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Hiding Behind the Numbers


New Yorkers recently learned that the syphilis infection rate is down nine percent in the city, while the cost of asphalt is up $6.82 a ton. It takes 2.4 minutes less now than it used to for the average person to get help on the phone for a parking ticket. The Staten Island Ferry is increasingly late.

They learned all this from newspaper reports in the Staten Island Advance and the New York Times about a document called the Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report.

But what New Yorkers did not learn is that it costs $278 million more a year to dispose of the city’s garbage because the Fresh Kills landfill closed – bolstering the argument by critics who questioned the wisdom of closing it in the first place.

They also did not learn why it is taking longer for the fire department to respond to fires, why more people are dying in fires, or how the mayor plans to address the problem.

And they did not learn why the police department is spending more money (nearly $4 billion a year) and paying more in overtime ($400 million a year) even though there are fewer police officers on the force.

The mayor's management report is supposed to be one of the central ways to measure the performance of city government. And, by law, the report is supposed to be a tool to help lawmakers decide how to spend the city’s $50 billion annual budget.

While Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been praised for bringing new technologies and a business-like approach to city government, his administration is particularly stingy when it comes to sharing vital information with the public, and his approach to the mayor's management report is a prime example.

For all of the numbers and data that do come out of the mayor’s office, much of the most important information is not available, making it difficult for New Yorkers to assess how well the government is doing its job, and the direction it is setting for the future.

MEASURING THE CITY

Since 1977, the mayor has been required by the City Charter to issue two reports each year designed to measure how responsive city government is to the people it serves:

• The Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report (released in February) evaluates each city agency’s performance over the first four months of the fiscal year and presents goals for the future.

• The Mayor’s Management Report (issued in September) examines how each agency actually performed over the fiscal year.

Each mayor has used these reports in differing ways.



A new approach to government accountability -- officially called "performance assessment" but more colloquially, compstatmania -- compiles, analyzes and interprets statistics in order to spot trends, gaps and overlaps in city services. It's not magic -- it's hard work, and follow-up. In this series, Gotham Gazette looks at this approach to improving city services.

Ed Koch used it as a kind of report card, issuing “C’s” to commissioners that he did not think measured up. David Dinkins painted a picture of New York City's growing social problems in an effort to win state and federal aid. Rudolph Giuliani made a grand show of his presentations, describing with dozens of graphs and charts how the city had become a better place under his leadership.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, by contrast, has trimmed the report to about a third of its previous size, put information online rather than in a large print book, and spends little effort on drawing attention to it.

In February, when he released his most recent Preliminary Management Report -– which provides information from July to October of 2005 -- Mayor Bloomberg said that his administration has an “excellent record of achievement” and “continued strong performance in the delivery of city services.”

In other words, he highlighted the good news and downplayed the bad news.

The good news in the report is that:

•The number of murders is the lowest since 1963
• Felony crimes are down 4 percent
• The average police response time is six seconds faster
• 93 percent of city streets are “acceptably clean”
• The number of pothole repairs increased by 5 percent
• 97 percent of troublesome trees were removed in 30 days
• New cases of childhood lead poisoning declined by 9 percent
• And the number of children in foster care is at the lowest point since 1987.

The bad news is that:

• Only 53 percent of high school students graduate in four years
• The average fire department response time is 14 seconds slower
• 22 people died in fires, eight more than the same period last year
• 54 people died in traffic accident, six more than in the same period last year
• It took more than 6 hours on average to respond to a broken elevator complaint in public housing, 1 hour more than last year
• The Staten Island Ferry is slower
•And lawsuits against the city are up.

One of the most important statistics, Bloomberg said, is that citizens have unprecedented access to government through the 311-call line, which is being used by more New Yorkers every month. During the four months time examined by the report, the city received 4.2 million calls, three quarters of which were answered in 30 seconds or less.

While the 311 data is a potentially valuable source of information on city services, the Bloomberg administration fails to share the information with other elected officials, the City Council, or local community boards, which are charged with monitoring the well-being of their particular neighborhoods.

Overall, the Bloomberg administration has cut agency budget and performance data to the bone, arguing that less is better. Sometimes less is simply a lot less.

USEFUL INFORMATION OR OUTDATED EXERCISE?

So what are average New Yorkers to make of all of this data? And is it an accurate and helpful snapshot of the city government?

In the past, Mayor Bloomberg has argued that the report is not very useful.

In 2003, he even asked his charter revision commission to look into whether or not it should be eliminated. After a series of hearings, the mayoral commission came to the conclusion that the Preliminary Management Report is:

• Outdated and rooted in “mid-1970s thinking”
• Not an effective means of assessing or improving performance
• And a waste of money.

The commission placed an initiative on the ballot to eliminate it.

Opponents of the plan to kill the report, like the New York City Council, argued that it was one of the few ways to hold city agencies accountable.

On Election Day, voters rejected the measure -– and so Mayor Bloomberg continues to issue the report begrudgingly.

“Although at one time the city was a trailblazer in performance reporting,” a recent report from the Independent Budget Office states, “the lack of linkage between performance data reported in the [preliminary mayor's management report] and elsewhere, and clear spending information, makes it difficult for citizens, elected officials, and even agency mangers to know what they are getting for their money and to evaluate alternatives.”

CRITIQUING THE MAYOR’S NUMBERS

There are a number of problems with the Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report in its current form.

1. Missing Numbers – Millions for Garbage

One problem of the report is that it does not break down budget figures to show how each agency spends its money.

For example, the Department of Education section reports that between July and October of 2005 the agency spent $4.3 billion on education, about $422 million more than the same time last year. Overtime costs are also up from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion for the same period.

But the report makes no effort to explain how the money is being spent, why overtime costs have increased, or if there are plans to spend more or less over the rest of the fiscal year.

In other places, the mayor’s report simply omits some crucial financial information.

For example, in the current report the Department of Sanitation section does not say that roughly 25 percent of the sanitation budget goes to contractors since the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill by the Giuliani administration. According to the Independent Budget Office’s analysis, $278 million goes to seven private vendors through waste-export contracts that move the waste out of town.

The administration does not provide this information because the money is paid to private contractors – and that kind of information is reported in another document called “Agency Procurement” that comes out once a year.

The mayor’s report also does not say a word about the administration’s long-term plans to deal with the rising costs of the current waste disposal system even though the mayor and City Council are supposed to agree to such a plan this summer and even though the charter mandates that each agency present goals for the next year.

2. Confusing Measurements – Graduation Rates

In other area’s, the administration presents a dizzying array of categories of measurement – or “indicators” - that obscure what is really happening.

For example, the Department of Education reports that only 53.2 percent of high school students graduate in four years, which is down from 54.3 percent the year before. The number of students that graduate in seven years (67.6 percent) is also down from the previous year.

But this year, the Department of Education has now added a third category: “Students Graduating High School Within 4 years OR Still Enrolled in School for a Fifth Year.”

By combining two groups of students into one category, the administration can claim that 84.8 percent of students are “on track” to graduate or earn their Regent’s diploma.

“This indicates that more students are opting to stay in school at least an additional year to work towards graduation,” the report states.

Some experts disagree.

“This misinformation is devastating,” writes Daniel Losen of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard Law School in an article for Gotham Gazette. “How can we know if we are doing better if we do not get an accurate reading of where the issues lies? It also affects where resources are allocated. We are not going to spend enough if our focus on the problem isn’t sharp, and we can’t see what’s really going on.”

3. Few Answers – Unexplained Fire Deaths

The Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report also offers few explanations for why certain things may occur.

For example, 22 people died in fires between July and October, eight more than in the same time last year. The fire department’s response time is also 14 seconds slower; it takes an average of 4 minutes and 37 seconds for the department to get to a scene.

The mayor said the response time was due in part to an increase in house fires. And the report states only that the department “has taken steps to reduce the key components of response time.”

The information raises more questions than it answers.

What has led to the increase in response times? Were the deaths concentrated in specific boroughs or neighborhoods? Are slower response time linked to the six firehouses that the Mayor Bloomberg closed in 2003? Does new fire equipment that needs to be purchased? Does the department need to hire more firefighters?

In previous reports, at least the administration attempted to answer some of these questions.

“There used to be footnotes that offered explanation of why an indicator may have gone up or down,” said Preston Niblack of the Independent Budget Office. “We lost some of that when it was reorganized [under Bloomberg].”

A NEW APPROACH

Instead of scrapping the report or continuing the annual exercise in its current form, some experts are pointing to ways that the Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report can be made into a useful tool.

One idea is to return to one of the original goals of the report, which was to link the data from each agency to help make decisions about how to allocate funds. The Independent Budget Office recently issued a budget analysis that tries to create more clear connections between how the city spends money and the results that it gets in return.

For example, in the Independent Budget Office’s report on the Department of Health, one can see that the mayoral administration has spent more money for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, an increase from $32.1 million in 2005 to $43.5 million in 2006. And in turn, the number of cases of tuberculosis is down (from 124,695 in 2005 to 122,239 in 2006), and the Department of Health is treating a higher percentage of the confirmed cases in the city.

While it is tricky to draw clear connections between the amount of money the city government spends on a particular effort and the results, the approach can be a productive look further into what government is – or is not – doing well.

“You have to be careful and dig deeper before you make conclusions,” said Niblack. “But it should help people to start asking the right questions.”

The Independent Budget Office has also shown just what can be done to create clear, accountable budgeting, using the city’s own data.

Another suggestion is to require the administration to conduct “citizen satisfaction surveys” as part of the Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report. These surveys, which could track different responses by age, race, gender, and other socio-economic categories, could help bring a more customer service-oriented approach to city government. Last year, City Council considered legislation that would institute this change – and is likely to revisit the issue again in the future.

A third suggestion – which has been adopted by other cities and states - is to combine the two management reports with the mayor’s budget proposal into one document that would clearly lay out the mayor’s financial requests for each agency in terms of past and current performance and future goals.

This would allow the City Council, which is charged with holding public hearings on the budget, to monitor more carefully how taxpayer dollars are being spent.

"The Charter clearly intends the [preliminary mayor's management report] to relate performance measures to proposed budget appropriations so that the council… can consider what agencies have accomplished or produced with the resources allocated, and the effect of budget proposals, during the budget process,” a City Council report on the issue concluded. “Otherwise it falls far short of achieving its intended purpose.”

Mayor Bloomberg could break down agency budget information by program and provides sufficient new performance data that would enable an analyst -- or any interested New Yorker-- to measure results. Until that happens, this administration remains a $50 billion operation apparently unwilling to address management accountability.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Mayor’s Management Report for 2005: Thinner, Less Useful (October 2005)

The Mayor’s Management Report Skimps On Information About Education And Everything Else (October 2004)

Shrinking Accountability: Proposed Changes To The Mayor's Management Report (October 2003)

Editing Out the Facts (October 2002)

Guide To The Mayor's Management Report (October 2002)

Glenn Pasanen, who teaches political science at Lehman College, has been in charge of Gotham Gazette's finance topic page since 2001.  

 

Proposed Arts Budget, A Destabilizing Deja Vu Dance


City Hall counts on the cultural sector to attract tourists, provide arts education, stabilize neighborhoods, and to make New York City an attractive place for creative people who work in industries as diverse as fashion and Web design. Mayors are often the first to trumpet the cultural attractions as one of the unique attributes of the city.

It would be great to say the opposite is true as well –- that cultural organizations count on City Hall as a reliable partner in its funding process. Unfortunately, yet again, that is not the case. Instead we are being treated to a destabilizing, deja vu dance.

The Bloomberg administration is once again proposing a decrease in funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs next year -– a reduction of more than $37 million from the current year, to $102.2 million, according to the Independent Budget Office. This represents the largest proposed cut in two decades.

This latest budget leaves the members of the Cultural Institutions Group or CIGs (the 34 cultural groups in city owned buildings) with cash subsidies roughly equivalent to 1989. The remaining arts groups are getting funding slightly above 1987 levels.

One of the mysteries of this administration is the steady decline in cultural affairs budgets proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In his first budget, he recommended $110.4 million. Some in the cultural sector have interpreted this downward pattern to mean that Mayor Bloomberg is not convinced that public dollars should be used to fund cultural programming.

Capital funding plans show a slightly different pattern, but are heavily influenced by both Borough President and City Council commitments and by projects that are often not completed within a single budget year. Actual spending from the city funds in 2004 was $98.5 million. That increased to $140 million in 2005, and is projected at $130.5 million for the forthcoming budget. Future projections decrease this funding, however, to only $10 million by 2010.

More telling than future projections in this instance is the reality that in 2002, city funds for capital expenditures for cultural affairs was the far higher $208 million.

Experienced budget watchers tell the cultural groups that these administration proposals mean little, since the City Council has almost always restored the cuts. Unfortunately, that “almost always” is not grounds for fiscal planning by cultural groups, and in fact, restoration to the non-Cultural Institution Groups has not always taken place. This pattern of proposed decreases, followed by budget negotiations that restore some or all of the cuts, destabilizes the cultural sector more than any other activity under the control of elected officials.

A loss of funding due to a sudden economic blow, such as September 11, is also destabilizing, but a deliberate continued pattern of proposing cuts only to agree to last-minute restorations as the fiscal year ends is an entirely different matter. It is clear that cultural funding is simply a pawn in the ritual budget dance of Mayor versus City Council.

It is for that reason that so many in the cultural field are angry, not only at the current mayorÂąs treatment of cultural funding, but at both his predecessors. The rhetoric about the value of the arts to the city is not matched by the budget reality.

Under the Bloomberg administration, this destabilizing impact has been carried even further, however, by a re-definition of what budget watchers refer to as baseline funding. Simply put, baseline is the amount of money an organization had before the Mayor, Borough President, or City Council added any special one-time initiatives.

The Bloomberg administration now characterizes all funding added to its proposed budget as one-time initiatives, and has defined baseline as whatever it proposes regardless of prior commitments. In the past, if baseline was cut in a mayoral budget, the restoration of those funds was treated as ongoing, not one-time funding. For example, an organization that was baselined at $7500 when Mayor Bloomberg took office was first reduced to just over $6000, then increased slightly, then decreased again slightly, and is now looking at an another decrease. Any money the council puts in the budget for that organization is entirely a one year effort. The notion of a restoration process is essentially gone.

For the majority of cultural groups in the city, this budget dance has produced a steady decrease in funding over several years. For the 34 members of the Cultural Institutions Group, the unique partnership they felt they had with the city is deeply eroded as their funding levels become increasingly erratic.

The question is why if the cultural sector is so valuable, this budget dance goes on? Budget deficits are not the reason; the Bloomberg administration is projecting a very large surplus this year. The only logical conclusion is that cultural activity really does not matter all that much to mayors, regardless of the speeches, which leaves the City Council increasingly taking on the mantle of leadership in cultural funding.

Related Article

Independent Budget Office Review Of The 2007 Preliminary Budget For The Department of Cultural Affairs Norma Munn is chair of the New York City Arts Coalition

City Commission for Economic Opportunity


Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the appointment of 32 civic leaders to the New York City Commission for Economic Opportunity, a public-private initiative charged with devising strategies to increase economic opportunity and reduce poverty in the city.

The commission's objective is to devise cross-sector, public-private solutions and to create a coordinated, citywide agenda for increasing economic opportunity and financial independence. The commission will look at the most effective way to harness already existing city services and couple them with new economic development initiatives to give more New Yorkers the chance to rise out of poverty.

The Co-Chairs are:

Geoffrey Canada is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Harlem Children's Zone, Inc., a pioneering, non-profit, community-based organization that works to enhance the quality of life for children and families in some of New York City's most troubled neighborhoods. Mr. Canada is a renowned advocate for children and a sought-after speaker on issues such as violence, inner-city education and community redevelopment. He has been cited in many media reports, including being selected as one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News & World Report.

Richard D. Parsons is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Inc. Since becoming Chief Executive Officer in 2002, Mr. Parsons has led Time Warner on a path of sustainable growth. In 2005, Institutional Investor magazine named him the top Chief Executive Officer in the entertainment industry. Mr. Parsons serves on the boards of Estee Lauder and Citigroup. His civic and non-profit commitments include Chairman Emeritus of the Partnership for New York City, and service on the boards of Howard University, the Apollo Theatre Foundation, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Natural History.

Commission Members

Dr. Larry Aber is a professor of Applied Psychology and Public Policy at New York University. From 1994-2003, Dr. Aber served as Director of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. His current research focuses on how social policies toward low-income families affect family income dynamics, parenting processes and children's health and development; and school-based strategies to enhance the social-emotional and cognitive-academic learning of low-income children.

Diane Baillargeon is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Structured Employment Economic Development Corporation (SEEDCO). She previously served as Deputy Commissioner for Policy Management in the New York State Department of Social Services and as Deputy Administrator for Policy and Program Development at the New York City Human Resources Administration.

Dr. Lilliam Barrios-Paoli is the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Space, an organization working to protect children and adolescents in New York City. Previously, Dr. Barrios-Paoli served as Senior Vice President for the United Way of New York City. She also served in New York City Government under Mayor Koch and Mayor Giuliani.

Stanley Brezenoff is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Continuum Health Partners, an organization that unites four distinguished voluntary teaching hospitals in a network that allows each to benefit from the rich resources of the other. Previously, Mr. Brezenoff served as First Deputy Mayor under Mayor Koch and Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

David Chenis the Executive Director of the Chinese-American Planning Council Inc., (CPC) and is the founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chung Pak Local Development Corporation. He is also a member of the board of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation and served as a Commissioner on the 2004-2005 New York City Charter Revision Commission.

Florence A. Davis is the President of the Starr Foundation. The Starr Foundation makes grants in a number of areas, including education, medicine and healthcare, human needs, public policy, culture and the environment.

Jamie Dimon has been Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., since December 31, 2005, prior to which he had been President and Chief Operating Officer since July 2004. Prior to its merger with JPMorgan Chase he had been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bank One Corporation from March 2000 until July 2004.

Michael Fishman has been a union leader for more than 25 years, and was re-elected President of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ in August 2003 for a second three-year term. Local 32BJ represents more than 85,000 property service workers – window cleaners, superintendents, doormen, maintenance workers, cleaners, porters and security officers – in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Dr. Floyd H. Flake is a former U.S. Representative and currently serves as the senior pastor of the 10,000 member Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica, Queens. During his 21-year pastorate, Allen has become one of the nation's foremost Christian churches and non-profit corporations. In the U.S. Congress, Representative Floyd Flake earned a reputation for bipartisan, innovative legislative initiatives to revitalize urban commercial and residential communities.

Dr. Ester R. Fuchs is a professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at Columbia University. Professor Fuchs's main research and writing interests are in the areas of American government and policy, political parties and elections, urban politics and policy, including fiscal policy, New York City politics, and statistical analysis. Previously, Professor Fuchs served as Special Advisor for Governance and Strategic Planning to Mayor Bloomberg and Chair of the 2004-2005 Charter Revision Commission.

Fatima Goldman is the Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA). At FPWA, Ms. Goldman serves as the chief spokesperson on behalf of the City's most vulnerable. She is responsible for leading the 80+ year old organization in maintaining core services to member agencies, such as emergency financial assistance, advocacy, training and technical assistance.

William A. Goodloe is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit organization based in New York City, with offices in London, England. Since its founding in 1963, SEO has enjoyed remarkable success in providing college preparation and career development service to more than 5000 students of color from ninth grade through college graduation. From 1996 through 2001 Mr. Goodloe was executive director of the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, and previously served as vice president of the Center for Youth Development.

Colvin Grannum has served as president of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation since March 2001. Restoration is the nation's first community development corporation, founded by United States Senators Robert Kennedy and Jacob Javits in 1967. Prior to joining Restoration, Mr. Grannum served as a founding director and the Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Street Development Corporation, a faith-based not-for-profit community development corporation affiliated with Bridge Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York.

Paloma Hernandez is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Urban Health Plan, Inc. Urban Health Plan is dedicated to rendering primary and specialty health care services in a personalized and family oriented manner, with an emphasis on prevention through education and the provision of state of the art services.

David R. Jones has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS) since 1986. Prior to joining CSS, Mr. Jones served as Executive Director of the New York City Youth Bureau, and from 1979 to 1983, as Special Advisor to Mayor Koch. Mr. Jones was a member of the transition committee of New York's Mayor-elect Bloomberg.

Carter McClelland is Chairman of the Board and Chief Volunteer Officer at the United Way of New York City. Mr. McClelland also served as the Chairman of Corporate Investment Banking at Bank of America Securities LLC until January 2, 2006.

Ronay Menschel is Chairman of the Board of Phipps Houses. She is also a Trustee of Phipps Community Development Corporation, the human services and community development affiliate of Phipps Houses. She was President/Chief Executive Officer of Phipps Houses from April 1, 1993 to October 1, 2001. Prior to joining Phipps Houses, Ms. Menschel served as Deputy Mayor and Executive Administrator, respectively, of New York City from 1978-1982, and as a member of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Board from 1979-1990.

Gail B. Nayowith is the Executive Director of the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, Inc., an advocacy organization that provides a voice for poor and vulnerable children and children with special needs. Ms. Nayowith also served as a key member on the Family Homelessness Special Master Panel in 2003-2004.

Dr. Judith Rodin became president of the Rockefeller Foundation in March 2005. She is the first woman to lead the Foundation, which works to expand opportunities for poor people and to help ensure that the benefits of globalization are shared more equitably. The Foundation works intensively in Eastern and Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America and makes grants and programmatic investments averaging $140 million per year. Dr. Rodin is former president of the University of Pennsylvania. During a decade of service to the University, Dr. Rodin guided Penn through a period of unprecedented growth and development the transformed its academic core and dramatically enhanced the quality of life on campus and in the surrounding community. Previously, Dr. Rodin was on the faculty of Yale University and served as provost from 1992 through 1994. Rodin serves on the boards of several prominent nonprofit organizations and corporations and has authored or co-authored eleven books.

William C. Rudin serves as Chairman of the Association for a Better New York. He is the President of Rudin Management Company and has been highly involved in real estate, business, philanthropic, and civic activities in New York City.

David Saltzman is the Executive Director of the Robin Hood Foundation, which targets poverty in New York City by finding, funding and strengthening the most effective poverty fighting programs to maximize results.

John A. Sanchez has been Executive Director of the East Side House Settlement since 1989. Prior to joining the East Side House Settlement, Mr. Sanchez served as Executive Director of Catholic Big Brothers of New York. He has held executive positions with United Neighborhood Houses, the Federation of 38 settlement houses in New York City, Hudson Guild, a Manhattan based settlement house, and the Community Service Society.

Dr. Alan B. Siskind is Chair of the Board of the Human Services Council. He is also the Executive Director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services. Previously, Dr. Siskind served as the President of the Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies and was a member of Mayor Dinkins' Commission for the Foster Care of Children.

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, a federation of more than 100 organizations that seeks to uphold the dignity of each person as made in the image of God by serving the basic needs of the poor, troubled, frail, and oppressed of all religions.

Mindy Tarlow is the Executive Director of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a large New York-based nonprofit corporation that provides employment services to men and women returning from prison and detention facilities. Prior to joining CEO, Ms. Tarlow spent close to ten years at the New York City Office of Management and Budget where she ultimately served as Deputy Director in 1992. Ms. Tarlow guided many criminal justice projects during her tenure in government including co-authoring the Mayor's Safe Streets, Safe City Omnibus Criminal Justice Program.

Merryl Tisch is co-chair of the New York State Board of Regents' Committee on Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education. Ms. Tisch is also a chairperson of the Metropolitan Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty and serves on the executive committee of the UJA Federation of New York.

Maria Torres co-founded the Point Community Development Corporation in 1994, a nonprofit organization dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization of the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx, and currently serves as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to founding the Corporation, Torres participated in the South Bronx Summer Project, and helped to form La Marqueta and the Neighborhood Internship Bank.

Jeremy Travis became the fourth President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice on August 16, 2004. Prior to his appointment, President Travis served four years as a Senior Fellow affiliated with the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, and was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to direct the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Reverend Terry Troia is the Executive Director of Project Hospitality, which was founded in 1982 as an outreach arm of Brighton Heights Reformed Church in Staten Island. Some of Project Hospitality's ministries include several emergency overnight shelter facilities and Hospitality House, a residence for homeless women and children.

Nancy Wackstein serves as the Executive Director of United Neighborhood Houses (UNH), the federation of New York City settlement houses and community centers. Prior to her work at UNH, she served as Executive Director of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a multi-service settlement house on Manhattan's East Side and as Director of the Mayor's Office on Homelessness and SRO Housing under Mayor Dinkins.

 

 



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