City Limits: Recent Episodes
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City Limits started as a special year-long audio reporting project that examined the living and socio-economic conditions behind the rising poverty rates in Syracuse, NY. There are over 40 stories and conversations here to explore that focus on the many aspects and impacts of poverty on our community. From transportation and mobility to food insecurity and education, City Limits features the voices of the people who are on the frontline of the war on poverty.Following City Limits, a Poverty Project; the next installment, City Limits: Winds of Change explored unconscious bias, police reform and what is being done to combat racism in Syracuse. City Limits features the voices of the people who are working to hold organizations accountable for change. Taking a broader approach, City Limits strives to bring shared community issues, concerns, and impacts into greater focus by taking the necessary time to fully explore topics for deeper understanding.As City Limits continues it will aim to tell the stories of our region through the use of community voices and those seeking to make an impact.If you like what you hear find more content from the project at CityLimitsProject.org .
Katie Zilcosky examines what we’re currently doing and what needs to change to in order to get people into childcare careers.
Scott Willis checks in with three agencies to find out how they’ve weathered the tight labor market, and what they’re doing to attract and keep employees.
Tarryn Menton expiantes the struggles in hiring around Central New York for the Summer season.
John Smith looks at the advancement of Career and Technical Education and whether it can help fill the job vacancy void.
Katie Zilcosky examines how new job training programs are looking to improve in their effort to stabilize the workforce.
The next chapter of City Limits will focus on the working dilemma facing Central New York. City Limits: A Working Dilemma, launches Tuesday March 1st.
To increase diversity, equity and inclusion training the Syracuse City School District tried something different, and turned directly to its students.
According to the National Equity Atlas, workers of color are disproportionately affected by economic inequality. They tend to be concentrated in low-wage jobs with little opportunity for economic security or upward mobility. And with far less income to work with and limited to no access to capital, Black and brown Americans find it difficult to acquire the assets that can improve their overall net worth.
Transportation is something most of us take for granted. Most of us are able to hop in the car to run an errand or go to work. A few may walk or bike. But for everyone else, there’s public transportation. In Central New York, that’s Centro. City residents make up most of its passengers, and most are from black and brown communities. 75 percent of riders live below the poverty line. In this episode of City Limits – Winds of Change, we explore how those communities are served, and growing momentum for one idea that could improve accessibility and efficiency for everyone.
On this episode of City Limits: Winds of Change, Chris Bolt looks at how the number of people of color getting coronavirus vaccinations trails behind the overall community rate due to both access and vaccine hesitancy. State leaders and community members are trying to make things more equal and equitable.
As the nation has grappled with a pandemic, the cries for racial and social justice have also grown in solidarity. On this episode of City Limits: Winds of Change, how are places of higher education responding to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion? How are they dealing with bias, racial issues and ethnic attacks?
The Interstate 81 project is inching closer to action with the anticipation of a public comment period and final environmental impact statement expected this year. Federal and local leaders say they want the project to uplift the Black community members who had their livelihoods ripped from them when the viaduct was first built.
The calls for racial, social, and economic justice that rang out across the nation and in Central New York are echoing through the halls, offices, and boardrooms of corporate America. Those who work in the diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI field have taken notice, and have a renewed sense of purpose to make race part of everyday conversation in the office. In this episode of City Limits: Winds of Change, Scott Willis introduces us to two women who work with company leaders and employees to tackle DEI issues …and who bring personal perspectives to their roles."
One of the reforms Syracuse's People’s Agenda for Policing coalition called for is the removal of police from city schools. They say that security resource officers, commonly referred to as SROs, cause more harm than protection to black and brown students. This call for removal is not a new one, but this time it was propelled by racial justice demonstrations in Syracuse and across the country after multiple killings of Black people by police in 2020. For City Limits, Katie Zilcosky takes a look at what the school board is doing in response and potential alternatives.
In this edition of City Limits: Winds of Change, we begin with how Georgia State University has dramatically narrowed the achievement gap by increasing the graduation rate by 74-percent within 15 years. Author Andrew Gumbel discusses how the college dramatically turned things around for Black, low-income students. We’ll then have a look into Syracuse area programs that guide students through school and lead them on a pathway to college or job readiness skills.
With $1 million earmarked for capacity building among black led non-profits in Syracuse, a local foundation now waits to assess the impact of its grant-making. In this episode of City Limits Winds of Change, we examine how first round grant recipients of the Central New York Community Foundation’s Black Equity and Excellence fund are using their awards to strengthen their operations adapt to the challenges caused by the global pandemic.
The echoes of protests, marches and rallies have gone quiet in Syracuse. But one issue a the center of the uproar, police conduct against people of color, has not. The killing of George Floyd sparked public outcry but numerous issues of police reform have been in the works for years. What was gained from the movement against policing seen as racist? On this episode of City Limits Winds of Change Chris Bolt looks at the progress being made and whether it's enough for those feeling racial injustice.
Millions of Americans flocked to city centers across the country demanding racial justice after the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. As a response to the call, the Central New York Community Foundation launched its Black Equity and Excellence Fund.
The previous episode of City Limits examined efforts in the Syracuse community to use art to heal the emotional wounds created by instances of racial injustice, police brutality, and social unrest. In that episode, you heard voices of members of the Black Artist Collective, an organized group of black artists dedicated to enhancing the growth and endurance of all Black arts.
Historically, black artists have long played an integral role in social justice movements by using their art and their voice to amplify anger and frustrations. This City Limits episode examines how artists and arts organizations in Syracuse are working to support and sustain the racial justice movement. This story features the voices of the Black Artist Collective, 100 Black Men of Syracuse, the Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse Stage and listeners like you.
Hemp growers are deciding right now how much hemp crops to plant with the unknowns of when they will be able to farm and when processors will be able to start, again. As part of City Limits Food For Thought podcast series, John Smith reports the industry appeared to be gaining state support before the COVID-19 virus hit but, was also dealing with unknowns at the federal level.
By 2050, we’ll have to feed 9 billion people globally, but our current food system is already experiencing strains. And in order to feed the world, agricultural innovation will be necessary over the next few decades.
Food for Thought is the newest project from 88.3 WAER Syracuse, focusing on the state’s largest economic sector: agriculture. In the past decade, employment in New York’s agricultural economy has grown by 25.4%, and our community is centrally located in this growth. The state has designated Central New York, along with the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier, as the Grow-NY region, an area rich in resources. To support growth in these areas, New York is investing a minimum of $9 million over the next three years to spur innovation and position this region as one of the top food producers in the world. This is an extension of our City Limits Project, which takes a close and expanded look at topics in the Syracuse community.
Nojaim Market closing on Syracuse’s Near Westside renewed a conversation about food access in some of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. Local officials and nonprofit leaders worried the closure would severely affect the lives of those who lived around it.
In his state of the city address this year, Mayor Ben Walsh said Syracuse's best days aren't just around the corner, but they are in reach. The future of interstate 81, the creation of Syracuse Surge and new leadership has positioned 2019 to be a year of big changes for the Syracuse area.