Program: 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM ET | Reception: 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM ET

Countless New York families are drowning, squeezed by unaffordable rent, impossible child care costs, and life that seems to get tougher every day. For too long, City Hall has seen its role as helping people scrape by, rather than ensuring everyone can thrive. That changed with Mayor Mamdani’s election—and his administration is moving fast to make sure average New Yorkers get a bigger piece of the pie.

Join us on Thursday May 21 at 3:30 PM ET to hear from Julie Su, New York City’s first-ever deputy mayor for economic justice, on what the Mamdani administration is doing to lower costs and how experts and advocates can help. The event will also launch Affordable NYC Now, a new project from The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers that brings together leading experts, advocates, and organizers to build ready-to-go policy solutions to make NYC truly affordable—today. 

At this event, Affordable NYC Now will unveil its first two initiatives: new zip code-level data exposing the extent of the household debt crisis in NYC, and a series of policy proposals written by local, state, and federal experts about meaningful steps City Hall can take to lower costs, make city government work better for residents and small businesses, and hold corporate bad actors accountable. Policy proposal authors will be in attendance to discuss their proposals. 

Featuring:

  • Julie Su, New York City deputy mayor for economic justice
  • Lorelei Salas, former commissioner of the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and senior fellow at The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers
  • Alvin Bragg, Manhattan district attorney
  • Harvey Epstein, council member, New York City Council
  • Julie Morgan, president of The Century Foundation 
  • Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director of Protect Borrowers

About Affordable NYC Now

Housed at The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers, and advised by Lorelei Salas, former commissioner of the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Affordable NYC Now is a new initiative committed to lowering costs for families, strengthening worker power, and holding corporations accountable. It accomplishes these goals by partnering with local, state, and national organizations and experts to build a policy roadmap that actually works.

Progressive policy that’s ready to go, not sit on the shelf.

Contributing Authors for Affordable NYC Now’s First Set of Policy Proposals  

American Economic Liberties Project, CAMBA Legal Services, Community Service Society of New York, Fines and Fees Justice Center, Fordham Law School Feerick Center for Social Justice, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Legal Aid Society, Make the Road NY, Mobilization for Justice, National Institute for Workers Rights, Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, New York Legal Assistance Group, NYU Wagner Labor Initiative, Small Business Majority, Solar One, The Institute for College Access and Success, UC Berkeley Law Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice, and Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. 

This event is hosted by The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers. 

All public areas of the venue are accessible.

If you would like to request another accommodation to ensure maximum inclusion or have questions about accessibility, please make a note in your RSVP.

Notice of Filming and Photography

When you attend this event, you enter an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur. By entering the event premises, you consent to such recording media and its release, publication, exhibition or reproduction.

*COVID-19 PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: By registering for this event, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending an in-person program at The Century Foundation, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold The Century Foundation, its trustees, officers, agent, and employees liable for any illness or injury.