NEW YORK, NY December 19, 2006 —The city says it will set aside $150 million in public and private money to try to fight poverty. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

An entity called the Center for Economic Opportunity has been created to administer this pot of money. The head of it will be a former city housing official. So far, the city plans to use about $25 million on a program that's mostly been tried in Latin America - it would provide cash incentives for positive behavior such as sending children to school and keeping doctors appointments.

Another $53 million will be spent on a child care tax credit and a program that teaches the poor how to best use their financial resources. Dozens of other programs are still in the development phase. Mayor Bloomberg says they will all be regularly evaluated and those that don't make the grade will be terminated.

Advocates for the poor praised the plan but said with more than a million poor people in the city, much more is needed. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.