Fernando Mateo gives a critical look at the economic and educational failures currently affecting New York City’s local communities. The program begins by highlighting the struggles of small business owners on Dykeman Street, where high taxes, soaring rents, and restrictive urban plazas have turned a once-vibrant restaurant row into a "desert" for female entrepreneurs. Mateo and his guests advocate for government intervention to reopen streets and provide tax relief to landlords so that neighborhood staples like Mama Sushi can survive. The second half of the show shifts focus to Ivy League endowments, arguing that elite universities should leverage their massive, tax-exempt wealth to fund charter schools in disadvantaged areas.

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