Citizenship will enable cities to expand naturalization and financial capability programs, as well as access to legal assistance, microloans and financial counseling, boosting economic opportunity for immigrants and communities nationwide. The effort will be coordinated by two leading non-profit partners, The Center for Popular Democracy and the National Partnership for New Americans, with the aim of encouraging cities across the country to invest in their citizenship programs. In total, Citi Community Development, the founding corporate partner, is contributing more than $1 million to the program.
There are currently 8.8 million legal permanent residents in America who are eligible for citizenship. These are documented residents, who pay taxes and work lawfully, but 52 percent of whom remain low-income. Their naturalization would provide access to better paying jobs (up to an 11 percent increase to their personal earnings), academic scholarships, and a myriad of other benefits. It would also provide an estimated $37 billion to $52 billion lift to the national economy over the next ten years. This would mean up to $1.6 billion for Chicago’s economy, $2.8 billion for the Los Angeles’ economy, and a $4.1 billion boost for New York City’s economy, according to the “Citizenship: A Wise Investment for Cities” study. This report by the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Partnership for New Americans is a preview of a larger study that New York City will release next year with Citi Community Development’s support.
“Immigrants who become naturalized citizens make significant contributions to our communities, our city, and our country, and it’s in our collective interest to promote naturalization in Chicago,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “We are proud to join Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles and Mayor de Blasio of New York in leading Cities for Citizenship, which will help thousands of immigrants in Chicago and in cities across the country through the naturalization process, leading to economic benefits for our immigrant families and city as a whole.”
“Immigrants are the backbone of our economy,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “It's time we encouraged their successful integration into our social and political tapestry to continue boosting our economy and not stand in the way of it. We are committed to expanding citizenship education and making sure people have the help they need to navigate this complex system.”
“I’m proud to stand today with my fellow mayors Rahm Emanuel and Eric Garcetti as we launch the national Cities for Citizenship initiative,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This win-win effort will help us create more inclusive cities that lift up everyone. From increased economic activity to larger voting and tax bases, the advantages of citizenship will not only expand opportunity to our immigrant families, but to all New Yorkers and residents nationwide.”
“Citi believes that citizenship is an asset that enables low-income immigrants to gain financial capability, and building a national identity must go hand-in-hand with building a financial identity,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi Community Development. “We are proud to work with Mayors Emanuel, Garcetti and de Blasio to launch this comprehensive initiative, which will lead to direct economic benefits for immigrant families and their communities.”
Cities for Citizenship will connect mayors and municipalities with immigrant organizations and the business, faith and labor communities in public-private partnerships.
“The National Partnership for New Americans believes that Cities for Citizenship will encourage millions of immigrants to take the important step of becoming U.S. citizens and full participants in the economic, cultural, and civic life of this nation,” said Eva Millona, the co-chair of the National Partnership for New Americans and herself a naturalized U.S. citizen. “NPNA will bring immigrant organizations into partnership with Mayors to grow Cities for Citizenship in dozens of cities across the U.S.”
“We applaud the Cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles for making a wise investment for all of our communities,” said Ana Maria Archila, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy. “In addition to infusing local economies and workforces with a new vitality, Cities for Citizenship will strengthen our nation’s commitment to an inclusive democracy. We hope other cities will join us in this ground-breaking initiative, and join the growing number of American cities that are modelling progress for the federal government.”
Follow the initiative on Twitter with #Cities4Citizenship. Learn more at CitiesforCitizenship.org.
Local Impact of Cities for Citizenship:
Chicago
The City has pledged to help about one-third of its immigrants to become U.S. citizens through the Chicago New Americans initiative, in partnership with the Illinois Coalition of Refugee Rights and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The City of Chicago Office of New Americans will offer financial education and citizenship workshops in Citizenship Corners in public libraries in multiple languages, as well as support organizations that offer these services.
In addition, staff from Chicago public schools and community organizations will visit high schools with a large concentration of immigrant students and parents to create a one-stop shop for information about the naturalization process, free immigration legal assistance, and financial coaching.
The City’s Small Business Center will also provide services to immigrant business-owners through periodic visits. At the same time, the City will target large immigrant employers for citizenship and financial coaching support. The City will also recruit attorneys and legal firms to provide pro-bono services in naturalization workshops.
All of this information and more will be housed on the ‘City of Chicago Citizenship’ website.
Los Angeles
The nation’s largest population of legal permanent residents reside in Los Angeles, with more than 750,000 in the county.
The Office of Immigrant Affairs will work with businesses that have large numbers of eligible citizens, and immigrant populations will be directly targeted for citizenship and financial coaching support.
The City will employ a coalition of librarians to work in Citizenship Corners in public libraries and hold workshops that offer financial coaching and access to responsible products and services to begin building positive financial identities that are essential to long-term asset building.
New York City
The five boroughs are home to 684,000 legal permanent residents.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will expand NYCitizenship, the first large-scale coordinated effort by a municipal government to address the barriers to naturalization, currently supported by Citi Community Development. This expansion will significantly increase immigrant access to financial counseling and microloans, as well as access to immigration legal assistance.
In its first two years, NYCitizenship has already provided support to more than 7,000 participants. The City of New York will build on the existing school-based program and partner with the Human Resources Administration, a municipal agency that serves low-income New Yorkers, to dramatically expand.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will also commission a study on the economic impact of citizenship programs for mayors across the country to demonstrate the importance of new municipal investments in naturalization and fee assistance programs as a poverty-fighting tool.
Citi Community Development is leading Citi’s commitment to achieve economic empowerment and growth for underserved individuals, families and communities by expanding access to financial products and services, and building sustainable business solutions and innovative partnerships. Our focus areas include: commercial and philanthropic funding; innovative financial products and services; and collaborations with institutions that expand access to financial products and services for low-income and underserved communities. For more information, please visit www.citicommunitydevelopment.com.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com/citi/ | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/citi| Blog: http://blog.citi.com | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/citi
About National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA)
The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) is a national multiethnic, multiracial partnership. NPNA harnesses the collective power and resources of the country’s 20 largest regional immigrant advocacy organizations to mobilize millions of immigrants to become active and engaged citizens, working for a vibrant, just, and welcoming democracy for all. NPNA sponsors the annual National Immigrant Integration Conference and, in the past two years, NPNA partners have assisted over 50,000 immigrants to become U.S. citizens and pursue legal status. Additional information may be found at www.partnershipfornewamericans.org | NIIC: integrationconference.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/newamericanspartnership | Twitter: @npnewamericans
About The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)
The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda. Visit www.populardemocracy.org and www.twitter.com/popdemoc.
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