The Cityâs Career Pathways strategy aims to create a more inclusive workforce, one that
provides New Yorkers with opportunities to develop new skills, enter the workforce and
earn wages that allow them to achieve economic stability, regardless of their starting skill
level or educational attainment. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically transformed the
environment in which City agencies help prepare New Yorkers for and connect them to
jobs and careers. In past years in this chapter, the Mayorâs Office of Workforce Development
(WKDEV) has described the Cityâs progress towards investing in career pathways and building
a true system among City-administered programs. This year, the chapter emphasizes some of
the extraordinary steps the City has taken to ensure low-income communities of color have
greater access to good jobs, to offer new services or maintain existing ones virtually and to
support workers and employers in key sectors. Additionally, the chapter highlights the Cityâs
significant progress developing and preparing for the launch of an integrated data platform
for aggregating and analyzing workforce program data across multiple agencies and other
Career Pathway goals.
EXPANDING ACCESS TO JOBS FOR COMMUNITIES
OF COLOR: COMMUNITY HIRING
Over half of adult New York City residents live in high-poverty communities. These areas tend
to be predominantly communities of color and have been hit especially hard by COVID-19.
Community Hiring is the next step in the Cityâs plan to leverage its economic power to ensure
that low-income residents and communities get good jobs and apprentice opportunities
created through City spending. This approach is not allowed under current state law, so the
Mayor is proposing legislation in Albany that would enable the City to require contractors to
hire low-income individuals and residents of high poverty communities. Under the leadership
of Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson, the Mayorâs Office of Workforce Development partnered
with the Law Department, the Mayorâs Office of Contract Services and the NYC Department
of Small Business Services to draft this legislation. The bill would prioritize thousands of
good jobs for low-income individuals and economically disadvantaged communities based
on the billions of dollars spent by the City annually on capital construction and other goods
and services.
Although beyond the timeframe of this report, at a press conference on August 13, the Mayor
announced Community Hiring legislation, as well as an historic Project Labor Agreement in
which labor unions agreed to prioritize 30 percent of their work hours on City contracts for
residents of high-poverty communities. Towards that same goal, the NYC Department of
Small Business Services, in partnership with the Mayorâs Office of Workforce Development,
coordinated a series of recruitment events in high-poverty communities to recruit individuals
to participate in pre-apprenticeship training. Such training prepares individuals for and
connects them to union apprenticeship programs, a fast-track to the middle class.
CHANGING SERVICE DELIVERY AND LAUNCHING NEW SERVICES
NYC Department of Small Business Services: In response to the pandemic, the NYC Department of Small Business
Services (SBS) transitioned in-person services from its 18 Workforce1 Career Centers to be completely online or over
the phone in mid-March. The Virtual Workforce1 Career Center System provided a way for New Yorkers to receive
help finding jobs, preparing for interviews, and accessing free training. The Workforce1 Career Centers served nearly
94,000 jobseekers in Fiscal 2020, with about 32,000 of those being served during the pandemic.
SBS also made significant progress developing a new web site, Career Discovery NYC, which launched in August of
Career Discovery NYC is a centralized resource that provides online, no-cost trainings that prepare New Yorkers
with the necessary skills to pursue a pathway for an in-demand career. New Yorkers will also be able to learn where
to get low-cost or free internet access and support services.
NYC Department of Youth and Community Development: In order to maintain services to young adults, the
NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) took a number of steps to support youth workforce
development programs. With respect to its Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)-funded Train & Earn
and Learn & Earn programs, which serve out-of-school youth and in-school youth, respectively, DYCD partnered closely
with its contractors to ensure that they could continue to provide services remotely. DYCD offered technical assistance
sessions to provider staff on various virtual teaching platforms and best practices, as well as help in continuing to provide
remote paid work experiences so youth could continue to earn money during the pandemic.
DYCD also redesigned the Summer Youth Employment Program. Recognizing the risk to young adults of participating
in a typical in-person internship, DYCD devised SYEP Summer Bridge 2020, an engaging virtual program intended to
offer young people the opportunity to learn new skills, explore potential careers and earn money over the summer.
Mayor de Blasio announced that the program, a $51 million public-private partnership, would serve 35,000 New York
City youth during the summer of 2020.
NYC Workforce Development Board: The NYC Workforce Development Board is a board required by federal law
(the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or âWIOAâ) whose members are appointed by the Mayor. The Board is
responsible for conducting oversight over the roughly $60 million in WIOA funds the City receives annually. The Board is
comprised of a majority of for-profit businesses and also includes labor organizations, nonprofit organizations and City
agencies (including CUNY). Before the pandemic, the full Board convened on a quarterly basis. However, in response
to member requests, the Office of Workforce Development convened Board meetings twice per week from mid-March
through June 30 to update members on the Cityâs response to the Coronavirus, to identify challenges facing workers
and businesses and to take appropriate action to address these challenges. Additionally, the Board began taking steps
to shift its work as a champion for high road employer practices by viewing those practices through a racial equity lens.
The Mayorâs Office of Workforce Development: In partnership with the Mayorâs Office for Economic Opportunity,
the Mayorâs Office of Workforce Development (WKDEV) began developing a new web site that will be a front door
for employment-related resources the City and its partners offer. The site will include information about a variety of
programs offering employment assistance, internships, job training and adult education; as well as featured jobs and
other resources that help New Yorkers prepare for and find a job. Although beyond the timeframe of this report,
WKDEV commenced a âsoftâ launch of the Working.NYC.gov site in late August.
SUPPORTING WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS IN KEY SECTORS
The City of New Yorkâs Industry Partnerships (IPs) work with a diversity of public and private partners to support the
inclusive growth of various sectors of New York Cityâs economy. IPs currently serve the following sectors: healthcare (New
York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare), technology (NYC Tech Talent Pipeline), industrial/manufacturing (Manufacturing
and Industrial Innovation Council or MaiiC), construction (Construction Industry Partnership) and food and hospitality
(NYC Food and Beverage Industry Partnership). Each IP approaches its work with a focus on catalyzing systems change â
encouraging the adoption of new tools and ways of working among employers, workers, educators, trade associations,
organized labor, nonprofit workforce organizations and private philanthropy.
COLLABORATING TO DELIVER RESULTS: Career Pathways | Page 41
The IPs continue to focus on long-term systems change. However, in response to COVID-19, each IP has pivoted to
address more immediate challenges each sector is facing. All IPs worked closely with their industry councils to understand
the impact of the pandemic on employment, including hiring freezes, layoffs and revised forecasts for talent. In addition,
each IP led efforts beyond these workforce issues as experts and intermediaries between public and private stakeholders
to find solutions to critical challenges.
Healthcare: At the onset of the pandemic, the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (NYACH) quickly identified
the need to coordinate action among stakeholders in the long-term services and supports (LTSS) subsector of the
healthcare industry. LTSS faces many systemic challenges, including chronic underfunding, rapid growth due to an
aging population and more New Yorkers living longer with chronic diseases and a lack of visibility for the more than
300,000 homecare, nursing home, and other direct care workers in NYC who are predominantly low-income women
of color. In partnership with Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson and the Mayorâs Office of Workforce Development,
NYACH convened an emergency response workgroup comprised of 26 partner organizations including government,
industry associations, organized labor, employers, educational institutions and advocacy groups. The workgroup focused
on four priority areas: worker visibility, business viability and continuity, availability of resources for workers and clients/
patients and emergency workforce shortages.
NYACH contributed by shaping a number of the Cityâs responses to the crisis. NYACH informed how City government
benefits and programs could support LTSS essential workers and facilitated the connection between 1199SEIU United
Healthcare Workers East and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which resulted in a new system
by which the City distributed much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to homecare agencies. Working in
partnership with GetFoodNYC, NYACH also forged a new service delivery pathway for food-vulnerable New Yorkers
to sign up for food delivery via their homecare agencies. Finally, NYACH launched an emergency response virtual
home health aide training in partnership with SBSâs Workforce Development Division to alleviate the staffing burdens
on employers and workers brought on by the pandemic. Homecare agencies were faced with increased absenteeism
and attrition of existing workers and a dramatic collapse of the Home Health Aide (HHA) pipeline, given the fact that
all existing programs in the city were required to be in-person. By working with state regulators to allow the didactic
portion of the emergency HHA training program to be virtual, this program helped address the staffing shortage and
provides critical lessons learned for the city and state about restarting the workforce pipeline using virtual modalities.
Food and Hospitality: The NYC Food and Beverage IP has been at the center of work to help support what is perhaps
the hardest-hit industry in NYC since the onset of the crisis. The IP has led constant communication with business
stakeholders to inform the Cityâs policies to address the challenges the food service sector now faces.
The Food and Beverage IP joined the inter-agency restaurant recovery task force convened in May 2020 to develop
short and medium-term strategies and work streams. The primary recommendations of the task force led to the design
and implementation of the Cityâs âOpen Restaurantsâ and âOpen Streets: Restaurantsâ programs. The Food and
Beverage IP team continues to support city agencies with the amplification and clarification of guidelines for business
operators to ensure compliance and mitigate penalties and fines. In addition, during the height of the crisis the Food
and Beverage IP partnered in the development of the Restaurant Revitalization Program, a joint effort between the
Mayorâs Office for Economic Opportunity, the Mayorâs Fund, the Human Resources Administration and the One Fair
Wage coalition. This initiative, launched in June 2020, is structured to provide a restaurant worker wage subsidy to
businesses that commit to supporting the economic well-being of their workers and to making meals accessible to
community members facing food insecurity.
Industrial / Manufacturing: In response to a gap it forecasted in the market for personal and protective equipment
(PPE), the Manufacturing and Industrial Innovation Council (MaiiC) partnered with the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline to
create the PPE + Reopening Supply Marketplace, an online platform for matching organizations seeking PPE with
local manufacturers that can fabricate it. Additionally, MaiiC helped manufacturers to pivot their operations and
provided guidance for changing the type of production and the resources needed to produce items such as masks, face
shields, gowns, ventilators and plexiglass shields. In addition MaiiC made connections to the Workforce1 Industrial &
Transportation Career Centers for hiring services across the city as businesses sought to reopen with new staffing needs.
Finally, MaiiC staff has supported resiliency efforts in the Food Supply Chain by establishing and leading a multi-agency
collaboration to collect and determine operational best practices related to resiliency. MaiiC established connections
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among food manufacturers, distributors and meal providers to City food provision contracting opportunities, providing
growth opportunities to local manufacturers and simultaneously helping make food more accessible to New Yorkers
in need.
Tech: Tech firms have been particularly willing to help and donate resources in response to the crisis. The NYC Tech
Talent Pipeline (TTP) mobilized their industry partners to assist in creating COVID-19 technical solutions. TTP established
a Volunteer Industry Partner Corps, a network of tech professionals from businesses such as LinkedIn, Salesforce and
Google to help inform and rapidly prototype and deploy technical products at no cost to share City-wide. These
solutions included the PPE + Reopening Supply Marketplace, developed in partnership with MaiiC as described above.
Partners also consulted on the content and architecture of other solutions, including the NDD Neighborhood Challenge
website.
TTP partnered with other SBS colleagues to identify professional experiences for students whose tech internships were
cancelled due to COVID-19. Through an expansion of their work with Major League Hacking, TTP ensured CUNY
students had the opportunity to work in teams on Open Source projects managed by industry mentors. Additionally,
all CUNY 2x Tech services (adjuncts, faculty, advisors, internships) transitioned to a remote setting. TTP also surveyed
300 computer science and boot camp faculty and students to understand the greatest barriers and obstacles to remote
learning in computer science and published tips for remote teaching for industry adjuncts and Computer Science faculty
within CUNY.
Construction: The Construction Industry Partnership continued its pursuit of a system that provides New Yorkers
with greater access to the sector and the opportunity to advance within it. In Fiscal 2020, the Construction Industry
Partnership shaped the curriculum and approach to deliver Site Safety Training to meet the requirements of Local Law
196 of 2017 and led the effort to open access to the trades through pre-apprenticeship programs through the NYC
Green Jobs Corps. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Construction Industry Partnership has led the effort
to pivot both Site Safety training and pre-apprenticeship trainingâtraining that exposes students to the sector and
connects them directly to union apprenticeship programsâto be delivered remotely.
SYSTEM COORDINATION
For several years, the Mayorâs Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity) has been leading the development of
an integrated data platform to analyze workforce program services and outcomes data from multiple City agencies. In
Fiscal 2020, they made significant progress developing a âportalâ for viewing data from this platform: NYC Opportunity
launched a beta version of the portal for City agencies in December 2019. NYC Opportunity is now preparing a public
release for Fiscal 2021. At present, five City agencies report 18 programs into the integrated data platform. In Fiscal
2020, the platform contained data for 74,875 unique individuals receiving workforce services from the City. For the
first time, certain indicators in this chapter will be based exclusively on data from programs reported into the integrated
data platform.
COLLABORATING TO DELIVER RESULTS: Career Pathways | Page 43
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Indicator
Actual
FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20
Programs that refer participants to trainings developed with the
City's industry partnerships (%) NA NA NA NA
Workforce development models or solutions informed by industry
partnerships 15 18 22 25
Indicator FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20
Prior to
Integrated Data Platform
Integrated
Data Platform*
Agencies reporting performance into the integrated data platform 5
Programs reporting performance into the integrated data platform 18
Customers served 74,875
Individuals enrolled in industry-based training 21,331 28,750 28,266 2,595
Individuals obtaining industry-based training credentials 7,037 8,298 14,430 2,713
Individuals connected to employment 57,127 66,390 73,084 12,710
Data for Fiscal 2020 reflects only agency programs reported into the integrated data platform. Additional agencies and programs will be incorporated into the platform
in future years. Data reported from the platform excludes data from May and June due to the data transfer schedule.
NOTEWORTHY CHANGES, ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS
⢠The reporting mechanism for the indicator âPrograms that refer participants to trainings developed with the Cityâs
industry partnerships (%)â remains under development, but will be available in future fiscal years through the
integrated data platform.
⢠The indicator âWorkforce development models or solutions informed by industry partnershipsâ is reported
cumulatively across fiscal years.
⢠Some indicators this year reflect data sourced from programs that reported into the integrated data platform,
described in the âSystem Coordinationâ section above. In past years, the figures reflected data provided from
all relevant agencies. By contrast, these Fiscal 2020 indicators comprise data from fewer agencies, which largely
explains the decreases in volume. Additionally, the data reported from the platform excludes data from May and
June due to the data transfer schedule.
⢠The indicator âAgencies reporting performance into the integrated data platformâ has been added to measure
agency participation with the platform.
⢠The indicator âPrograms reporting performance into the integrated data platformâ has been added to measure
program coverage within the platform. WKDEV and NYC Opportunity are working to add more agency programs
into the platform.
⢠The indicator âCustomers served,â has been added which reflects unique individuals who have received valueadded services (excluding activities such as registration, enrollment, assessment or brief orientations) that directly
contribute to customers attaining an outcome.
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⢠Prior to Fiscal 2020, the indicator âIndividuals enrolled in industry-based trainingâ reflected a non-unique count
from all relevant agencies of individuals participating in services that helped them learn a new skill. Starting in Fiscal
2020, the indicator reflects the count of unique individuals enrolled in a training program that leads to an industryrecognized credential.
⢠Prior to Fiscal 2020, the indicator âIndividuals obtaining industry-based training credentialsâ captured the nonunique count from all relevant agencies of jobseekers who earned a credential, certification or license through
training. Starting in Fiscal 2020, the indicator includes the count of unique individuals who participated in training
and earned one or more credentials recognized by employers, an industry association or other authoritative body.
This count does not match that of training enrollments because enrollments reflect training start dates, whereas
credentials reflect the date a credential was earned.
⢠Prior to Fiscal 2020, the indicator âIndividuals connected to employmentâ included the non-unique count from all
relevant agencies of all individuals who found a job. Starting in Fiscal 2020, the indicator captures the count of
unique individuals who found a new, unsubsidized job after receiving City workforce services.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For additional information on items referenced in the narrative, go to:
⢠Career Pathways: Progress Update, December 2015: