Comptroller Review Urges Stronger Support for ATWORK to Expand Employment Opportunities for New Yorkers with Disabilities

 

Report finds program has successfully connected hundreds of New Yorkers with disabilities to jobs but limited performance tracking and impact cap potential

The Office of New York City Comptroller Mark Levine today issued a new review of the City’s ATWORK program, which for nearly a decade has supported people with disabilities across the five boroughs to enter the workforce through job placement and other employment services. The review found that while ATWORK has successfully provided these services to hundreds of New Yorkers, its impact has been limited by fragmented resources and insufficient data tracking. To strengthen the program and expand its reach, the report recommends expanding resources, improving performance tracking, and removing barriers to employment so the program can connect more New Yorkers with disabilities to jobs.  

“Every New Yorker deserves the opportunity to find meaningful work, and that includes ensuring people with disabilities have the support they need to succeed in the workforce,” said City Comptroller Mark Levine. “Job placement programs like ATWORK help connect New Yorkers with consolidated resources while strengthening families, communities and our local economy. As we undertake the hard-but-necessary work of making government more efficient, strengthening proven programs like ATWORK must be part of the conversation.”  

ATWORK, which has been situated within the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) since 2017, operates to recruit, pre-screen, and connect New Yorkers with disabilities to jobs and internships with established business partners in both the public and private sectors. To qualify for the program, job seekers must be: 18 years of age or older; have a documented disability; reside in the five boroughs; have career goals, resumes and cover letters; basic interviewing skills; and must be motivated to conduct a job search independently. ATWORK provides a host of services for New Yorkers with disabilities, such as reviewing resumes and cover letters, conducting interview preparation workshops and mock interviews, communicating with potential employers on the status of applications, and maintaining regular contact with job seekers throughout the search process.  

The Comptroller’s review of ATWORK, which examined FY 2024 and FY 2025, made several determinations about the program, including:  

• Success Despite Challenges. Although ATWORK has just six dedicated staff members, they were able to provide services to 1,268 people with disabilities and connected 99 of those individuals to employment. ATWORK staff also hosted more than five dozen workshops, conducted more than 200 mock interviews, and hosted seven job fairs.  

• Limited Resources, Limited Impact. The 1,268 people supported through ATWORK represented just 4% of the 35,000 New Yorkers with disabilities seeking employment. That reflected a limited impact among other City initiatives for these individuals to assist them to find work. MOPD also cited a lack of funding and staffing, hindering its ability to fill key positions.  

• Lack of Effective Data Tracking. MOPD did not have an effective tracking system to monitor the number of people who were enrolled in the program, those who had been connected to jobs, and in active status with the Office at any given time. This hindered the agency’s ability to effectively track its program performance.  

• Demographic Imbalance. An analysis found that the ethnicity of those finding employment through the program was disproportionate to their percentage of the population. 

The Comptroller’s Office made several recommendations, with which MOPD agreed, to strengthen the effectiveness of ATWORK. Those include:  

• Work with the City Council to secure funding to expand ATWORK’s effectiveness, as well as to provide additional services.  

• Improve tracking key performance indicators to fully evaluate the impact of ATWORK.  

• Address demographic imbalances by expanding Spanish-language outreach to potential job seekers.  

• Reduce misunderstandings about the services ATWORK provides and better explain that participation may not guarantee employment, as well as conduct annual surveys with participants to understand their perspective on the program’s impact. 

• Assess what skills gaps exist between job seekers and opportunities, then develop a strategy to confront them.  

• Collaborate with City agencies as well as employer partners to remove clear barriers to employment for New Yorkers with disabilities.  

The full review is available here: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/review-of-the-nyc-atwork-program/