Building and Strengthening Employer Partnerships for Work-Based Learning

As New York City expands its available slots for the Summer Youth Employment Program and other work-based learning, there is a need to build and strengthen employer partnerships to successfully implement these programs. Additionally, employers are searching for qualified young adult workers to fill vacant jobs, and young people can benefit from on-the-job training and internships to become interested in and hired for those positions.

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JobsFirstNYC partnered with the New York City Mayor’s Office, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), and the New York City Department of Education to support the expansion to 100,000 placements of New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) through increased employer partnerships and capacity building—particularly with small and mid-size businesses. This initiative aimed to strengthen employers’ capacity to provide high-quality work-based learning experiences for young adults, both during SYEP as well as year-round, and sustain and grow the city’s relationships with employers to support greater work-based learning opportunities. Key to this effort were the NYC Mayor’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development, New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS), business improvement districts (BIDs), chambers of commerce, nonprofits/workforce providers, employers, and young adults.

Recommendations focused on the following:

Employer recruitment and engagement of new employer partners: expand and build employer communications tools, increase access to a robust infrastructure for young adult participant training alongside employer training, and foster recruitment and network engagement for attracting new employers.
Improving program experience and implementation to foster retention of employer partners: employer resource development for creating supportive work environments for young adults, resources and support for fostering strong educational experience at employer placements, and strategies for optimizing employer retention at SYEP and other work-based learning programs.

Roundtable Session Findings

In six facilitated Roundtable sessions, participants highlighted a need for greater cross-stakeholder collaboration, an expansion of communication channels to other stakeholders and communities, greater and more consistent messaging around the value add of SYEP to employers, and innovation in data gathering on the employer experience. Participants also underscored the need for greater training of employers and young adults (including core skills and HR support), coordination among the various community based organizations and employer partners, and a balance between SYEP expansion and quality of experiences.

“One SYEP employer, Kristine Garlisi, Chief Operating Officer, Nicotra Group, explained why employing students is good business for them, and should be for all employers: “We do believe that if we build community, and participating in SYEP is a way of us building community, then our entire borough benefits. I think you can all appeal to businesses by saying: this adds to your brand. This adds to your storytelling. This is you as a responsible community engagement company participating in your community beyond the shores of your business.”

Young Adult Input

The results of a survey conducted among SYEP young adult participants underscored the benefits of SYEP for employers—namely by introducing new perspectives, bringing valuable technology know-how, and helping employers learn to work with younger workers and train a new pipeline of talent. The young adult feedback on areas of improvement also complements the findings of the roundtable by noting that a greater variety of internship opportunities in different sectors, as well as greater agency among participants in choosing a work site, would help improve the SYEP experience for both parties.

“A young adult SYEP participant shared how interns benefit employers: “This program benefits [businesses] because this allows them to gain an insight on how the younger people work and think. They might also find someone that they like who has potential to work in their company in the future.”

Recommendations

This report provides City Hall and SYEP stakeholders with actionable recommendations to expand, diversify, and strengthen the pool of prospective small to mid-size businesses participating in SYEP, and, more broadly, the number of high-quality work opportunities available for New York City’s young adult population.

Short-Term Recommendations:

Strengthen and proactively engage partnerships with city agencies to increase awareness of work-based learning programs.
Improve accessibility of training resources and incentivize participation.
Target messaging to convey SYEP’s value-add to employers .
Disseminate testimonials on how young adults have been able to improve the work of their employer.
Add new training topics and resources to the existing employer toolkit.
Ensure that job descriptions provide a clear and detailed set of skills, core competencies, expectations.
Develop a list of skills and core competencies that young adults will receive through their work experience.
Increase retention by recognizing employers as respected partners.

Medium-Term Recommendations:

Engage the mayor to communicate directly with employers.
Tap into new vehicles for messaging to strengthen outreach.
Build a pre-program orientation infrastructure that provides an expanded menu of options .
Develop community-level strategies to understand local trends in employment.
Implement additional onboarding training for employers (e.g., anti-bias training).
Provide work portfolios that give young adult participants a structured blueprint for gaining experiences while contributing to the company from day one.

Long-Term Recommendations:

Develop a discrete communications platform that enables direct communication to employers.
Offer young adults advanced training opportunities, skills training, and certifications tailored to their placements.
Develop ongoing partnerships with employers in the areas of technology, healthcare, and finance to meet young adults’ career exploration interests.
Provide employers with advance information on the experience profile of incoming participants.
Increase funds to CBOs so they can provide additional support.
Introduce employers to work-based learning programs they can be involved in throughout the academic year.

Call to Action

For more about this initiative to build and strengthen employer partnerships, please contact Amanda Rosenblum, Vice President, at arosenblum@jobsfirstnyc.org