NYC To Spend $127M For Minority Youth, Bloomberg and Soros Donate $30M Each

After committing $50 million to the Sierra Club's anti-coal initiative last month, New York City's Mayor again invested his own money for a personal policy priority.

New York City has announced its plan to spend $127 million in public and private funds on the launch of a major policy initiative to help the minority youth in the city.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager George Soros will each donate $30 million according to the mayor's office.

The mayor's office called The Young Men's Initiative, a three-year public-private partnership, America's "boldest and most comprehensive effort ot tackle the broad disparities slowing the advancement of black and Latino young men," reports the Associated Press.

"I think that foundations coming together to tackle some of our society's toughest challenges is the wave of the future, and this is a great example of that," Bloomberg said Thursday as he made an announcement.

Bloomberg expressed his gratitude to Soros, describing him as "one of the most active and committed philanthropists in the world." Soros agreed to give a matching donation a few weeks ago. "When the mayor approached us, he was knocking on an open door," said the world's renown philanthropist.

The program will target around 315,000 black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24, said the AP.

Involving over a dozen city agencies, The Young Men's Initiative includes job placement, fatherhood classes and training for probation officers and school staff on how to help the young men advance.

According to the AP, parts of the $127 million will be allocated in the following ways:

- $18 million: Transformative mentoring and literacy services

- $24 million: The Expanded Success Initiative, a school program aimed to close the achievement gap between racial and ethnic groups in graduation rates

- $25 million: Expansion of Jobs-Plus, for residents of public housing projects

In addition to these efforts, the funds will also go toward an overhaul of the Department of Probation, the recruitment of paid mentors, the establishment of fatherhood classes and a review of whether city agencies place unnecessary hiring restrictions on applicants with prior criminal convictions.

"When we look at poverty rates, graduation rates, crime rates and employment rates, one thing stands out: blacks and Latinos are not fully sharing in the promise of American freedom and far too many are trapped in circumstances that are difficult to escape," said Bloomberg.

"This is a problem that has defied cities and states for decades - but it remains as urgent as ever. There is no cure-all, and we're not going to be able to reach every single person no matter what we do."