Columbia: An Engine of Economic Opportunity

Dec. 27, 2007

This video spotlights Columbia’s role in the economy of New York City and especially Upper Manhattan. The seventh largest private employer in New York City, the University is directly responsible for contributing some $1.7 billion annually to New York’s economy. Some 70 percent of Columbia employees live in the five boroughs, nearly 30 percent of them in Harlem, Washington Heights and Upper Manhattan. Columbia also harnesses its intellectual resources to help improve the quality of life for the people of Harlem and New York City, for example by helping develop the original proposal for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone during the mayoralty of Hon. David Dinkins, now a professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. That active civic engagement reflects the University’s commitment to fulfilling its role as a globally respected academic institution that is also an integral part of the economic, intellectual, social and cultural vitality of its local community. (2:53)