Looking for tips to reduce poverty in NYC with visit to Mexico

from Newsday

By LISA J. ADAMS

MEXICO CITY -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's pilot program to help New Yorkers break the cycle of poverty is modeled after a well-regarded Mexican initiative.

Bloomberg was in Mexico on Tuesday studying the program for tips he might adopt back home. The mayor, who reiterated that he is not planning to run for president, visited towns, spoke with his counterpart in Mexico City and met with workers and independent evaluators of the anti-poverty program.

The government's Oportunidades program provides medical care and gives cash grants to families for keeping children in school. It has been lauded by the World Bank and other countries as a model because it focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty by investing in long-term development.

"New Yorkers recognize the power of a good idea, and we're here in Toluca today to see firsthand how one good idea _ the Oportunidades program _ works," Bloomberg told reporters in the city west of the Mexican capital.

"The bottom line about Mexico's conditional cash transfer program is that it works, and during this trip we want to study the details of what they're doing right, so our program in New York can also succeed."

Bloomberg already has started a similar pilot program, Opportunity NYC, designed to help New Yorkers break the cycle of poverty.

Bloomberg, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, met in Toluca with federal Social Development Secretary Beatriz Zavala, who oversees Oportunidades.

Asked about a possible run for the U.S. presidency, the mayor said he was not a candidate. Questioned again following a meeting in Mexico City with Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, he said, "I do not anticipate being a candidate this time or any other time."

Ebrard said he and Bloomberg discussed several issues during their hourlong meeting, including the environment and public safety. Bloomberg later met privately with President Felipe Calderon. The details of that meeting were not disclosed.

It was not the first time Mexico City and the Big Apple have collaborated. As police chief in 2005, Ebrard hired the consulting firm of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani _ another possible presidential candidate _ for advice on how to reduce crime in Mexico's capital.

Ebrard said many of the consulting firm's recommendations have been implemented and already are yielding results.

But while he acknowledged that a program like Oportunidades could help New York City, Ebrard said he had more confidence in city government-sponsored efforts for Mexico City's more than 8 million people.

The federal program currently only helps 17,000 people in the capital, he said, while a city government pension program covers 420,000 senior citizens. A second program now in the works hopes to guarantee middle and high school education to 100,000 youth.

Bloomberg said Opportunity NYC will start with 2,500 families, "then potentially they could be scaled up."

"We have to see what works and what doesn't. But it does not replace any of the government-sponsored programs we have today" in New York, he said.

Oportunidades, Mexico's principal anti-poverty program, began operating in poor rural regions in 1997 under the name of Progresa. It later expanded to cities.

The program gives families cash grants to help pay for their children's schooling and to compensate for what the children would have earned if they were taken out of school and put to work, the traditional option in poor regions of Mexico.

Oportunidades also provides basic health care, including preventive services, for entire families as well as cash grants to buy food for the household.

World Bank officials have praised the program, saying that independent evaluations showed that poor Mexican children and their families who received the help were eating better and receiving better medical attention.

It currently serves about 25 million people in Mexico, Bloomberg's office said in a news release. Government officials could not be reached immediately to confirm those figures.