NYC Center for Economic Opportunity

Opportunity NYC  is the first conditional cash transfer (CCT) initiative to be implemented in the United States. CCT programs provide monetary incentives to households living in poverty when they complete activities aimed at increasing human capital development and breaking the cycle of poverty. The most established and rigorously evaluated CCT program is Mexico’s Oportunidades. Over the course of the past ten years Oportunidades has increased the educational and health outcomes of its participants, including significant increases in school attendance, achievement and preventive health visits. International CCT programs traditionally offer payments for education, health, and nutrition related activities.

Opportunity NYC is a privately-funded $63 million pilot initiative that builds on the conceptual framework and lessons learned from international CCT programs.

Opportunity NYC consists of three distinct programs:

Opportunity NYC: Family Rewards is the most comprehensive of the three, offering monetary incentives to families living in poverty for education, health, and workforce participation and job training activities.

Opportunity NYC: Work Rewards offers monetary incentives to adults in subsidized housing for enhanced workforce participation and job training. The CCTs will be compared to other self-sufficiency strategies.

Opportunity NYC: Spark provides small monetary incentives to fourth and seventh grade public school students for achievement on periodic assessments offered throughout the academic year.

The principal objective of the three pilots is to test the impact of monetary incentives on child, adult, and family outcomes, as well as their overall impact on poverty reduction. Each of the three programs is being evaluated using a random assignment design to rigorously assess the impact of the incentives.

For a full description of each program, see the Opportunity NYC (in pdf)  section in the CEO Strategy and Implementation Report.

For a brief description of Opportunity NYC: Family Rewards  (in pdf), see the program summary in the CEO report .

For a brief description of Opportunity NYC: Work Rewards (in pdf), see the program summary in the CEO report.

For a brief description of Opportunity NYC: Spark (in pdf), see the program summary in the CEO report.

Enrolment for these programs is now closed.