What We Do

NYC Opportunity helps the City use evidence and innovation to reduce poverty and increase equity. Our work includes a portfolio of initiatives that we have developed with our partners and oversee directly, as well as a set of services that we offer to agencies to support evidence-based policymaking. We pursue our work through five inter-related disciplines: Research, Service Design, Digital Products, and Programs & Evaluation.

Research

Research of various forms is inherent in all of NYC Opportunity's work. We place an emphasis on understanding client perspectives, programmatic best practices, and demographic conditions – and on doing work that is evidence-driven and responsive to the needs of low-income New Yorkers. Our poverty research team produces the annual official poverty measure of the New York City government (the NYCgov measure), one that provides a more nuanced understanding of poverty in New York City than the federal rate allows. Our poverty research team leverages a variety of data sources to help inform the City's understanding of inequality. By analyzing the impacts of anti-poverty policy and workforce programs, the team also ensures the City's initiatives are grounded in solid evidence and truly resonate with community needs.

Service Design

The Service Design Studio launched in October 2017 with the ambitious mission to spread valuable service design and community-centered design methodologies, which are often underused in government. The Studio collaborates with City agency partners to enhance existing services or design new ones that are effective, accessible, and dignified. Their approach begins with understanding the needs of people who use, deliver, and administer public services.
Read more about how you can work with the Service Design Studio

Digital Products

NYC Opportunity develops and manages a portfolio of citywide digital products that help the City address poverty-related challenges. These include public-facing services as well as tools for City staff to better serve clients. The digital product team conducts user research, creates user experiences, and works closely with internal and outside technology teams to prototype, develop, and set ongoing strategy for these digital services.

Programs & Evaluation

NYC Opportunity helps agencies and partners design programs and implement them with the goal of identifying effective strategies to address poverty and promote equity.  We engage in program management and performance management for the programs within our portfolio, and help partners develop appropriate performance monitoring metrics and continuous improvement insights for their own programs and initiatives. Additionally, NYC Opportunity works with independent evaluation firms to assess the effectiveness of programs within our portfolio and select citywide initiatives. For each initiative, a distinct evaluation strategy is developed, reflecting the availability of extant data, implementation status, the timing of expected program outcomes, and general knowledge about a particular intervention. We prioritize participatory strategies and client/frontline staff feedback throughout. These evaluations inform the City's program and budget decision-making, and contribute to public policy in the social services more generally.

Open Positions

Interested in joining our team? Visit our jobs page to learn more about open positions on our team.