Mayor Appoints Panel Of Leaders
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last Tuesday, May 20, the 30 members of “Jobs for New Yorkers” that will develop realtime strategies to strengthen the city’s workforce and help workers develop the skills needed to secure good paying jobs in fast-growing careers.
The task force will help shift the city’s approach to focus on employment for New Yorkers in skill-building, higher-wage jobs that offer opportunities for advancement, as opposed to job placement in lowpaying sectors.
“Jobs for New Yorkers will play a key role in furthering the administration’s efforts to create more opportunity and fundamentally shift our workforce and education system to focus on quality, wellpaying jobs that support families,” said de Blasio. “With this task force, we are going to harness the experience, knowledge and expertise from this diverse group of business, education and community leaders to expand opportunity for more hardworking New Yorkers.”
The 30 members represent a balance of ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ and represent millions of employees, union members, students and lowincome New Yorkers that are a part of creating the new goals. The task force’s 11-member leadership team is comprised of: Vincent Alvarez, president, New York City Central Labor Council; Jennifer Jones Austin, chief executive officer and executive director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies; Carlo Frappolli, head of talent, JPMorgan Chase; Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner, InterMedia Partners; Patricia Jenny, vice president for grants, New York Community Trust; Tim Johnson, senior vice president and executive director of finance and graduate medical education, Greater New York Hospital Association; Angie Kamath, executive director of the New York site, Per Scholas; Kyle Kimball, president, NYC Economic Development Corporation; John Mogulescu, senior university dean for academic affairs, CUNY; Maria Torres-Springer, commissioner, Small Business Services; and Fred Wilson, managing partner, Union Square Ventures.
Led by these figures from the innovation economy, financial services, community development and higher education, the task force has been charged with delivering recommendations on how the city can :- Better integrate the $500 million investment in workforce programs and education resources to serve the unemployed and under-employed.
– Combine economic development strategies with workforce development initiatives to allow more New Yorkers access to quality employment in industries where the city makes investments.
– Address the skill gaps for lowwage workers by creating training programs that teach skills specifically geared to what today’s companies need. This will create a pipeline of homegrown workers who can fill the new opportunities being created by the city’s growing businesses; and ensure local employers seek, find and hire talent from the five boroughs.
This fall, the task force will deliver a report to Mayor de Blasio with concrete recommendations on how the city can achieve the goals outlined above.
“The work to change the way the city approaches workforce development and build a high-quality talent pipeline that is equipped with today’s most in-demand skills starts today,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen. “I look forward to working with Jobs for New Yorkers to develop new, innovative ways to ensure that we’re providing the city’s businesses with the top-notch, homegrown talent to support the local economy and sharpen the city’s competitive edge.”
“Workforce development is a bridge to connect the chasm of inequality that has held millions of New Yorkers back from reaching the American Dream and their full potential,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “Putting together some of our city’s smartest minds to tackle this challenge is the right approach. Connecting existing public and private resources in a strategic manner with the men and women that need the skills and opportunities is how Brooklyn and all of New York City can grow a stronger, more sustainable economic future for all.”
“The Jobs for New Yorkers task force will engage in critically important work on two levels at once,” said Kimball. “In developing strategies to help New Yorkers secure quality employment, we are also working to increase the city’s economic resiliency-ensuring that millions of talented city residents keep multiple sectors of the economy thriving, strengthening and diversifying the five borough economic engine.”
“Within these past few years, we have seen a dramatic shift in the burgeoning Queens tech community and the opportunities that it provides,” Jukay Hsu, founder of Coalition for Queens, said. “As New York City continues to grow in the new digital economy, we must ensure that New Yorkers in every neighborhood-particularly in our low-income and diverse communities-have access to the skills training and entrepreneurship opportunities that will increase economic mobility, and enable our businesses to thrive.”
“Shifting the city’s workforce development model to ensure that we tap into the talent right here in the five boroughs will not only meet employer needs but also connect New Yorkers to jobs with familysupporting wages and real career paths,” said Torres-Springer. “I look forward to working with the mayor and my colleagues on the mayor’s jobs task force to help connect businesses with the talent they need, and create a city with shared opportunities for economic security.”
