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RPA works collaboratively with a broad range of constituencies to improve workforce quality and connect low-income communities to economic opportunity. RPA brings two particular strengths to these effortsÑan ability to relate local objectives to regional issues and resources, and an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates economic development, human resource planning, land use, transportation, environmental and design expertise. The following initiatives illustrate how RPA harnesses these tools to achieve tangible results.
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A Vision for Newark
October 18 - RPA today released a Draft Vision for the City of Newark that plans for rapid growth and improved quality of life for all city residents. The report, which was completed in conjunction with Mayor Booker's 100 Day initiative, builds on the many existing plans for the city and provides the foundation for a revised Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance.RPA and the City of Newark welcome public input on the Draft Vision report, which can be emailed to NewarkVision@rpa.org or faxed to (212) 253-5666.
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Since the release of RPA's Third Regional Plan in 1996, RPA has supported efforts to improve access to job and career opportunities for low-income residents of the region. In 1998, RPA published Low-Income Communities and the Changing Regional Economy which identified opportunities to connect impoverished areas with growing sectors of the economy. In 2001, RPA led the consultant team that prepared the Area-Wide Job Access and Reverse Commute Transportation Plan for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. The plan provided a comprehensive framework that was used by transportation and human service organizations to secure $7.2 million in federal grants to provide job access services for welfare recipients and other low-income individuals. In 2003, RPA updated the plan for changes in the labor market and transportation network related to September 11.
* Low-Income Communities (222 kb) pdf
* Area-Wide Job Access
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RPA has been working with the East Harlem community to design and implement a strategy to maximize the benefits of the planned Second Avenue Subway for community residents and businesses. To insure that East Harlem fully benefits from this new service, the community needs both to be involved in planning for the project and to forge economic development, housing and environmental strategies that takes advantage of new links to the regional economy. In 2002, RPA completed a needs assessment and technical analysis and organized a Community Design Workshop that developed proposals for station design and development along the planned subway route. From 2003 and 2005, RPA and Community Board 11 convened a working group which followed up on the vision of the design workshop and promoted a mixed-use corridor along Second Avenue that will support community goals for neighborhood economic development, affordable housing and quality of life improvements. The East Harlem Second Avenue Corridor Working Group charged RPA with defining a framework for community economic revitalization through streetscaping of the corridor. The framework identifies the importance of streetscaping and outlines recommendations and next steps for implementation.
* East Harlem Second Avenue Corridor Streetscape Framework (1.2 mb)pdf
* East Harlem Community Design Workshop (1.1 mb) pdf
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| RPA is launching an initiative to quantify the costs of the housing crisis, educate key players in the region, and promote the right tools to solve the problem. RPA will develop and implement a metropolitan-wide strategy to address the crisis of affordable housing in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region. Through research, coalition-building and advocacy, the initiative will support and strengthen city and state housing initiatives by analyzing the urban-suburban dynamics of the region's housing crisis, facilitating new alliances, providing a common foundation of detailed, up-to-date information and developing new policy initiatives that are best addressed at the regional level.
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