In the core of the historic district, an ambitious city-sponsored program is providing owners with money to refurbish their buildings without modernizing them.

Torrico is proudest of his work to expand city-sponsored educational programs that give teens a chance to "drop-in," instead of dropping out.

But the hastily arranged, city-sponsored program, billed as "A Prayer for America," drew far fewer people than organizers had hoped.

But the company that controls Revlon, MacAndrews & Forbes, hires off-duty police officers, in uniform, to guard its offices at night under a city-sponsored program.

Since 1986, 60,000 homes and apartments have been built or rehabilitated in the South Bronx through city-sponsored programs, and fledgling businesses have begun giving once-barren neighborhoods a try.

Helping that northward migration are at least five East Harlem projects, totaling 590 units, which are being advanced under city-sponsored programs.

The deer population reached unprecedented levels in the 1990s, leading to a city-sponsored program from 1999-2002 that moved deer to rural areas.

An urban planner by profession, she works as an outreach coordinator for Partnerships for Parks, a city-sponsored program, assigned to Marcus Garvey Park.

Mr. Kefalidis hopes to get his financing from a city-sponsored program that offers low-interest mortgages.

Certain city-sponsored programs cannot proceed without an analysis of what comparable programs exist nearby.