New York City Michael Bloomberg announced today that he and George Soros are dedicating $130 million to improved the lives and job opportunities of young blacks and Latinos in the city:
The program, the most ambitious policy push of Mr. Bloomberg’s third term, would overhaul how the government interacts with a population of about 315,000 New Yorkers who are disproportionately undereducated, incarcerated and unemployed.I've criticized Bloomberg before for not understanding the extent of poverty and disadvantage that exists in his own city, but this new initiative certainly deserves praise. As the graph above indicates, young men of color (and particularly blacks and Latinos) are suffer greatly from economic disadvantage. The wide-ranging program will invest in job training, recidivism reduction, education, and family life.
Bloomberg and Soros will pay for the program out of their own accounts:
To pay for the endeavor in a time of fiscal austerity, the city is relying on an unusual source: Mr. Bloomberg himself, who intends to use his personal fortune to cover about a quarter of the cost, city officials said. A $30 million contribution from Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation would be matched by that of a fellow billionaire, George Soros, a hedge fund manager, with the remainder being paid for by the city.I could go in a "This is what the government should be investing in" direction with this commentary, but it is hard to criticize philanthropy on this scale.
One of my posts wouldn't be complete without any criticism and/or cynicism, so here we go. While this move by Bloomberg is very commendable, there's still much more he can and should do. Black and Latino youth are still disproportionately targeted by Bloomberg's NYPD. Racial profiling continues to be a huge problem in the city. From Colorlines:
The New York Police Department’s stop and frisk tactics had increased 21 percent over the past year, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights. The findings are from a departmental quarterly report that was released to Congress on Tuesday, and also show that a stunning 88 percent of those stopped were black and Latino.And a corresponding series of interviews of youth of color targeted by the NYPD:
Bloomberg can do much more to curtail these unjust practices. The disproportionate impact of draconian policing practices on young men of color derives from interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism. While Bloomberg's new initiative likely will do nothing to reduce individual racial prejudice among police officers, it will hopefully alleviate some of the institutional and structural problems plaguing communities of color.
