New initiatives to serve over 13,000 young New Yorkers with employment, training, and education support in the face of economic downturn
Newly released Disconnected Youth Task Force report provides a long-term strategy to keep them on a path towards economic and career success
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a series of steps his Administration is taking to support New York City youth and young adults – both current students and those who are out of school and unemployed – as they weather the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Measures include a campaign with CUNY to engage 5,000 young adults to enroll in college this spring, as well as an initiative to connect more than 2,000 high school students with paid internships and opportunities to earn college credit.
Accompanying these announcements is a new report by the citywide Disconnected Youth Task Force, entitled Connecting Our Future, which focuses attention on New York City’s population of out-of-school/out-of-work (OSOW) 16 to 24-year-olds. Originally convened in 2019, the Task Force updated its original analysis to account for an expected spike in OSOW as a result of job
losses and educational disruptions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This report will serve as the City’s strategic plan to serve this population.
“The measures we’re announcing today represent just a first set of actions demonstrating our commitment to center their wellbeing as we begin the long road to recovery from the pandemic,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We look forward to working with the new Biden-Harris administration and Congressional leadership to build back NYC better than ever.”
The first set of initiatives announced today focuses on re-engaging young adult New Yorkers who are neither enrolled in school nor working:
- CUNY has launched a new Winter Bridge program to enroll 5,000 students from the NYC DOE Class of 2020 who had accepted an offer to CUNY but had yet to matriculate as of the Fall semester. Current CUNY students will work as College Coaches, sharing their own experiences as college students, and providing support to help new students complete CUNY enrollment and financial aid processes. Students in the Winter Bridge Program can enroll for spring 2021 in CUNY Start/Math Start and Accelerated Studies in Associate Programs (ASAP).
- In partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC and the NYC Center for Youth Employment (CYE), CUNY will launch a Welcome Back campaign to re-engage at least 600 students, including 100 former CUNY ASAP students majoring in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields whose enrollments lapsed in 2020, as well as 500 prospective students who were recently admitted into CUNY community college programs but never enrolled. Participants will receive intensive supports through admissions and re-enrollment processes, including financial aid, ongoing academic and career advisement, and STEM intensive programming with peers.
- The Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) will launch License to Careers (L2C), a new pre-apprenticeship initiative to train and place 50 recent high school graduates into career track positions within the transportation sector. This is a new model that will be studied for potential scaling and replication in other sectors of the New York City economy.
- In partnership with DYCD, the Mayor's Office will launch a new fellowship for OSOW young adults from Advance & Earn, a new training, education, and employment program launched in 2020 for youth between the ages of 16-24. The fellowship will recruit 15 Fellows for a four-month work experience where they will hone policy, research, and advocacy skills. Fellows will survey and interview young adults in their communities to learn about the issues they are facing in their everyday lives.
The second set of programs announced today focus on keeping students engaged and on track by expanding career readiness and exploration opportunities to high-need youth:
- The de Blasio Administration has completely restructured the Work Learn & Grow program to focus on college and career readiness. This past fall, the new model, administered by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with DOE and CUNY, provided 2,155 high school students with the opportunity to take a for-credit CUNY course through Kingsborough Community College. After completing the course, participants began a paid internship experience that will run through the spring, through which they can earn up to $3,000.
- In partnership with CYE, CUNY Explorers, a program that employs CUNY students as College Coaches and mentors for DOE middle school students, will expand and serve an additional 5,000 DOE students. The program will now provide college exploration through after-school activities and expand to work with high school students in 9th and 10th grade.
- CYE, in partnership with ExpandED Schools, will train up to 25 nonprofit service providers to serve up to 500 youth with entrepreneurship activities and STEM career exploration as part of DYCD’s Learning Labs and after-school programs.
- YMI and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Office to Prevent Gun Violence will expand eligibility in Anti-Gun Violence Employment Program (AGVEP) to serve up to 50 youth within secure detention. Youth will be engaged in an 18-week stipend-based program that starts under ACS care and continues upon discharge with After Care services. Young people released from Rikers with connections to select service providers will also have the opportunity to be engaged with this program. Services will include job training, therapeutic services and educational and employment opportunities.
- In partnership with ACS, The Kite, and Petey Greene, and with support from YMI, the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) will provide 12 weeks of tutoring to a total of 80 youth at both Horizon and Crossroads Juvenile Centers in support of remote learning. Participants will receive tutoring individually and in small groups. As youth return to the community, CCA will work with ACS, DOE and other stakeholders to ensure they have ongoing access to academic support services.
Finally, to support unemployed and under-employed young adult job seekers searching for employment and training opportunities, the City has created two new tools, WorkingNYC and Career Discovery NYC:
- Developed by the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, WorkingNYC (working.nyc.gov) centralizes City programs and resources that help New Yorkers access employment, job training, and adult education, career exploration and skill building programs.
- NYC Small Business Services has launched Career Discovery NYC (careerdiscovery.cityofnewyork.us), a centralized resource to assist New Yorkers with career discovery and training, features online, no-cost trainings that prepare New Yorkers with the necessary skills to pursue a pathway for an in-demand career path in the industrial, tech, and media sectors.
“As New York City navigates beyond the COVID-19 crisis, our highest aspirations for economic democracy and social justice depend upon how effectively we can prepare all our young people for their futures,” said J. Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives and Chair of the Disconnected Youth Task Force. “The report of the Disconnected Youth Task Force provides policymakers the clearest picture yet of who our OSOW young adults are, where we are delivering them effective services and where we must do better, and a comprehensive strategy to help every young New Yorker toward career success.”
“We applaud these initiatives that will enable the City University of New York to continue supporting young adults as they weather the economic fallout from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “Whether it’s our new Winter Bridge partnership with the Department of Education to get public school students enrolled in college, our coordinated efforts with the NYC Center for Youth Employment to reengage with more than 1,100 students, or new efforts that focus on long-range priorities such as internships and other career engagement opportunities, CUNY is more than willing to play a vital role in the civic life of the city we are so proud to call home.”
“Our youth and young adults who support their families and communities while attending school have been hit hardest by this crisis and they deserve the spotlight this taskforce is putting on their recovery,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “Our educators and schools will continue to serve these young people by providing a high-quality education that meets their unique needs, while enthusiastically supporting the recommendations of this report.”
"Kingsborough Community College (KCC) is pleased to represent CUNY and partner with DYCD and DOE for the Work, Learn & Grow program, and provide high school students with college and career readiness. Now more than ever, young people need exposure to opportunities that can prepare them academically, socially and emotionally for their future as college students and as members of the workforce. With more than 50 academic programs of study, a Center for Career Development & Experiential Learning, and personalized counseling support for students, KCC is uniquely positioned to participate in this important program and help students succeed," said Kingsborough President Dr. Claudia V. Schrader.
The Disconnected Youth Task Force report, Connecting Our Future, includes demographic analysis of the OSOW population, a look at the portfolio of programs both to prevent disconnection and to re-engage those already OSOW, and recommendations to provide short-term assistance for current OSOW young adults and long-term, system-level improvements to reduce their number over time. The Task Force includes City officials, nonprofit leaders, advocates, and employers.
Its report is especially timely in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, which has hit hardest within communities of color both in health outcomes and economic impacts. Following a decade of steady reduction in the number of OSOW young adults, the report estimates that between job losses and educational disruptions, the pandemic has likely at least doubled the number.
“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, programs like Summer Bridge, Advance & Earn, Train & Earn, the WIOA-funded Learn & Earn, and Work Learn & Grow are still able to connect young people with employment, paid internships, job training, credentials and other vital opportunities for career and life success. I am proud to serve with my esteemed colleagues on the Disconnected Youth Task Force, and we look forward to the continued implementation of these programs and the new initiatives being announced today to support our young emerging leaders,” said Department of Youth and Community Development Commissioner Bill Chong.
“The jobs crisis, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has hit young New Yorkers and the sectors they work in particularly hard,” said NYC Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris. “The Disconnected Youth Task Force’s work helps us minimize the long-term impact on our young people. We are excited to be adding new resources to Career Discovery NYC to support young New Yorkers in their career exploration and employment opportunities.”
"Young people with aspirations, tremendous potential, and talent will be facing even greater challenges in realizing their dreams in the wake of the pandemic," said Department of Probation Commissioner Ana M. Bermúdez. "DOP is proud of our continuing efforts to bring resources and opportunities into communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the justice system, and now disproportionately impacted by COVID-19."
“Ensuring youth have the resources and supports that they need to successfully transition to adulthood is a top priority for ACS,” said Administration for Children’s Services Commissioner David A. Hansell. “I am so pleased that Mayor de Blasio is taking critical steps to open more doors of opportunity for the youth and young adults hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, including youth in our foster care and juvenile justice system.”
"Today's report underscores the urgent need for action across all levels of government to support and uplift tomorrow’s leaders of New York City," said NYC Human Resources Administration Administrator Gary Jenkins. “As our City continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on equity first and foremost, the Department of Social Services-Human Resources Administration is committed to doing its part to provide young adults across the five boroughs with the tools they need to achieve long-term career growth and success.”
The Task Force calls for City government to:
- Prioritize re-engagement of OSOW New Yorkers through education, employment, and training as a core component of COVID-19 recovery efforts
- Help prevent disconnection by integrating career readiness into K-12 education and CUNY systems through CareerReady NYC, an initiative launched in 2019
- Elevate visibility and clarify accountability by identifying where primary responsibility for OSOW services sits within City government.
In addition to its recommendations, “Connecting Our Future” presents unprecedented detail on the city’s OSOW population—including demographics and causal factors. Among its findings:
- Over the decade prior to the pandemic, the city’s OSOW population declined by nearly 40 percent, largely due to sustained improvements in the high school graduation rate and consistent job growth—but even before COVID-19, one in eight 16 to 24-year-old New Yorkers were OSOW
- Those that remained OSOW as of 2018 were older and better educated than the population a decade earlier—nearly three in four have at least completed high school and about one in eight have a bachelor's degree
- The population remains overwhelmingly Black and Latino, and are found in every neighborhood but concentrated in a number of economically distressed communities
- Contributors to disconnection from school and work include challenges in K-12 schooling, struggles with college completion and job retention, and absence of strong networks and support systems; given the demographics of the population, institutional bias is a factor as well
