History of City Limits

City Limits was founded in 1976 as a news organization by advocacy organizations to improve the information flow among the hardest-hit communities after the city’s fiscal crisis. Its magazine was the focus for much of its 36-year history. In 1996, City Limits established the Center for an Urban Future, a leading and now separate think tank.

In February 2012, City Limits launched the Brooklyn Bureau, with support from the Brooklyn Community Foundation and the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation. To expand its reach in New York City’s underserved communities, City Limits acquired the Bronx News Network (BxNN), founded in 2006 by the Mosholu Preservation Corporation, and announced that it would no longer print its bi-monthly magazine.

Studies by the FCC and Pew Research Center have declared that less time and fewer resources are being devoted to the difficult but important job of investigative reporting on government, society, and disparities affecting the growing communities of color.

City Limits, however, is devoting more resources to that critical form of reporting.In the past two years we've published in-depth investigations on the causes and consequences of black male joblessness, flaws in the city's community planning system, challenges facing the famed Harlem Children's Zone antipoverty program, lessons from 20 years of New York City firefighter fatalities, sexual abuse by guards in state prisons, the demise of small businesses in city neighborhoods and the growing role of private consultants in shaping public policy.

Our work has preceded 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.

City Limits is supported by foundation funding and earned revenue, and is one of the sole outlets devoted to investigative reporting on urban policy issues in the five boroughs. 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.”