Dance Worker Digest
May 2023

This month's topics cover NYC’s true cost of living, the impact of a failure to raise the federal debt ceiling, disability justice resources, and NYC’s nonprofit leadership demographics.

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2023 NYC True Cost of Living Report Released

The Fund for the City of New York & United Way of New York City released their latest NYC True Cost of Living (TCL) report providing a detailed picture of New Yorkers who struggle to cover the cost of basic needs, where they live, and the characteristics of their households. Key findings include:

The latest COVID impact report from NYSCA indicates that the sector is still struggling but in active recovery mode with signs of improvement. Some of the report’s key findings include:

• 50% of working-age New Yorkers lack enough income to cover the minimum cost of living in New York City
• The Central Bronx has the highest rate of households struggling with income inadequacy at 80%.
• BIPOC households–particularly Hispanic/Latine, Native American, and Black–are disproportionately more likely to struggle with economic insecurity.
• Employment is key to income adequacy in New York City, but it is not a guarantee. Policies don’t address the need for better wages. 

The NYC True Cost of Living measures how much income is needed to meet families’ basic necessities–housing, food, child care, healthcare, transportation, etc., plus taxes and tax credits–without any public or private assistance. Data and findings from this can inform policymaking that promote and support economic security for cultural workers and overall sustainability within the cultural sector.

• Review the 2023 NYC True Cost of Living Report

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Learn Disability Justice Basics with Sins Invalid’s Crip Crash Course

Learn more about disability justice through the Crip Crash Course by Sins Invalid—a disability justice based performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ / gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. The free email course is designed to fill in the gaps in one’s disability justice knowledge through short, digestible resources straight to your inbox. 

• Sign up for Crip Crash Course

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Failure to Raise Debt Ceiling Will Have Widespread Impact

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) are both warning that unless Congress acts to raise the debt ceiling, the United States could run out of funds to pay for current obligations, triggering a national default—possibly as early as June 5. A default, or even the perceived threat of one, could have severe and widespread economic harms. Beyond possibly creating a recession, default would lead to direct impacts on individuals including losses to retirement savings, higher mortgage costs, and job losses. Importantly, all of these impacts would have disproportionate harms for women and families.

Dance workers, who often rely on government funding, grants, or contracts for employment opportunities, could experience reduced job prospects, funding cuts, or delayed payments. It is important for the dance ecosystem and the overall arts and cultural sector to urge their local city and state representatives to immediately obligate funding to support the arts and cultural sector to offset the potential impact.

• ​Check out this comprehensive paper on the debt ceiling from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
• ​Check out article on what happens if the US defaults
• ​Check out this OpEd on how default would harm women’s economic security from the Century Foundation

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2023 NYC Nonprofit Leadership Demographics Report Reveals White Overrepresentation

Nonprofit leadership in the New York City area is still disproportionately white, even though a majority of the nonprofit workforce are women and BIPOC, according to a new report from Nonprofit New York. The report, “In Every County, Across All Budget Sizes: White Overrepresentation in New York City’s Nonprofit Leadership” offers a comprehensive analysis of the racial and demographic makeup of nonprofit’s senior leadership in the NYC area.

The report’s recommendations include:

• publicly releasing demographic data on nonprofit contracted partners
• creating greater access for BIPOC-led nonprofits to receive sustainable funding
• investing in and supporting leadership pipelines for BIPOC leaders to address the racial leadership gap in NYC’s nonprofit sector

This data supports continued advocacy in the dance sector for incentivizing sustained diverse leadership that is representative of NYC.

• Review the "In Every County” report findings
• Check out the City & State exclusive about the report