Next City Launches New Section Focused on Urban Solutions for Inclusive Economic Growth With Support From Citi Community Development

NEW YORK, January 18, 2018 /3BL Media/ - Next City today announced the launch of its newest editorial section, The Bottom Line, made possible with support from Citi Community Development. Through enterprise reporting, news coverage and op-eds written by public and private sector leaders, The Bottom Line will explore new and promising programs, partnerships, policies, technologies and financial tools emerging in response to increasing inequality, household financial vulnerability and other troubling economic trends affecting American cities. Visit The Bottom Line at nextcity.org/thebottomline. 

The new section will focus on how the interplay between investment, technology, policy and innovation is opening up new solutions for increasing affordability, inclusive economic growth and access to capital in American cities. By highlighting the groundbreaking work and thought leadership of researchers, practitioners and urban leaders from the public, private and civic spheres, The Bottom Line will introduce Next City's readers — people who care about the future of cities and are well positioned to help shape it — to innovative new approaches to building thriving, financially inclusive cities.

"In an era of limited public resources, harnessing the power of the private sector becomes even more important," said Next City Publisher, President and CEO Tom Dallessio. "And we know that at a time when urban markets are moving faster than ever before, so must the flow of information. Next City is pleased to present The Bottom Line, which will engage experts, explore the challenges of urbanization through case studies and propose scalable solutions,."

The launch of The Bottom Line comes at a time of deepening economic anxiety for households across America's urban centers. Despite encouraging signs of urban prosperity and growth, municipal governments are facing growing issues of wealth inequality, housing affordability and liquid asset poverty that threaten the economic security of their residents and the communities they live in. With nearly half of all households lacking sufficient savings to sustain a shock to income, half of all renters and a third of all homeowners spending at least 30 percent of their income on housing costs, and median incomes declining eleven percent over the past decade, people across the income spectrum are finding themselves walking an economic tightrope each and every day. 

The next generation of urban leaders knows that in order to take these challenges on, tomorrow's cities require new approaches that are inclusive by design. They know that the financing mechanisms, policies, technology and programs that once worked to create affordable housing, generate wealth and pay for infrastructure will need to adapt to evolving needs and changing constraints. These emerging leaders know they need scalable solutions; that without them there is no way to move forward without losing the affordability, accessibility and resiliency that made their cities into the places they love.

"Rising rent and house prices, growing household financial fragility and a lack of access to opportunities to build assets are making many cities places of exclusion, robbing neighborhoods of the many benefits of inclusive growth" said Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi Community Development and Inclusive Finance. "The Bottom Line will shine a light on the creativity and innovation of the leaders, investments and policies that are harnessing novel financing and partnership models to address some of the most complicated challenges facing cities." 

As a nonprofit with a mission to inspire change in cities through journalism and events, Next City specializes in connecting urban change-makers to sharable, mobile-friendly journalism about the people, ideas and policies driving progress in urban regions. The Bottom Line advances Next City's mission by providing a new avenue for public and private sector leaders to share knowledge and best practices that can help to improve cities and ensure they remain places of opportunity and advancement for all.

"Even though they can seem like complicated, technical subjects, no city builder or leader can afford to take a back seat in understanding the financial, technological and policy forces shaping city economies. Next City's journalism will bring these topics to light, telling the stories of how they impact real places. We're proud that Citi will support this work," said Jess Zimbabwe, Director of Urban Development and Leadership Development at the National League of Cities and Chair Emeritus of the Next City board.

"The Bottom Line is a timely new resource for city leaders," said PolicyLink founder and CEO, Angela Glover Blackwell. "City success depends on tapping the creativity and talent of all of their residents, including people of color who are the majority in many cities. Investing in equitable growth strategies that ensure all can participate and prosper as workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and city builders is both the right thing to do and critical to the future of urban economies."

"I congratulate Next City and Citi Community Development for creating The Bottom Line series" said San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros. "This series will highlight the incredible investments and initiatives underway across the country to address the many challenges and opportunities our cities face."

To accompany the dedicated Bottom Line section on the Next City website, Next City will be launching a special Bottom Line newsletter to keep readers up to date on the latest stories in the series, as well as other related reads from around the web. You can register for the newsletter here: https://nextcity.org/thebottomline/newsletter.

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ABOUT NEXT CITY 
Next City is a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire social, economic and environmental change in cities through journalism and events around the world, Our vision is for a world in which cities are not in crisis, and are instead leading the way toward a more sustainable, equitable future, With approximately 5 million pageviews annually, Next City provides daily online coverage of the leaders, policies and innovations driving progress in metropolitan regions across the world, and we produce impactful events including Vanguard, an annual leadership conference for rising urbanists.

ABOUT CITI COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Citi Community Development leads Citi's commitment to financial inclusion and economic empowerment for underserved individuals, families and communities across the U.S. Through innovative collaborations with municipalities, community groups and leading nonprofit organizations, we harness Citi's expertise, products and services to help expand opportunity for all.

Additional information may be found at http://citicommunitydevelopment.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: https://blog.citigroup.com/ | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi