Our blog series, 5 Questions in a New York Minute, highlights the work of JobsFirstNYC’s partners in New York City’s workforce. Through concise and insightful interviews, we aim to spotlight the unique experiences, strategies, and new approaches of a diverse group of individuals as they navigate and adapt to a rapidly evolving work landscape in [...]

Our 2022 data brief, Reversing Nearly a Decade of Positive Trends: The Lingering Impact of the Pandemic on Young Adults Who are Out of School and Out of Work in New York City, co-authored with Community Service Society, highlighted a concerning trend: over 138,000 young adults in New York City were identified as out of […]

On the first day of JobsFirstNYC’s two-day Adapting to the Future of Work convening, over 200 young adults walked into New York City’s Civic Hall and demonstrated that they’re buckling up and taking the driver’s seat to shape their own futures. As the workforce evolves, education transforms, and policy shifts, these young people aren’t just [...]

Emily began her higher education at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Due to an outstanding financial balance and the need for social-emotional support for her mental health issues, she decided to take a break from her studies. Searching for purpose and motivation, Emily joined the Bridge Back to College [...]

JobsFirstNYC, CARA (College Access: Research & Action), and Shared Lane Services partner to build career pathways in schools. Career pathways are an integrated approach designed to help students strengthen their career awareness, build professional skills through work-based learning experiences, develop clear postsecondary and career plans, persist in and experience success in postsecondary education and training, [...]

Professor Renée Cummings of the University of Virginia addresses the audience at Baruch College. On April 17, 2024, professionals from across the New York City workforce development ecosystem listened with rapt expressions as Professor Renée Cummings, Fellow at All Tech is Human, kicked off JobsFirstNYC’s first-ever Adapting to the Age of AI convening. “AI is a […]

Opportunity Youth ForumSince 2014, JobsFirstNYC has been a proud member of the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum. The Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) is a network of over 40 local collaborations in urban, rural, and tribal communities across the United States that seeks to build and scale reconnection pathways that achieve better outcomes in education, employment, and [...]

Selecting the best fit postsecondary education or career training program is a complex task. JobsFirstNYC’s work to build career pathways in schools in the Transfer 2 Career Collaborative uncovered insights about the limited awareness of what postsecondary skills training programs provide, what to look for when selecting a program, and how to differentiate between offerings. Though high school [...]

Partnerships that break down barriers and transform systems take a little bit of risk, a whole lot of passion, and a willingness to think outside the box. At JobsFirstNYC, we rely on the transformative power of collaborative connections, for in unity, innovation blossoms — the kind of collective genius that fuels our mission alongside our […]

JobsFirstNYC rallies in D.C. alongside young adults and practitioners from our partner organizations to advocate for policies to improve education, job training, and employment for youth across the country.  According to the July 2023 JobsFirstNYC data brief, there are 138,029 young people aged 16–24 who are out of school and out of work in New York […]

JobsFirstNYC kicked off the first day of its two-day Adapting to the Future of Work convening on July 18, 2023. Designed specifically for young people, the day centered their voices with a special call to action – listen up to diverse experiences and engage with their peers to spark change. After three years of transformative […]

More Findings from Reversing a Decade of Positive Trends: The Lingering Impact of the Pandemic on Young Adults Who are Out of School and Out of Work in New York City In July 2023, JobsFirstNYC, in partnership with Community Service Society of New York (CSS), published Reversing A Decade of Positive Trends: The Lingering Impact […]

In New York City, despite a decade-long trend of increasing gains in the labor market and rising educational attainment, the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds who are both out of school and out of work has skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Such a trend reversal further pushes this already vulnerable population toward the fringes of [...]

Author: Lilian Roth At JobsFirstNYC, we seek to increase the field’s understanding of trends in the economy and uncover opportunities for deeper investigation and analysis. As AI rapidly changes workforce and education, we’re paying special attention to policies and practices that ensure young adults and their communities can harness these emerging technologies to advance economic […]

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 […]

About This Learning Brief Series JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools are spearheading the Transfer 2 Career Collaborative (T2C), an innovative career development strategy for New York City transfer high schools aimed at improving the postsecondary and workforce outcomes of students most at risk of becoming part of the out-of-school, out-of-work population. Working across [...]

Last year challenged our North Star to reduce the number of  young people who are out of school and out of work and to improve economic opportunities for them and the communities in which they live. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the lives of young people, hitting those in historically economically challenged communities especially [...]

JobsFirstNYC has announced a new partnership with The New York City Deputy Mayor’s Office of Strategic Initiatives and the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). The goal is to support the expansion of DYCD’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) in New York City from 75,000 to 100,000 young adults through systemic partnerships and capacity […]

In the last few months, we have witnessed a welcomed change in New York City to name and scale a vision for creating career-connected learning and pathways for all our students in City schools. These changes closely align with our work through the Transfer 2 Career Collaborative to embed career pathways in schools via structural […]

Black History Month celebrations have long outgrown the confines of February, the shortest month of the year. Black excellence and advancements happen each day and should be regularly acknowledged. One of the most ambitious plans to elevate the Black community is OneTen, a corporate-led national coalition initiated in 2020. What distinguishes OneTen from similar visions […]

If we have learned anything from the Great Recession and its accompanying recovery efforts just a decade ago, it’s that young adult generations that enter the labor market in an economic downturn are at a serious disadvantage, ultimately facing more difficulties in achieving financial security and self-sufficiency like the generations before them. For example, the [...]

Why Diversifying Postsecondary Education Can Create a Better Workforce for New York We taught a professional learning module to New York City Department of Education teachers and counselors. One set the following goal: “To better assist my students to find their passion/career of their dreams. To have a career that they ultimately love.” – NYC […]

Ryan Craig is the author of College Disrupted (2015) and A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College (2018). He is a Managing Director at University Ventures, which is reimagining the future of higher education and creating new pathways from education to employment. This is an Op-ed piece. The views are the author’s and […]

 

Summary and Highlights from Adapting to the Future of Work 2021 Surviving to Thriving  On July 22, 2021, JobsFirstNYC hosted its annual Adapting to the Future of Work convening focusing on young adults. Since its inception in 2016, Adapting to the Future of Work has been centered on ways to generate meaningful discussions about the […]

After declining for years, 18- to 24-year-old New Yorkers out of school and out of work hit a decade high of over 180,000 — 27%. This represents an 80% increase from 2019. That increase eliminated all gains made since 2010. The rise was broad and directly connected to the restrictions and economic conditions brought on […]

During his address to Congress last Wednesday, President Biden unveiled an impressive American Families Plan aimed at helping marginalized American families get back on their feet after years of economic struggle, which has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This sweeping plan includes a request for a more than $290 billion investment for higher […]

Lucy Friedman recently completed her term as a Visiting Fellow at The Pinkerton Foundation. She previously served as President of the ExpandED, formerly known as The After-School Corporation (TASC), which was established as a nonprofit organization by the Open Society Foundations in 1998 to increase the quality and availability of after-school programming in New York […]

On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, President Biden unveiled his American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion investment in physical and social infrastructure improvements, including a $100 billion investment in workforce development. The ambitious, historic plan prioritizes investments in the green economy and in racial equity initiatives, while encouraging unionization and collective bargaining to ensure that the […]

The latest in our Innovations in the Field series is co-published between JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools, and tells the story of the first two years of the Transfer 2 Career Collaborative (T2C). Download the Executive Summary What T2C Is In 2018, JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools partnered to design and [...]

The Bronx Opportunity Network (BON) is now a member of the Bronx Transfer Affinity Group (BTAG), a group of CUNY institutions working on student transfer between community college and senior college. BON was formally welcomed into the group during their virtual summit on March 19, 2021. A recording of the summit can be found here. […]

JobsFirstNYC is honored to be a beneficiary of Kelley Drye’s Task Force on Racial Equity’s fall fundraising campaign. JobsFirstNYC was chosen alongside the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and the Equal Justice Initiative, by the task force’s Charitable Contributions Working Group. This Working Group began an intensive, […]

In mid-November 2020, JobsFirstNYC launched our Agenda for Young Adult Workforce Development  with a committee of over 40  multi-sector leaders from across the field. These leaders came together with JobsFirstNYC to create a workforce agenda that would: Provide a citywide policy agenda rooted in the real needs of young people, on-the-ground practitioners, and in successful […]

Why We Continue To Celebrate Black History Month   At JobsFirstNYC, many of the young adults whose lives we aim to help shape are Black Americans, and only recently is the rest of the world getting fully exposed to the depth of their ancestor’s roles and contributions to American society. As we commence the 2021 […]

As Mayor de Blasio’s tenure comes to an end and the 2021 mayoral hopefuls begin to campaign in earnest, we have more work than ever to do to ensure that their visions for New York City include a paradigm shift for how we will prepare rising generations for an increasingly changing and demanding economy. With […]

In a recent blog published on Sept 3, 2020, JobsFirstNYC posed the question: With an estimated 27 percent (259,000) to 34 percent (324,000) of NYC Young Adults out of school and out of work, what’s the city’s plan?  The city recently announced that it is proposing to cut programs in transfer schools by 72 percent, […]

Invest in Skills NY shares forward-thinking actions for an equitable recovery Albany, New York, September 28, 2020–The NYS Workforce Strategy Group, a group convened by Invest in Skills NY(ISNY), today released a range of policy, funding, and programmatic recommendations to address persistent labor market issues that were exacerbated by Covid-19. The report, A New Way […]

This policy brief, Accounting for Success: A Blueprint for Measuring the Performance of New York State’s Workforce Development System, focuses on building a 21st-century data infrastructure for New York State’s workforce development system. A unified postsecondary and workforce data system is indispensable for connecting labor supply with labor demand. This need is even more urgent […]

JobsFirstNYC’s partners at the Aspen Institute’s Opportunity Youth Forum estimate that anywhere from 259,000 (27%) to 324,000 (34%) 16- to 24-year-olds across New York City are out of school and out of work.* Just last year in 2019, there were only 129,000 (13%) of New Yorkers in this same demographic.   While the biggest driving force […]

In the wake of the Great Recession, a strong economy made it easier for young adults to find jobs, leading to significant declines in the number and share of New Yorkers aged 18 to 24 who were out of school and out of work from 22 percent (187,588 young adults) in 2010, to 16 percent […]

In the midst of a pandemic that has hit our Transfer to Career (T2C) communities the hardest in terms of health, wellbeing, employment, and security, our high school leaders and staff, workforce training partners, and CBOs have continued to prioritize career development for students. They understand that access to work-based learning, training, industry certifications and […]

At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King gave his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech, where he asked America to “make real the promise of democracy.” Dr. King said, “when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, […]

Since 2016, JobsFirstNYC has hosted an annual conference for workforce professionals and young adults where we investigated the barriers to and designed solutions for economic mobility and pathways to gainful employment. This yearly event brought out the likes of politicians, activists, nonprofit leaders, frontline staff, philanthropists, and, of course, young adults navigating skills training, education, […]

A JobsFirstNYC Working Paper The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the health and economic well-being of New Yorkers. It exacerbates preexisting inequities that young adults and their communities have long faced, leaving many with few opportunities to protect their health and continue earning a paycheck to support their families. Prior to COVID-19, while the economy was seemingly […]

If we have learned anything from the Great Recession just a decade ago, it’s that young adult generations that enter the labor market in an economic downturn are at a serious disadvantage, impacting their ability to successfully launch a career and reach financial security and self-sufficiency like the generations before them. Members of the Millennial generation, […]

March 11, 2020 New York City’s transfer high schools are designed to serve students who have struggled to make progress in traditional high schools. Even with additional help, however, the students enrolled in transfer schools typically face greater barriers to success: Only half of them graduate with a high school diploma, and only a handful […]

JobsFirstNYC has made important strides for New York City’s young-adult workforce for nearly 15 years, and we’re finding new ways to apply the wisdom gained since our inception.    New York City has been the economic capital of the free world for more than a century, home to millionaires and billionaires. But for many years, […]

More Than $1.3 Million Provided to Undertake Community-Based Projects Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced more than $1.3 million in State funding for programs aimed at helping low-income families in the South Bronx break cycles of poverty. The programs funded through the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative include a digital navigator system to connect low-income […]

The future of work is upon us. We are no longer waiting for disruptive technology to change the way we work or to see how the relationship between employees and employers will evolve. Market shifts, employment models, and workplace practices unfolding around us have serious implications for how we orient our systems to help connect […]

 Galvahn Cepeda, a 17-year old young man, has been gaining work experience and career training through LaGuardia Community College’s Intern & Earn Program, one of New York City’s workforce development supports for more than 136,000 young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither working nor in school. But, on July […]

A task force created in 2017 by City Council legislation aimed at providing better services and more opportunities for out-of-work, out-of-school youth and young adults has been delayed from the start, having met only a few times since its creation and now more than a year overdue in presenting its first report as mandated by law.

In 2017, JobsFirstNYC worked with the New York City Council to pass resolution 708-A, establishing a task force on disconnected youth charged with developing a plan to reduce the number of out of school, out of work (OSOW) young adults in New York City. This February, the task force convened for the first time. As […]

JobsFirstNYC is a co-chair of the Invest in Skills NY coalition alongside the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYATEP). Leveraging Opportunity, Meeting Demand: A Blueprint for Building New York State’s Workforce Development System is the Invest In Skills NY’s first policy blueprint outlining strategies for New York State to build a modern […]

An estimated 10% (22,000) of Westchester County young adults aged 16–25 are out of school and out of work (OSOW). Stakeholder engagements in three cities—Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and Yonkers—have shed light on a significant need for comprehensive social, educational, and employment opportunities for young residents in each city. Further, they have revealed limited coordination [...]

  “I am living my passion. I wake up everyday ready. Do you wake up everyday ready?”   This is how Marjorie Parker, JobsFirstNYC’s President and CEO, welcomed guests at Adapting to the Future of Work: From the Ground Up, a two-day convening for practitioners, policymakers, philanthropic leaders, employers and other stakeholders to celebrate, inspire […]

JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools are launching a new initiative to transform the school-to-work transition for a set of NYC’s Transfer High School students. Through this initiative, we aim to leverage current and new resources to design and pilot a career pathway strategy leading to degree and credential attainment and employment for NYC […]

The past two years were filled with new learning and impact. JobsFirstNYC’s mission is to leverage all available community, corporate, human, organization, private and public resources to bring out-of-school and out-of-work young adults into the economic life of New York City. In the past two years, our board appointed Marjorie Parker as our next President [...]

JobsFirstNYC commissioned and contributed to this study examining how young adults aged 18–24 are faring in the New York City labor market. It provides an analysis of current levels and recent trends in the demand for young adult labor, as distinguished by the employment and wage patterns of the jobs available to young people, and […]

The share of young adults in New York City who are jobless and out of school has fallen over the past five years, according to a new report, owing partly to a rebounding economy and higher college enrollment. But roughly 17 percent of young adults ages 18 to 24, or more than 136,000 people across the city, are still considered “disconnected” — both out of school and out of work.

JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools present Building Partnerships: Bringing Together Workforce & School Leaders March 6, 2018, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at UJA – Federation On March 6, 2018, JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools hosted Building Partnerships: Bringing Together Workforce & School Leaders, which brought together school leaders—including community-based […]

Reimagining the School-to-Work Experience for Transfer High School Students   A JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public School Convening Tuesday January 30, 2018 from 3:00-5:30 p.m. at New Visions for Public Schools   On Tuesday, January 30, JobsFirstNYC and New Visions for Public Schools co-hosted an event exploring the structural and systemic barriers that students […]

In a time when more and more training and credentialing is necessary to enter the labor market, Governor Cuomo’s workforce development proposal included as part of his 2018 State of the State symbolizes an important recognition that our economy depends on having a skilled and qualified workforce to meet the demands of tomorrow.

In June, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to create 100,000 new jobs in New York City over ten years by investing in high-wage industries where there is potential to grow with a boost from city government. The jobs will all pay at least $50,000 per year, he promised.

Following the release of Online but Disconnected: Young Adults’ Experiences with Online Job Applications, JobsFirstNYC convened employers, workforce practitioners, policy-makers, and thought leaders to lift up the report’s findings that personality assessments are inappropriate for young adults, unreliable screening tools, and may violate the civil rights of job applicants. Researcher and author, Margaret Stix of […]

Message from Marjorie Parker, JobsFirstNYC President & CEO  Please fill out this 7 question survey aspart of our Strategic Inquiry process I am pleased and honored to have been appointed as the President & CEO of JobsFirstNYC. In my more than 25 years working in the field wearing many hats in direct service, government, education […]

With recent changes in technology, including a heavy uptick in automation and the proliferation in machine-learning, the employment landscape has undergone profound changes. As a result, young people are adapting to new realities of the workplace and rethinking the skills they need to compete. JobsFirstNYC’s annual Adapting to the Future of Work: Skills for Tomorrow’s […]

For many New Yorkers, the Great Recession is an increasingly distant memory. Employment in the city has surpassed pre-recession levels, bolstered by more than 312,000 jobs added between 2010 and 2013. Wall Street is enjoying a bull market stretching into its sixth year, and home values across the five boroughs have rebounded sharply. One group of New Yorkers has not shared in the recovery, however: low-skilled young adults. Indeed, their economic struggles predated the downturn, and absent drastic policy changes they will continue indefinitely.

In a first-of-its-kind report, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today released a comprehensive neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis documenting the evolution of New York’s economy since 2000 and the changing business landscape in communities across the five boroughs. The Comptroller’s report, The New Geography of Jobs: A Blueprint for Strengthening Our Neighborhoods, shows that despite tremendous business growth in the City’s rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods between 2000 and 2015, the benefits of increased economic activity have not been broadly distributed among residents of those communities.

The JobsFirstNYC Board of Directors is pleased to announce that after three years of leadership in the role of deputy executive director, Marjorie Parker has been appointed as Executive Director of JobsFirstNYC, effective July 1, 2017. Over the course of her career, Marjorie has held leadership roles in nonprofit, government, and management consulting. During her time at JobsFirstNYC, Marjorie has overseen the implementation of several […]

Having absorbed the message that college is no longer optional, many high school students today make plans to attend a local community college the fall after getting a diploma. Unfortunately, a sizable percentage of them, especially low-income students—many of whom are coming from underperforming high schools or have struggled to complete high school—encounter myriad obstacles that derail their plans and further undermine their belief in themselves as ‘“college material.”

The President’s FY 2018 Budget Blueprint: Implications for Workforce Development and Education in New York  Last week, the White House released its budget blueprint for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The blueprint proposed budget cuts for federal spending on many of the education and workforce programs currently serving young New Yorkers. Additionally, it proposes cuts for […]

2017 marks critical political transitions at the local, state, and federal levels. It has never been more critical to propose investments and initiatives that will increase opportunity for young New Yorkers. In our city, more than 180,000 young adults between 16- to 24-years-old are neither working nor in school. In some neighborhoods, graduation rates are […]

In 2010, nearly 188,000 New Yorkers between the ages of 18 through 24 were neither in school, nor working, 22 percent of that age group overall.  According to the new study, by the end of 2015, that number had dropped to less than 137,000, 17 percent of the age group.  The higher rates of connected […]

Youth Services and Finance Committees Joint Preliminary Budget – March 6, 2017 Good afternoon, Chairpersons Eugene and Ferreras-Copeland, and other distinguished Council Members of the Youth Services and Finance Committees. My name is Chantella Mitchell and I am the Policy and Program Associate at JobsFirstNYC, a policy to practice intermediary focused on the issues of […]

One out of four 16- to 25-year-olds in the South Bronx are out of school and out of work, a far higher rate than that of any other area of the city. High school graduation rates in these neighborhoods are as low as 54 percent, compared to 70 percent in New York City overall. Several […]

FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD A Statement from JobsFirstNYC on the Nominations of Andrew Puzder and Betsy DeVos JobsFirstNYC urges the United States Senate to vote no on both Andrew Puzder’s confirmation for Secretary of Labor and Betsy DeVos’s confirmation for Secretary of Education. As an organization dedicated to ensuring that every young New Yorker has access […]

Yesterday, Governor Cuomo announced a proposal to offer free college tuition to State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) students whose families earn $125,000 or less per year. The plan would include community college and four-year college students. Governor Cuomo has proposed a three-year rollout that would start in […]

Last Friday, December 16, 2016, JobsFirstNYC held “What’s Next: A Post-Election Discussion”, a forum for national policy experts, public and nonprofit leadership, philantropy, and employers to discuss the economic challenges and opportunities the new presidential administration and congress could present for young adults. The four goals of the event were to: mobilize local, state, and […]

Youth Services Committee Hearing on Oversight – Disconnected Youth: Out of Work and Out of School Int. No. 708 and Int. No. 709 Good afternoon, Chairman Eugene and other distinguished Council Members of the Youth Services Committee. My name is Marjorie Parker and I am the Deputy Executive Director at JobsFirstNYC, a neutral intermediary focused […]

Dear Colleagues, In the days that have followed last week’s historic election, JobsFirstNYC has spoken with the field about what this outcome means for the national workforce and training system, and what opportunities and challenges a Trump presidency presents. In one of our most intense and polarizing elections, we are at a highly uncertain crossroads. […]

The October 2016 OYIF Convening included an Innovation Design Studio focused on lessons learned from the Bronx Opportunity Network (BON). BON is a collaborative of seven Bronx community-based organizations (CBOs) that have partnered with Bronx Community College and Hostos Community College to support opportunity youth in their transition to and through college by aligning programming and partnering with the colleges on fundamental redesign of their practices.

Innovations in the Field is a series examining inventive programs supported by JobsFirstNYC. It has traditionally focused on workforce efforts that serve both employers and young adults in New York City. We are excited to expand its scope with this third installment, which focuses on an innovative college access partnership for underprepared and low-income young adults […]

Good afternoon, Chairman Council Member Daniel Dromm and other distinguished council members of the Education Committee. My name is Chantella Mitchell and I am the Policy and Program Associate at JobsFirstNYC, a policy to practice intermediary focused on the issues of young adults who are out of school and out of work or underemployed. Today, […]

On July 20, 2016, JobsFirstNYC convened together 175 employers, business intermediaries, trade associations, nonprofits, public agencies, and local philanthropies to consider how New York City businesses can adapt to advances in technology, changing economic trends, and demographic shifts by creating cost-effective talent development pipelines. In partnership with Young Invincibles, we hosted a full-day of panels […]

Yesterday, Mayor de Blasio and New York City Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito announced their agreement on the $82.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2017 that will begin on July 1st of this year. Included in the budget were $42 million dollar Summer and Year Round Youth Employment Programs, which youth employment advocates and the Council have […]

This month, Measure of America, a research project of the Social Science Research Council, issued a report entitled, High School Graduation in New York City: Is Neighborhood Still Destiny?, which documents disparities in high school graduation rates throughout New York City neighborhoods. While the City’s Department of Education regularly reports on disparities in graduation rates by […]

In its 2015 report, Six Million Missing Jobs, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce examines the sustained impact of the 2008 Great Recession on today’s U.S. workforce. Among other findings, the report informs us that by 2020, 65% of all American jobs will require some form of post-secondary credential or degree. Last […]

The Bronx Opportunity Network (BON) is a collaborative effort among a group of seven CBOs serving young adults in the South Bronx, which, in partnership with Bronx and Hostos Community Colleges, has developed a borough-based initiative to increase college access—and to support post-secondary retention—among disconnected young adults. The Network’s mission is to enable under-prepared Bronx […]

Earlier this week, we celebrated the release of our latest publication, “Optimizing Talent: The Promise and the Perils of Adapting Sectoral Strategies for Young Workers“, which was co-released with the  Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and written by Sheila Maguire. The release event featured a panel discussion with Laurie Dien, The Pinkerton Foundation; Martin Newell, Cypress […]

Last month, Governor Cuomo gave his 2016 State of the State and executive budget address in Albany, NY. There, to a diverse audience of guests, Governor Cuomo announced his fiscal and policy priorities for the new year. He announced billions of dollars in increased funding to address homelessness, as well as the $100 billion dollar […]

Late last year, President Obama announced several changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process for the 2017-18 school year. These changes may impact millions of young adults applying for financial aid. Changes include new submission timelines and new supplemental document requirements. Check out the Federal Student Aid Office’s website here to […]

Long-term self-sufficiency means more than just a job. Those at the bottom of the labor market—especially young adults with limited education who face high rates of unemployment—need in-demand skills, a clear career path, and solid supports.  In recent years, sector-based strategies have yielded promising results for moving low-income jobseekers and workers into living wage positions. [...]

      Young Adult Sectoral Employment Project Expands   Four Workforce Partnerships Chosen to Help Out-of-School and Out-of-Work Young Adults Gain Training and Entry into Different Sectors of Employment in New York City JobsFirstNYC is proud to announce that as part of our local initiative – the Young Adult Sectoral Employment Project (YASEP) – four […]

Dear Friends and Colleagues, One of the joys of preparing an annual report is that it gives us the opportunity to look back and be thankful for all that has been accomplished. The past fiscal year was filled with wonderful opportunity and many challenges. JobsFirstNYC’s mission is to leverage all available community, corporate, human, organization, [...]

As the U.S. economy continues to gather steam, the Great Recession is becoming a distant memory for many Americans. In New York City, employment has passed pre-slump levels, with 312,000 jobs added between 2010 and 2013. Wall Street is enjoying a sustained bull market and home values across the city’s five boroughs have risen sharply. Among the New Yorkers not sharing in the recovery, however, are low-skilled young adults. Their economic struggles predate the downturn, and without drastic policy changes could continue indefinitely.

JobsFirstNYC commissioned and contributed to this study of how young adults aged 18 to 24 are faring in the New York City labor market. It provides an analysis of current levels and recent trends in the demand for young adult labor, as distinguished by the employment and wage patterns of the jobs available to young […]

Commensurate with its mission, JobsFirstNYC has a strategic goal of reducing the number of out-of-work and out-of-school young adults between 18 and 24 years of age by 5% by 2017. This logic model aligns all the strategies JobsFirstNYC will incorporate in pursuit of this goal.

Approved by the JobsFirstNYC board of directors on January 24, 2012, this document represents the culmination of a strategic planning process that codified the organization's BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) as no less than a 5% reduction in the number of out-of-school and out-of-work young adults by 2017. The document outlines the key steps the [...]

Authors: Laura Wyckoff, Siobhan M. Cooney, Danijela Korom Djakovic and Wendy S. McClanahan This P/PV brief presents the overall population of disconnected young people and key subpopulations, identifying known statistics, and providing best information towards borough numbers. It also gives data on compelling strategies and offers concepts for further research.