How New York City Is Preparing Its Workforce For The Changing Economy mnn.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mnn.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
With the announcement Friday of a $155 million investment in small businesses, including $5.5 million for workforce development programming, Mayor Bill de Blasio staked a foothold along a critical frontier in New York City s pandemic recovery: preparing workers for the changing economy.
The city s economy was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the unemployment rate jumping fivefold to a high of over 20% last June. In-person jobs have contracted significantly, especially in hospitality, nightlife, retail, and transportation, many of which were already in decline. At the same time, health and technology sectors have emerged from the pandemic ready for a boom. Nearly half a million city residents are unemployed and seeking new ventures in the molten industrial landscape.
Bracing For Another Pandemic Summer, Youth Advocates Call For Jobs And College Help
arrow Mayor Bill de Blasio at a SYEP event in 2016. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
As New York City’s teenagers and young adults face another summer disrupted by the pandemic, advocates and community leaders are warning that the lack of jobs and opportunities for this generation could have dire consequences.
Citing the budget crisis caused by the pandemic, last year Mayor Bill de Blasio gutted the long-standing Summer Youth Employment Program, the largest youth jobs program in the country. After intense lobbying, de Blasio restored $51 million of the $124 million budget for the rebranded SYEP Summer Bridge program. However, the reduction in funding meant that jobs were available for 35,000 teenagers and young adults, less than half of the usual number.
For more information, visit https://cye.cityofnewyork.us/initiatives/disconnected-youth-task-force/
By Forum Staff
Mayor Bill de Blasio recently 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 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 resu