City Limits magazine was founded in 1976 by advocacy organizations to improve the information flow among communities hit hardest by the city's fiscal crisis. Over the years we developed both a print and an electronic presence. In 1996, City Limits established the Center for an Urban Future, a leading and now separate think tank. In 2012, City Limits became an all-digital operation. That same year, to expand its reach in New York City's underserved communities, City Limits launched the Brooklyn Bureau, with support from the Brooklyn Community Foundation and the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation, and acquired the Bronx News Network (BxNN), founded in 2006 by the Mosholu Preservation Corporation, which we re-launched in 2013 as the Bronx Bureau. Studies by the Federal Communications Commission and Pew Research Center have found that news agencies are devoting less time and fewer resources to the difficult but important job of investigative reporting. With the help of our supporters, City Limits is bucking that trend, publishing in-depth investigations on the causes and consequences of black male joblessness, flaws in the city's community planning system, lessons from 20 years of New York City firefighter fatalities, sexual abuse by guards in state prisons, the growing role of private consultants in shaping public policy and more. Our work has preceded reporting on those and other subjects by other media and prominent public policy research groups, and our coverage has garnered a number of awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists' award for publishing the top local investigative magazine story in the country in both 2010 and 2011. Reflecting a shared recognition of the importance and value of independent journalism to the city, the Community Service Society of New York has served as the fiscal parent for City Limits since 2009 and provides general support for its mission. In 2011, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed a "City Limits Day" for the organization's work as a "model for New York and for the rest of the nation."
“College readiness” is the new education buzzword. But being prepared for college is about more than academic training, especially for kids who are the first in their families to attend.