A Call For Action and Collaboration.
By Karen and Erica
The Partnership For New York City, an institution “dedicated to mobilizing private sector response and expertise to advance New York City’s standing as a global center of commerce, innovation and economic opportunity,” has recently issued a plan for recovery.
We have always liked the idea of public-private collaborations, and this is one. We found it a reviving read because, while it faces up to the difficulty of the economic and social impact of COVID on the City, the Partnership is doing something about it. Indeed, the Partnership sees the possibility of progress through the disaster COVID has wreaked.
In the immediate future, the action plan calls for improvements in testing and contact tracing, telehealth growth, community health hubs, and population health management.
In the slightly-longer term, changes in Medicaid, data sharing regarding patients and resources, public-private partnerships with community health providers, and integrating Medicaid funding and insurance, and of corse streamlining procurements.
Major reforms include public-private partnerships for blended learning, in which the abrupt transition to online learning, necessarily accomplished with major private resources, is carried on by linking learning to jobs. The tech industry will have to help complete the transition to online learning. And resources will be devote to restarting small businesses.
The report notes that long before COVID the city was becoming unaffordable for many. Models exist to address that crisis, including, for example, adjusting building codes and providing funding for innovative housing models—good for the city and good for retirees. Community child care and tax reform are critical as well, as is a new vision of urban mobility.
There is much more. Read the report.. We can’t do it full justice here. We are excited that a group of civic leaders has its eye on the future. We wish the report had mentioned that retired experts could be very useful, but we are sure our experience will soon prove valuable.
Let’s get to work.