More than $787 billion nationwide. More than $7 billion dollars to New York City. That’s how President Obama’s stimulus program was designed to boost the national and local economy. But a close examination of local programs reveals that stimulus money has so far had a limited effect on the nation’s largest and richest city.
Where are your stimulus dollars going? Follow along as we trace the path of the stimulus dollar from your government to your pocket in this interactive timeline. Producers: Jordan Shakeshaft and Eugenia Miranda.
The federal government has poured tens of millions of stimulus dollars into summer jobs for teens in New York City. But stimulus funds are running out for thousands of teens this summer as the program progresses into its second year. Read about the crisis. By Jordan Shakeshaft and Michael Cohen.
While arts are often the first thing to lose funding, advocates say they have an immediate impact on recovery. Chashama, a non-profit that turns vacant storefronts into galleries and performance spaces, is one of more than 120 city arts groups that received stimulus grants. By Liza Eckert and Vishal Persaud.
Will Wood was in a bind. Business was off at his Brooklyn bicycle shop, Spokes & Strings, and his line of credit dried up. His loan application landed on the desk of a Brooklyn-based nonprofit specializing in microloans. Find out what happened next. By Lisa Riordan Seville, Danny Gold and Andrea Swalec.
The stimulus program may have saved the U.S. economy from slipping from a recession into a depression, but minorities still have a harder time pulling themselves up. Who’s getting jobs in some of the city’s neediest neighborhoods? Advocates struggle to find out. By Eugenia Miranda and Spencer Freeman.