ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

• Unemployment Down to 4.7%: The unemployment rate in New York has declined from 8.3% to 4.7% since 1993.
• 835,200 New Jobs: 835,200 new jobs have been created in New York since 1993 -- an average of 117,911 per year, compared to an average of 129,850 jobs lost per year during the previous administration.
• 809,600 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 809,600 new private sector jobs have been created—an average of 114,296 jobs per year, compared to an average loss of 124,600 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 82,400 New Construction Jobs: 82,400 construction jobs have been created in New York since 1993 -- an average of 11,633 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 23,300 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• 553,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 189,000 New York workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 364,000 more received an additional raise—from $4.75 to $5.15 -- on September 1, 1997.
• Home Building Up 4.5%: Home building has increased by an average of 4.5% per year since 1993, after falling over 14.1% per year during the previous four years.
• A $500 Child Tax Credit to Help Families Raising Children: To help make it easier for families to raise their children, the balanced budget included a $500 per-child tax credit for children under 17. Thanks to President Clinton, the Balanced Budget delivers a child tax credit to 1,727,000 families in New York.
• Business Failures and Bankruptcy Filings Down: Business failures have dropped 9.6% per year since 1993, after increasing 35.1% per year during the previous four years. Additionally, bankruptcy filings have declined 20.6% per year since 1993, after increasing 10.8% during the previous two administrations. [Oct. 98 data]
• Over $25,000 of Reduced Federal Debt for Every Family of Four: The national debt will be $1.7 trillion lower in FY99 than projected in 1993 -- that's $25,000 less debt for each family of four in New York this year.
• 3.6% Growth in Total Bank Loans and Leases: New York has seen a 3.6% average growth rate in total bank loans and leases per year since 1993. In contrast total bank loans and leases fell an average of 3.3% per year during the previous administration.
• 3.1% Growth in Commercial and Industrial Loans and Leases: Since 1993, New York has experienced a 3.1% annual growth rate in commercial and industrial loans and leases. In contrast, commercial and industrial loans and leases fell an average of 5.0% per year during the previous administration.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION

• Over 45,000 Children in Head Start: 45,040 New York children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, New York will receive $344.6 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $162.5 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for New York's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, New York received $104.5 million in 1999 to hire about 2,688 new, well-prepared public school teachers and reduce class size in the early grades. President Clinton secured funding for a second installment of the plan, giving New York an additional $113.2 million in 2000.
• $34.6 Million in Goals 2000 Funding: This year [FY00], New York receives $34.6 million in Goals 2000 funding. This money is used to raise academic achievement by raising academic standards, increasing parental and community involvement in education, expanding the use of computers and technology in classrooms, and supporting high-quality teacher professional development. [Education Department, 12/3/99]
• $38.5 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY00], New York receives $38.5 million for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund which helps communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21st century.
• Over $751 Million for Students Most in Need: New York receives over $751 million in Title I Grants (to Local Educational Agencies) providing extra help in the basics for students most in need, particularly communities and schools with high concentrations of children in low-income families [FY00]. This includes $12.8 million in accountability grants, to help states and school districts turn around the worst performing schools and hold them accountable for results.
• $736.9 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY00], New York will receive $736.9 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college, benefiting 340,018 New York students.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The FY00 budget includes a significant expansion of the Federal Work Study program. New York will receive $100.6 million in Work-Study funding in 2000 to help New York students work their way through college.
• Over 19,600 Have Served in New York through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 19,631 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in New York's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 12/99]
• Tuition Tax Credits in Balanced Budget Open the Doors of College and Promote Lifelong Learning: The balanced budget included both President Clinton's $1,500 HOPE Scholarship to help make the first two years of college as universal as a high school diploma and a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning to upgrade their skills. This 20% tax credit will be applied to the first $5,000 of tuition and fees through 2002 and to the first $10,000 thereafter. 344,000 students in New York will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 414,000 students in New York will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to New York's Dislocated Workers: Thanks to President Clinton, the FY99 budget includes a significant expansion in the dislocated worker program. New York will receive $118.3 million in 1999 to help 70,090 of New York's dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible.

FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE

• Crime Falls 33% in New York: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, serious crime in New York has fallen 33%. Violent crime and property crime have also declined 39% and 32% respectively. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]
• Crime Has Dropped Sharply in Major Cities: In New York City, between 1992 and 1997, serious crime, as indicated by the crime index, has declined 43%, with a 61% drop in murder, and a 51% drop in robbery. In addition, serious crime has also declined 28% in Rochester and 11% in Syracuse. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]
• Juvenile Arrests Down in New York: New York's juvenile murder arrests have decreased 89% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
• 10,224 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill funded 10,224 new police officers in communities across New York. [through 1/00]
• Buffalo Will Receive Targeted Funding to Hire More Community Police: Buffalo was selected as a pilot city for the President's new effort to target high crime neighborhoods. The pilot program will provide full funding for new officers by waiving the usual matching requirements. Buffalo will deploy new officers to help meet the unique needs of its community, such as combating gangs or targeting drug "hot spots."
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in New York, the Clinton Administration has awarded Drug Court grants to the communities of Amherst, Ithaca, Syracuse, Renssalear County, Rockland County, and Suffolk County. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of New York communities including: Brooklyn, Buffalo, Rochester, the Bronx, Niagara Falls, Oswego, Queens, Albany, Fulton, Lackawanna, Mayville, Mount Vernon, New City, New York City, and Tonawanda. Drug courts use the coercive power of the criminal justice system to combine drug testing, sanctions, supervision and treatment to push nonviolent, drug-abusing offenders to stop using drugs and committing crimes.
• Over $51.6 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, New York has received over $51.6 million in federal funds since FY95 to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. And in October 1999, the Rochester Institute of Technology was awarded $400,000 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through FY99]
• Nearly $4 Million in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, New York received nearly $4 million in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• $33.4 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of New York's Schools: New York receives $33.4 million in FY00 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

MOVING NEW YORKERS FROM WELFARE TO WORK

• 384,492 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 384,492 fewer people on welfare in New York now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- an 33% decline. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 74%: Child support collections have increased by $359 million—or 65% -- in New York since FY92. [through FY98]
• Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in New York: Since 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have supported innovative and promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, with significant components of the strategy becoming law in the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting; encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education activities. Efforts are making a difference, adolescent pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates are declining. And between 1991 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 15.7% in New York.
• $205.4 Million for New York Welfare-to-Work: In 1998, New York received $96.9 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $48.4 million in funding), helping New York welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 a total of $60 million in competitive grants were awarded to New York localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies and Native American tribes in New York received $33,000 in Federal funding. Part of the President's comprehensive efforts to move recipients from welfare to work, this funding was included in the $3 billion welfare to work fund in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
• Helping People Get to Work: Through the Access to Jobs initiative, the Clinton-Gore Administration is working with communities across the country to design transportation solutions to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work. Yonkers, Nassau County, New York City, Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, Herkimer-Oneida County, Franklin County, Hornell, Schoharie, Sulllivan County, and Ulster County have received a total of $3.14 million this year to fund innovative transit projects.

INVESTING IN NEW YORK'S HEALTH

• Health Care for Over 520,000 Uninsured New York Children: In 1997, President Clinton passed the largest single investment in health care for children since 1965 -- an unprecedented $24 billion over five years to cover as many as five million children throughout the nation. This investment guarantees the full range of benefits that children need to grow up strong and healthy. Two million children nationwide have health care coverage thanks to the President's plan, including 521,301 in New York. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]
• Helping Nearly 480,000 New York Women and Children with WIC: The Clinton Administration is committed to full funding in the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In FY99, New York received $274 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 476,769 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 47,000 more than in 1994. [through 8/99]
• More Toddlers Are Being Immunized: As a result of the President's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative, childhood immunization rates have reached an historic high. According to the CDC, 90% or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines in 1996, 1997, and again in 1998 —surpassing the President's 1993 goal. In New York in 1998, 96% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 93% received the vaccine for polio; 95% received the vaccine for measles, and 95% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, New York will receive over $42.6 million in Ryan White Title II formula grants. This funding provides people living with HIV and AIDS medical and support services. Also through the Ryan White Act, New York will receive nearly $96 million for state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which help those without insurance obtain much needed prescription drugs. There has been a tenfold increase in ADAP funding in the last four years, up from $52 million in 1996 to $528 million in 2000. [HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, 4/7/00]
• Tobacco Plan Will Cut Smoking and Premature Deaths by 35% in New York: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 35% in New York by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 195,200 of New York's youth will be kept from smoking and 62,500 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
• 7,570,000 Americans in New York Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if New York enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 7,570,000 people in New York cannot be assured they have the comprehensive patient protections recommended by the President's Advisory Commission. This is because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may preempt state-enacted protections. That is why the President has called on Congress to pass a federally enforceable patients' bill of rights so that everyone enrolled in managed care may have a basic set of protections. Notably, 3,800,000 New York women are in ERISA health plans and are therefore not necessarily protected. Women are particularly vulnerable without these protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs addressed by a patients' bill of rights.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

• 32 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed 32 Superfund toxic waste cleanups in New York. This is more than five times the number of sites cleaned up in New York during the previous twelve years combined. [through 3/1/00]
• $49.1 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, New York will receive $49.1 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low-interest loans to municipalities to build, improve, and prevent pollution of drinking water systems.
• Revitalizing Brownfields Projects in New York: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to communities in New York—Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Utica, Yonkers, Elmira, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Glen Cove, and Rome—as well as Niagara and Ulster Counties, for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. These projects are intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use.

SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS

• Revitalizing New York's Communities: Harlem and the South Bronx were designated as Urban Empowerment Zones in 1994 and were awarded $100 million to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity. Already, Rite Aid, Blockbuster Video, the Gap and the Disney Company have either opened Harlem stores or announced plans to do so. An estimated $1 billion will be invested in Harlem over the next 10 years as a result of this Empowerment Zone designation. In addition, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Newburgh were designated Enterprise Communities, and were awarded $3 million each to pursue similar efforts. In 1999, Plattsburgh and New York City/Brooklyn were designated Strategic Planning Communities.
• Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 9,200 To 11,000 New Affordable Housing Units in New York Over the Next 5 Years: Last year, the President and Vice President pushed for a 40-percent expansion in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. This year, the President and Vice President will try again to enact tax incentives to develop affordable housing. In New York alone, this proposal would mean an additional 9,200 - 11,000 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF

• $461.1 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, New York has received $461.1 million in disaster relief. This includes over $39.8 million in relief for Hurricane Floyd in 1999; $68 million for severe winter and ice storms, high winds, flooding, and tornadoes in 1998; and $123 million in assistance to recover from severe flooding that occurred in January 1996. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

• Over $3.7 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, New York has received over $3.7 billion in federal highway aid, including $47.5 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $8.2 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 153,159 jobs. [through FY99]
• Over $530.7 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 New York received over $530.7 million in Airport Improvement Program funds to help build and renovate airports, and, when necessary, to provide funds for noise abatement to improve the quality of life for residents who live near airports.
• Over $6 Billion in Transit Funds: Since 1993, New York has received over $6 billion in Federal Transit Funding. This has included $2.3 million in Livable Communities funds.
• Saving Lives and Properties: In 1999, the United States Coast Guard saved 169 lives and over $136.3 million of property in New York.

---

Last Updated April 2000