Analyzing and documenting recent public health initiatives in New York City

This grant supports an in-depth comparative case study that will analyze and document public health initiatives in New York City (NYC) under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with the goal of distilling the elements required for other cities to implement such initiatives. The Bloomberg administration's public health initiatives and policies include, but are not limited to, smoking bans in outdoor public spaces, bans on trans fats, and actions to make the city more bike and pedestrian friendly by expanding pedestrian-only areas and bike lanes. The case study will examine both successful and unsuccessful NYC initiatives and compare them with efforts in other cities in the United States. The project director will work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to identify comparison cities. Deliverables will include two policy briefs, academic and practitioner articles for peer-reviewed publications, and a Webcast and a news release to announce results. RWJF and the project director will jointly determine whether dissemination to other mainstream audiences is needed.