Why we must refocus on education
For Neila Charles, the road to success runs through the Gap. The 18-year-old Brooklynite landed an internship and then a job with the clothing retailer through This Way Ahead, a youth workforce initiative that also helps cover her college costs.
“I would say the program actually drastically changed my life,” Charles told the Daily News. “I love the company and I’m learning about people. It’s an amazing opportunity to have. It’s perfect for me.”
The Borough of Manhattan Community College student was busy with her high school work and her dance studies at the Door, a SoHo-based “center of alternatives,” when she learned about the program.
“I’d never had much experience with a real job,” she said. “It wasn’t my first job, but it was my best job.”
The program was launched two years ago with teens like Charles in mind. Students receive both training in workplace skills and spend time at a Gap Boot Camp before they’re placed Continued from page 1 we’re offering the skills that employers want and need,” she added.
On a national level the stats are sobering. A 10-year U.S. employment projection the Bureau of Labor Statistics published on Oct. 26 shows a shrinking number of jobs for workers with only high school diplomas, and evidence of growing economic inequality.
It also predicts an explosion of service jobs, as well as job growth and increasing wages for a handful of industries including health care, social services and technology.
Experts say organizations across the city are spending nearly $700 million each year to prepare New Yorkers for participation in the future workforce.
The city’s Summer Youth Employment Program, operated by the Department of Youth and Community Development, is the largest summer jobs program in the country.
Roughly 60,000 kids and young adults ages 14 to 24 land jobs through the program each year, with many of those jobs paving the way to permanent positions.
Likewise, the city’s Ladders for Leaders program found summer internships for more than 1,600 students, with a record 600 employers.
City Education Department officials also operate a number of workforce development programs in the public schools and beyond.
And JPMorgan Chase is spending $6 million on programs to better prepare South Bronx high school grads for jobs in health care, information technology and transportation logistics and distribution.
City University of New York Chancellor James Milliken said expanding workforce development programs is an essential part of CUNY’s strategic framework.
“Students need not only an excellent education, new capabilities and college diplomas to launch great careers, they need valuable workplace experience and networks to get started,” Milliken said.
A complex mix of actors is working to improve workplace development programs across the city. Stacy Woodruff, director of the Field Building Hub at Workforce Professionals Training Institute, says coordinating their efforts is a key challenge.
“There is a lot of money being put into workforce development, but it’s not always being spent in the most effective ways,” Woodruff said.
“Increasingly, young adults are being locked out of the labor market if they don’t have high school diplomas or skills,” she added.
“Not everybody goes from high school to college to a career, so making sure there are ways to connect those people to the workforce is of great importance.”