Our Impact

Alarmed by the exodus of more than a million residents in the 1970s, Rockefeller developed a plan for a public-private initiative to rebuild blighted neighborhoods. Working with city and state government, as well as banks and builders, the Partnership launched the NYC New Homes Program, filling vacant, city-owned lots with more than 40,000 units of owner-occupied, affordable housing and seeding the renaissance of low-income communities across the five boroughs.

At the height of the city’s crime wave, the Partnership joined with the NYPD, WABC-TV, and other media outlets to launch “Crime Stoppers,” a citizen information and reward program for individuals providing leads on unsolved violent crimes. Partnership members contributed funds for rewards and the Partnership managed Crime Stoppers before spinning it off to the New York City Police Foundation. Still in operation, the program has helped solve more than 5,300 violent crimes.

After the federal enactment of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit in 1986, the Partnership mobilized the New York City business community to become early investors in the private equity fund established by the nonprofit Enterprise Foundation and Local Initiative Support Corporation, accelerating development of new, low-income rental housing in every borough. 

Together with the city and state, the Partnership established the Neighborhood Builders and Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Programs which enabled more than 60 minority- and women-owned firms to participate in the development and renovation of affordable housing. The program, which ran for 13 years, was partially financed by a consortium of banks, led by member company Deutsche Bank.

The Partnership Fund seeded the early development of Silicon Alley, providing early-stage funding to New York City tech companies and entrepreneurs, and played a vital role in catalyzing the city’s fintech, health IT, urban resiliency, and life sciences sectors, identifying and investing in early-stage companies and connecting them to established corporate and venture communities. Our current focus is on strengthening and expanding science-based entrepreneurship.

Within two months of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Partnership mobilized resources to produce a comprehensive economic impact analysis which became the foundation for $23 billion in federal disaster recovery and rebuilding funds. The blueprint outlined specific steps for the private sector, government, and civic leaders to take for a full recovery, and spelled out priorities, key appointments, funding strategies, and programs to restore confidence and tourism.

This work was an unprecedented collaboration of seven global consulting firms working pro bono, including member companies A.T. Kearney, The Boston Consulting Group, KPMG LLP, McKinsey & Company and PwC Consulting.

The Partnership worked with the New York State Legislature, organized labor, and education advocates to bring about legislation to eliminate community school districts and the Board of Education, replacing a dysfunctional governance system with mayoral authority and accountability. Since implementation, the system has produced significant improvements in student performance and graduation rates.  

The Partnership led private sector support for creation of the NYC Leadership Academy, with the mission of preparing a new generation of school leaders to strengthen our public schools and accelerate learning for every student. More than 400 principals and supervisors in the city’s schools today are alumni. The Academy is now a national organization changing what's possible for students in 300 school systems across 39 states.

This seminal analysis, Growth or Gridlock: The Economic Case for Traffic Relief and Transit Improvement for a Greater New York, published by the Partnership in 2006, examined the causes and negative impacts of congestion on the city’s ability to grow and innovate. It was the first step in a painstaking, decades long commitment to research and advocacy that helped lead to the 2025 implementation of Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone.

In 2007 the Partnership began focusing on how to better integrate career and technical education in our schools with work experience in the industries that New York leads — or needs. Research among educators and employers, advocacy in Albany, and a partnership with the NYC Department of Education led to the Industry Scholars Program which, today, has provided paid internships for over 7,000 work-based learning opportunities at hundreds of companies in the city’s key industries.

The Partnership Fund’s 2001 biotech market demand study was the impetus for establishing the Alexandria Center for Life Science, addressing the need for commercial lab space to catalyze the sector in New York City. Capitalizing on its proximity to the city’s top academic and medical institutions and major hospitals in a setting designed to foster cross-institutional collaboration, the Center is now home to world-class pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and is the flagship location for New York’s thriving life sciences sector.

In partnership with Accenture, the Partnership Fund co-founded the FinTech Innovation Lab, a competitive, 12-week program that helps early- to growth-stage tech companies refine and test their value proposition through mentorship and collaboration with over 40 of the world’s leading financial services and venture capital firms. The Lab has played a critical role in the development of the fintech sector in NYC. Today, it is a global program that runs annually in New York, London, and Hong Kong helping fintechs scale their businesses in the world’s most competitive markets.

The Fund replicated the successful FinTech lab model in the digital health and fashion tech sectors and created a public sector program to accelerate the application of new technologies to serve the public interest.

For more than two decades, the Partnership Fund has played a key role in developing New York’s life sciences industry, funding translational research coming out of academic centers and increasing the pace and number of commercial spin-outs.

Our 2016 report, New York’s Next Big Industry: Commercial Life Sciences, incentivized New York City and state to commit over $1.5 billion in public funding, a major milestone in catalyzing the sector’s growth and closing significant gaps with California and Massachusetts in public and private life sciences investment.

Throughout the pandemic, the Partnership conducted critical research to help stakeholders understand the challenges the city faced.

Our July 2020 Report, A Call for Action and Collaboration, charted the ongoing effects of the pandemic in our region and outlined strategies to forge a new value proposition for the city, based on opportunity, affordability, and innovation. The 14 global consulting firms that contributed, all Partnership members, continue to be a resource for the public-private partnerships that are putting these strategies into action.  

On a regular basis, the Partnership surveyed its member companies to maintain a pulse on “return to office” policies, sentiments, and pace. Quarterly research conducted by the Partnership reported on key economic indicators and signs of progress as New York moved into its recovery phase.  

To support small businesses, New York’s most inclusive engines of prosperity, the Partnership launched the Small Business Resource Network in collaboration with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the NYC Economic Development Corporation, and the five borough Chambers of Commerce to connect small businesses with critical funding sources and technical assistance.

A unique public-private initiative to provide support services to New Yorkers experiencing homelessness was launched by the Partnership in collaboration with the city and nonprofit Breaking Ground. Breaking Ground's Connect to Care program supplements existing outreach initiatives with a more intensive model to reach those who have been unsheltered the longest and have the most disabling conditions. Funded by Partnership member companies, the program enabled outreach teams to work in spaces not covered by city contracts, such as retail and ATM vestibules, and demonstrated its ability to coordinate assistance and connection to housing up to three times faster than standard city contracts. 

This series of convenings among community, civic, and corporate leaders sponsored by the Partnership for New York City, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, examines the global trends and local conditions of a post-pandemic world that could challenge the city’s future as a global hub of opportunity and innovation.

The series aims to mobilize a broad coalition of cross-sector leadership to pursue a common agenda to identify, advocate for, and execute the strategies required to ensure New York’s strength and vitality, now and in the future.

In its research, advocacy, and collaboration with cross-sector partners — beginning as early as 2006 — the Partnership has supported congestion relief as a means to cleaner air, faster commutes, fewer delays, safer streets, and better public transit. The implementation of Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone in January 2025 will preserve New York’s ability to grow and innovate, resulting in a city that works better for everyone. Our support and advocacy continue as we measure success among the voting public and defend the program against threats to its future.