The key elements of this strategy are:

Educational excellence for all

Well-paying job, career and entrepreneurial opportunities for all
Stronger families with fathers involved in their children's lives
Transformed public assistance programs to end generational
dependency
Healthy, safe neighborhoods as the building blocks of thriving
communities

1. Educational excellence for all

Expand school choice for parents with children in failing schools.
Once accurate measures of school performance are in place, allow
parents of a child or children in failed schools to place their child(ren)
elsewhere at district expense (public or charter school). As a last
resort, in instances of consecutive failures, afford parents scholarships
to place their child(ren) in neighborhood private or parochial schools.
Pass the Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC)
Deliver on Governor Cuomo's failed promise to enact an EITC to allow
for more scholarships to private schools and more funding for public
and private schools.
More on the Astorino/Moss Education PlanHERE

2. Better job, career and entrepreneurial opportunities

Building on existing partnerships among the Department of Labor, local
Workforce Investment Agencies and local Economic Development agencies
and by strengthening these partnerships by involving local social services
districts and community colleges:
Uncap the potential of "One Stop Employment Centers" - which
connects job seekers and employers - as job development specialists
for the unemployed as well as for employable recipients of public
assistance, assessing job skills, helping with resume writing, making
referrals to training programs with proven results.
Sponsor job fairs in inner-urban communities on a bi-monthly or
quarterly basis to bring employers to where untapped pools of
potential employees make their home.

Create small business mentoring programs to assist inner-urban
entrepreneurs or young aspiring professionals (lawyers, accountants,
doctors, dentists, etc.) on how to start and develop a successful small
business or establish a professional office in underserved
communities.


Create micro-Enterprise Zones, block by block if necessary, in inner city
neighborhoods to attract needed retail services and innovative commercial
uses that empower consumer choice and create good-paying jobs with
performance-based tax incentives.
Increase availability of vocational training in schools and coordination
between community colleges, local school districts and local industry so
students can be properly counseled on the present and future availability of
jobs, the types of jobs, their pay and benefits, and the skills needed to do
these jobs.
Work with trades' union leadership to develop ways to increase minority
access to coveted union apprenticeship training programs so minorities can
take advantage of good-paying construction and skilled trades employment.
More on the Astorino/Moss Jobs PlanHERE

3. Strong families/Critical role of the father

Require that the name of the biological father appear on the newborn's
birth certificate.
Recruit Faith-based and community leaders to begin a campaign that
celebrates the role of the father in strong families and insists that fathers
be a full participant in raising their child and encourages marrying the
mother of their child.
To encourage active unmarried fathers, suspend arrearages that accrue
while the father is not working so that if he is working and current on his
obligations he can have a relationship with his children.
Establish a visiting nurse program for low-income women who are
pregnant or who have recently given birth to provide them with the
health, nutrition and child care guidance to ensure a healthy and happy
start to life.

4. Transforming public assistance programs with greater accountability,
individual responsibility and job and life-skills training.

Require local social services districts to enforce the state mandate that all
children up to age 16 attend school verifying and monitoring school
attendance of such children in public assistance households as a condition of
eligibility for public assistance. If a child falls behind but does not yet
constitute educational neglect, mandate referral of the head of household to
the school district's Child Advocate or the local social services district's
Preventive Services, as appropriate and as a condition of eligibility.
Establish special allowances, payable directly to the school district,
contingent upon satisfactory attendance, for participation in extra-curricular
activities and school trips for educational purposes on behalf of minor
children receiving public assistance.
Increase the period for which camp fees can be paid to eight weeks from two
weeks if there is an educational component - whether remedial or advanced.
Stop discouraging public assistance households from seeking employment:
Conform employment incentives offered in the Safety Net program
(71% local share) to the more generous provisions of the TANF
program (100% federal funds);
Mitigate the "cliff" effect - so-called because as income reaches a
certain point all assistance stops including Medicaid and SNAP - by
allowing employed public assistance recipients to continue receiving
benefits for a transitional period until six months of living expenses
have been saved as an emergency fund. (Failure to comply with the
requirements of the saving program would result in loss of benefits
and an overpayment to be recovered.)
Include budgeting and financial planning classes in the job and skills training
that count as work-related activities.
Restore fingerprinting for food stamp (SNAP) eligibility to cut down on fraud.
Upon reasonable suspicion, permit drug testing for adults on public
assistance who are not in treatment as a condition of eligibility.

5. Safe Neighborhoods

Treat first-time non-violent juvenile offenders through a program of
community service and continued satisfactory school attendance through
completion of a high school diploma or GED.
Offer six-months of correctional boot camp as an alternative to up to three-
years in prison for those convicted of non-violent, non-sexual crimes.
Offer treatment-on-demand to non-violent substance abusers with release to
follow-on community-based services.
To crack down on habitual criminals that affect the quality of life, pass a law
that calls for a Class E felony conviction upon the third misdemeanor
conviction in the span of 5 years.
Toughen violent felony laws to mirror California's "Use a Gun and You're
Done" law - California Penal Code 12022.53 PC adds to a felony:
Additional 10 years in prison for "using" a gun in the commission of a
crime.
Additional 20 years if gun is discharged in the commission of a crime.
Additional 25 years to life for if gun is discharged in the commission of
a crime and it results in injury or death of another person.