Giving Compass' Take:

• With coronavirus disparately impacting minority communities across the world, Penny Abeywardena at Global Citizen highlights NYC's emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals for recovery.

• Why is it important for global collaboration to ensure coronavirus recovery? How can you support the implementation of SDGs for recovery and equity? 

• Help support an equitable coronavirus relief effort by giving to vetted funds.

In addition to shuttering businesses and schools, with tens of thousands New Yorkers in need of support for food and shelter, the pandemic has exposed troubling disparities in our health care system.

One study by the NYU Furman Center noted, for example, that “the mortality rate among New York City’s Hispanic and Black population is also comparatively high, reaching 22.8 and 19.8 [per 100,000 people], respectively.”

Across the globe, cities are struggling with similar upheaval caused by the coronavirus and trying to figure out the path to build back stronger and better. To achieve this, we must all look to the Sustainable Development Goals for our roadmap to success.

The Sustainable Development Goals, or Global Goals, are the 17 objectives set by the United Nations to achieve a better and more sustainable world by 2030 — including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, and gender equality.

While New York City has been the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in the US, we are now seeing promising signs that the spread is slowing within our borders.

Now, as the city plans its recovery, International Affairs is also building on a foundational program we created to bring together subnational governments — the Voluntary Local Review.

The Voluntary Local Review is a process by which subnational governments can report directly to the United Nations on their progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The real power of the platform, however, is in the exercise of subnational actors coming together to exchange best practices on issues that affect our communities.

As cities around the world consider a fresh start, let us come together with the Sustainable Development Goals as our guide, so we can rebuild stronger and better, and, indeed, leave no one behind.

Read the full article about NYC's focus on the Sustainable Development Goals by Penny Abeywardena at Global Citizen.