Mayor Bloomberg wants to throw money at families in city, BX to fight poverty

Mayor Bloomberg (R-NYC) is looking to wipe out poverty in the Bronx and the rest of the city.The mayor is taking the advice of the Commission for Economic Opportunity and will use some unconventional

News 12 Staff

Dec 19, 2006, 4:29 PM

Updated 6,502 days ago

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Mayor Bloomberg (R-NYC) is looking to wipe out poverty in the Bronx and the rest of the city.The mayor is taking the advice of the Commission for Economic Opportunity and will use some unconventional methods to tackle the problem. The $150 million plan includes offering poor Bronx families cash rewards to encourage their children to stay in school. Other incentives will focus on keeping regular medical appointments and matching monthly bank deposits to foster greater savings. Bloomberg is also trying to get a tax credit approved that would let parents write off up to $1,000 for each child up to 3 years old.Mayor Bloomberg said he's going for a non-traditional approach because conventional approaches have kept the cycle going. He's also decided to fund the program with private money, with $25 million of the budget coming from donations.