Investment aids jobs & community
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Few stories of transformative rebirth from urban decline are as inspiring as that of the South Bronx. However, there is a new challenge facing the community: connecting what students learn in school with the skills businesses need.
While the unemployment rate in the Bronx has fallen below 6%, we must still address wage stagnation and provide young people with more opportunities for skilled employment and the higher salaries that come with it. Even as the South Bronx experiences widespread redevelopment, more than four in 10 South Bronx residents do not have a high school diploma and, as a result, are likely unemployed or in lower-paying, unskilled jobs. The living wage is also virtually unchanged from 40 years ago.
Getting young people on a pathway to good, skill-based jobs in high school and beyond will help them achieve long-term economic success.
It will take a sustained focus on career and technical training — which means government working hand-inhand with business — to fix the problem.
That is why, as part of JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills for Youth initiative, the firm is investing $6 million to build South Bronx programs that give high school students the skills to secure high-demand, well-paying jobs in growing New York City industries. These include positions in health care, transportation logistics and distribution, and information technology. It’s the largest private-sector investment in career education in the Bronx.
This effort will build a bridge between businesses and educators to prepare young people for college and good careers. Students will benefit from modernized curricula and on-the-job learning opportunities.
The disconnection between New York’s young people and the businesses that make us the economic capital of the world isn’t just an economic problem for individuals and families, but for employers, too.
Not every business can make this kind of commitment. But they can promote continued on-the-job training and education and create apprenticeships. They can also encourage partnerships with schools to ensure skills are aligned with employment needs.
These investments are good for the long-term vitality of the communities we serve, and, by working together, every young person can share equally in the South Bronx’s revival.