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NNIP PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
New York City Housing and Neighborhood Information System (NYCHANIS) Institutional Setting The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, a joint center between NYU School of Law and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, is the leading academic research center in New York City devoted to the public policy aspects of real estate, land use and housing development. An important part of the mission of the Furman Center is providing local housing organizations, community development groups, and the general public with the data they need to monitor neighborhood conditions, plan programs that will improve their housing and neighborhoods, and secure funding for these programs. To accomplish this, the Furman Center has developed and operates the New York City Housing and Neighborhood Information System (NYCHANIS - available at www.nychanis.com), NYCHANIS is an interactive website that allows users to obtain data and information about New York City neighborhoods and create custom-made tables, charts, graphs, and maps. NYCHANIS makes data easily accessible to users through a searchable, web-based database. Up-to-date data includes demographic and housing conditions ranging from housing stock and housing affordability to mortgage originations and foreclosures and crime and education in New York City's neighborhoods. The Center also prepares an annual report: The State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods The Furman Center distributes the State of the City report to hundreds of local organization at no charge every year and makes the report available for download at www.furmancenter.nyu.edu. The Furman Center is also active in promoting and facilitating use of the data for neighborhood change. This involves briefings to nonprofits and neighborhoods groups, training them on the use of the system and working with them on specific projects. The Furman Center has made presentations about NYCHANIS to a variety of non profit and community development organizations in New York City. The Furman Center also partners with social justice organizations to provide housing resource trainings and provides free NYCHANIS training sessions throughout the year. NYCHANIS and the State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods empower local housing and community groups to improve the housing situation for underserved New Yorkers. Without NYCHANIS and State of the City, many community organizations and nonprofits would not otherwise have access to this information either because the source data requires substantial processing to create useful indicators or because the source data is difficult or costly to obtain. A new feature of the Furman Center's neighborhood information services is PlanNYC, a complete urban planning web portal, with news summaries and links to development-related articles, official documents such as plans and environmental impact statements, and a citywide calendar of upcoming planning events that includes local community board meetings and public hearings. PlanNYC brings together information from all sides of controversies and debates - from advocacy organizations, government agencies, academic institutions, neighborhood groups, and media organizations, all in one location. We have added this portal so that users may learn about any planning project, land use debate or public policy issue in New York City at no cost. PARTNER BIOGRAPHIES: Ingrid Gould Ellen is Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at New York University's Wagner School and Co-Director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Her research centers on neighborhoods, housing, and residential segregation. Professor Ellen is author of Sharing America's Neighborhoods: The Prospects for Stable Racial Integration (Harvard University Press, 2000) and has been published in such journals as Urban Studies, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, and Housing Policy Debate. She is currently undertaking a national study of economic change in U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, she is studying the interaction between investments in schools and subsidized housing and examining the role of business improvement districts in spurring neighborhood development. Professor Ellen teaches courses in microeconomics, urban economics, and urban policy research. Before coming to NYU, Professor Ellen held visiting positions at the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. She attended Harvard University, where she received a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics, an M.P.P., and a Ph.D. in public policy. Caroline Bhalla is the Administrative Director of the Furman Center. Caroline earned her B.A. in Mass Communications/ Rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley. After graduation, she served for two years as an assistant account executive at San Francisco public relations agency, Graham & Associates. She received her M.A. in Culture and Communication from New York University in 2004 and is currently pursuing a Master's in American Studies at NYU. Caroline served as an adjunct professor in NYU's Department of Culture and Communication, where she taught courses in Interviewing Strategies and Conflict Resolution. She has guest lectured in the Department on such issues as cultural identity, gender socialization, and Native American representation. |