Many of us as parents, caregivers or just plain bystanders have had the experience of watching with horror as a toddler does something sure to hurt himself -- approaching an electrical outlet with a metal fork comes to mind.

I am having the same reaction watching the New York Police...

When I was teenager in the late 60s, I was sent by my parents to escort my sister Peggy to the subway station at Fulton and Nostrand in BedStuy, Brooklyn. It was just after two nights of rioting following the assassination of Martin Luther King. The streets were empty, sirens...

I lead a nonpartisan charity, fighting for the working poor of New York City. So I rarely comment directly on partisan politics. I know when to duck, and I need both parties for my work. But the political winds are reshaping the landscape across the country, and the outcome will...

As you may have read in the press, the Community Service Society (CSS) and its 25 nonprofit partners are in the midst of a struggle to keep one of the nation's largest and most successful health care ombuds programs alive in New York City ("Council Cuts Health Plan...

In 2005, the Community Service Society issued a report on disconnected youth, young people ages 16 to 24 who were neither at work nor in school ("Out of School, Out of Work..... Out of Luck? New York City's Disconnected Youth"). The numbers at that time, before the recession,...

The Congress was unable to pass a new extension for unemployment insurance benefits before the July 4th holiday recess. The impact on New York and other large cities is immediate and devastating. Nearly two million Americans and tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have been out of work for...

A couple of years ago, I had the misfortune of being the second keynote speaker behind Van Jones, the founder of the Green for All organization and the "Green Collar Economy," before a group of 20 and 30 something's in California. Part of it is age. He graduated from Yale...

At times like these I have to wonder if the United States is under divine protection. The fact that we're going through some of the most serious challenges of our generation with a leader as capable, pragmatic, and just plain "adult" as Obama, indicates that someone up there is looking...

We Americans have a very rosy picture of summer, particularly how wonderful it is for children, adolescents and teenagers; a time when they can cut loose, laze around, lay on the grass and frolic at the beach. But that picture has nothing to do with the reality for young people...

When I was a kid, one of the cartoons I was always ambivalent about was the Road Runner. I was always hoping that the coyote would get the bird before he was flattened by the giant boulder that he didn't see falling from a cliff above him.

Getting the...

Mayor Bloomberg signed a new law this past Tuesday, mandating that carriage horses receive a five week vacation and two yearly medical examinations by a licensed veterinarian (Int. No. 35). The mayor's daughter's standing as a world class equestrian has to make signing this legislation especially satisfying.

But I have...

One thing is a constant when a city, state, or nation runs into hard times - people are generally willing to pitch in, particularly if they feel that everyone's doing their fair share to meet the crisis. In the current economic crisis, the pain of hard times is coming down...

I think everyone who gets to know young kids knows the look of total disbelief you get when you offer them a quarter (or even worse a dime) and suggest they get some candy. The look of "you've got to be kidding" on a five year-old's face is something to...

In October of last year, the Community Service Society (CSS) and A Better Balance (ABB) released a report, Sick in the City: What the Lack of Paid Leave Means for Working New Yorkers, that in line with national findings indicated that workers without paid sick leave often go...

To say that we've had only a brief time to celebrate the health care reform victory in the Congress is an understatement. It has both defined the Obama presidency and revealed just how dysfunctional we are as a nation. This is plainly going to be the watershed year for how...

I think I'm getting a taste of what it must be like to be a funeral director at a cocktail party. Talking about the urban poor in the midst of the worst recession in memory is not the kind of light chatter people are looking to hear about over drinks....

Way back in 1991, Roger Altman, a prominent businessman who became Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, set up a meeting for me with then long shot presidential candidate Bill Clinton at a Manhattan office. The Community Service Society at that time had been conducting research and testifying before...

It seems only yesterday when we were celebrating what seemed to be a paradigm shift for America and New York City and State. Barack Obama had become president, David Paterson had almost unbelievably become New York State's first African-American governor, and Charlie Rangel had become the highest ranking and most...

I've always been particularly contemptuous of conspiracy theories, whether it's U.N. sponsored black helicopters, the dangers of the Trilateral Commission, or alien abduction. It's never been the way I see things, although as a kid I had a period of concern over sitting on toilets and baby alligators that kids...

When I was a second year law student, my advisor and fellow classmates convinced me I had to take "hard" law courses if I wanted to be a successful practitioner when I got out. Accounting for lawyers was the most practical course at Yale Law School I could imagine, so...