Beyond its death toll and healthcare tragedies, the pandemic and subsequent recession highlighted and deepened our city’s already unbearable inequity and uneven access to economic growth. Over one million New Yorkers lost their jobs. And while the job losses impacted workers across every socioeconomic experience, the losses disproportionately impacted women, people of color, low income workers, immigrants and historically marginalized New Yorkers.

These are the New Yorkers that our members never stopped supporting through training and job placement services over the last two years despite a skyrocketing demand for workforce services, while budget cuts, staff layoffs and burnout ran rampant. In fact, our members met the pandemic’s turmoil with incredible innovation and urgency - pivoting programming, developing digital curricula, and deepening wraparound services.

As you will see in the pages before you, we at the Coalition aimed to meet 2021 with parallel innovation and urgency. We broadened our capacity by welcoming three colleagues to our staff and grew our membership to over 200 workforce organizations. We fostered new partnerships with employers, policy makers, advocates and experts to ensure that our solutions are as intersectional as the issues we face. We fought to reinstate City funding lost during 2020’s budget cuts and build up new resources. We ensured that talent development is at the center of New York City’s economic recovery and the next Mayoral administration and City Council. Most of all, we affirmed that advocacy and collaboration work.

In 2021, our advocacy was driven by the core need for New York City leadership to develop a robust workforce and economic recovery plan to tackle the scale of unemployment and business loss that our city is facing.

To build the inclusive and equitable economy New Yorkers want, 2022 must be a time of action, investment and imagination. I am so proud and grateful to lead this strong and diverse Coalition, and look forward to the work before us.

In solidarity,

Jose Ortiz, Jr.
CEO

The Coalition is composed of 200 workforce development service providers, educational institutions and labor management organizations that provide job training and employment services to over 600,000 New Yorkers. Since 2018, our coalition has grown by nearly 40%, making us the largest city-based coalition focused on talent development in the country.

NYCETC’s members are the foundation to all of our work. Their ideas, expertise, frustrations and aspirations for their clients and job seekers fuel our own expertise, policy recommendations and advocacy. Members connect underserved New Yorkers to career opportunities so they can support their families and thrive within their communities. Program models run a huge gamut - from high school equivalency and adult literacy programs to micro-credentials, 15 week technical training programs and apprenticeships, and everything in between. These programs serve every New Yorker - and especially New Yorkers with low- or moderate-incomes, New Yorkers of color, New Yorkers with multiple barriers to employment, and New Yorkers who have been left out of the growing economy due to systemic and historic marginalization.

Our monthly Member Spotlight series highlights different member programs and the ways in which workforce organizations have shifted their services to best support their clients and communities during the Covid-19 pandemic and within the post-Covid economy. The entire spotlight series can be found on our website.

NYCETC’s programming — ranging from conferences and panel discussions to workshops and peer-to-peer discussions -- creates space for workforce professionals, policy makers, funders, national and local experts, and employers to collaborate, learn and connect.

In 2021, we hosted 15 virtual programs and provided a forum for over 1,400 attendees working to train and place New Yorkers into good careers. While virtual this year, our much anticipated annual conference was held in four parts and covered the role of philanthropy; policy and advocacy; racial and economic justice; and job training providers within the workforce ecosystem.

Past speakers across our events include Governor Kathy Hochul; Borough Presidents Eric Adams, Gale Brewer and Rubén Díaz Jr.; Maria Torres-Springer of the Ford Foundation; Wes Moore, formerly of the Robin Hood Foundation; executives at Google, Nielsen and Bloomberg; and many more. Our workshops and peer to peer discussions create space for workforce professionals to share best practices, explore new training models, and create critical collaborations that enable New Yorkers to access a broader array of services. All events are available on our YouTube channel.

In the summer, we kicked off our multi-part Industry Needs series, which convenes local business leaders to share what they are doing within their borough and sectors to keep businesses open and flourishing, and how workforce development organizations can partner with them. Through these strategy sessions, members discussed how providers and the Coalition can support businesses in regard to equity in hiring practices, community relations, and cultivating stronger bonds leading to greater understanding of local hiring needs.

In August 2021, the Steering Committee for the NYC Inclusive Growth Initiative (IGI) released its agenda containing 50+ recommendations for equitable development in New York City. The Inclusive Growth Blueprint is a first-of-its-kind agenda for the Adams administration and the incoming City Council to change the way that development is done to prioritize infrastructure and development projects that proactively address long-standing disparities and meet the material needs of New Yorkers, especially the communities that are usually left out of the decision-making process. The group argues that only such an inclusive approach centered around the needs and ideas of people of color, immigrants, and New Yorkers who drive our workforce and sustain our communities will allow for equitable and sustainable growth.

Announced in November 2020, the IGI was founded by NYCETC, the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development and Regional Plan Association and is composed of an 18-person Steering Committee representative of the city’s diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, immigration history and status, income status, thought and disability. Members met multiple times through July 2021 to craft the Blueprint, centering on three core pillars - economic development, workforce development, and affordable housing - critical to enacting the values and policies of inclusive growth.

Formed in the fall of 2020, the NYC Workforce Business Council is a group of 23 business leaders that keep the workforce development sector informed about the needs of the business community and act as advocates for the workforce system. The Council includes a variety of employers and business intermediaries in New York City such as the NYC Hospitality Alliance, Google, Amazon and the Chambers of Commerce. This Council furthers the critical role of employers within the workforce system, ensuring that businesses share their professional expertise, networks, hiring needs and sector knowledge with Coalition members, staff, board members and partners, and that their connection to local, state, and national resources and networks support a citywide workforce agenda.

The dual health and economic consequences of the pandemic have had uniquely destructive consequences on our local and national economy, and magnified flaws and inequities that have long held New Yorkers back from thriving in our city, and businesses from having access to the highest quality local talent. A true recovery for all New Yorkers means being intentional about how we invest in people, community and systems, including getting New Yorkers — especially those with systemic barriers distinguished by race, gender, and socioeconomic status ­— back to work in good, quality jobs and careers; dedicating assets toward communities and neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment; and infrastructure that will ensure optimal performance for all stakeholders served by the workforce development ecosystem.

For this reason, NYCETC advocates that City leadership and agencies need to fundamentally shift and align systems, investments and decision making processes that fuel our economy toward a talent-centric economic development model. This framework of economic development recognizes human capital as the primary pillar and source of prosperity and growth within our communities and among our businesses, in tandem with traditional approaches that solely consider labor-market demands and capital infrastructure.

In May, NYCETC and community partners hosted the 2021 Mayoral Forum - The Role of Workers in a Resilient & Inclusive Recovery. Moderated by Errol Louis, the hour-long forum gave the candidates the opportunity to answer a wide range of questions focused on getting New Yorkers into good, quality jobs. The forum featured candidates Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, and Kathryn Garcia.

Spanning August 2020 through May 2021, our 2021 Mayoral Candidate Fireside Chat Series featured discussions with 10 candidates, enabling the workforce development community to learn about each Mayoral hopeful’s plans if elected to the office of New York City Mayor and their views on the role of the workforce development community in their administration and the Covid-19 recovery.

Between October and December, our Meet the Candidates: NYC Council Speaker series introduced four candidates running to be the next Council speaker to the workforce community. NYCETC members and partners learned directly from the candidates about how they will prioritize workforce development in the next Council cycle, asking questions on issues such as budget negotiation, agency oversight, and the digital divide.

In November, we held a briefing for incoming and returning Council members and their staff to learn about the role that workforce and talent development plays in the immediate and long-term recovery of the city and NYCETC’s ideas for creating high-quality careers for New Yorkers. The briefing established the Coalition as the go-to resource for workforce and economic development, and set the foundation for upcoming legislative and budget priorities for the Council.

Each year, NYCETC organizes its members and partners to collectively advocate for increased investments for workforce development programs in the City’s budget. In response to the continued recession from the pandemic and dramatic budget cuts in FY21, this year we focused our advocacy on restoring funding to pre-pandemic levels and growing Council initiatives that support reskilling and upskilling such as the Bridge Program for Workforce Development, the Digital Inclusion and Literacy Initiative, and the Job Training and Placement Initiative.

Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the current election cycle, we fought long and hard as the budget process unfolded. Our efforts have resulted in securing significant levels of funding for our members’ programs and recovered funding lost during the height of the pandemic’s budget cuts. Based on our advocacy during this funding cycle we saw the below relevant changes.

Job Training and Placement Initiative increased to $8,000,000 in FY22, beyond FY20 allocations of $7,899,200.

Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund returned to FY20 numbers, rising from $2,500,000 in FY21 back to $3,700,000 in FY22.

Digital Inclusion and Literacy Initiative increased to $4,590,000 in FY22, beyond FY20 allocations of $3,060,000.

Chamber on the Go and Small Business Assistance increased to $2,388,855 in FY22, beyond FY20 allocations of $1,605,527

The Bridge Program for Workforce Development renewed and increased to $1,000,000 in FY22, beyond $850,000 in FY21.

Construction Site Safety Training returned to FY20 numbers, rising from $1,045,000 in FY21 back to $1,100,000 in FY22.

2021 Advocacy Season Kick Off
We launched this year’s advocacy with our 2021 Advocacy Season Kickoff in April. The event featured speakers Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) discussing Federal efforts to support New York’s pandemic and economic recovery efforts; James Parrott (Director of Economic and Fiscal Policies, Center for New York City Affairs at The New School) discussing NYC labor market data and findings from our joint report on challenges faced by the workforce community over the last year; Phil Thompson (Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives) and Amy Peterson (Director, Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development) discussing the City’s pandemic and economic recovery efforts, including the community hiring bill; NYCETC staff and board members discussed their vision and methodology that informed our 2021 Policy Priorities; and Evelyn Ortiz (Deputy Director, NYATEP) detailing state recovery efforts and ways to get involved.

NYCETC Lobby Week
We held a lobby week with Council Members, NYCETC staff and 26 members to discuss the work that the Coalition and our member organizations are doing to support the city’s growing workforce and the support our field needs to ensure an equitable and inclusive economic recovery from the pandemic and recession. We met with the following 14 Council Members and/or their staff - Adams, Brannan, Gibson, Grodenchik, Koo, Koslowitz, Levine, Powers, Reynoso, Rodriguez, Rosenthal, Treyger, Ulrich, and Vallone.

NYCETC organized two letters to Mayor de Blasio advocating for a comprehensive jobs and training plan in the Covid recovery and increased funding for workforce programs in the FY22 budget: a letter from 23 Council Members, spearheaded by Council Member Helen Rosenthal, that urged the Mayor to invest $20 million for bridge programs in order to ensure training programs are accessible to all New Yorkers who are currently locked out due to language or numeracy barriers; and a parallel letter signed by 142 Coalition members and partners urging the Mayor and Council to increase investments in a wide range of initiatives, including bridge programs, digital inclusion and literacy, and job training and placement.

In the final days of budget negotiations, we held a virtual rally with 100+ attendees, a dozen speakers, and featured remarks from Council Members Helen Rosenthal, Adrienne Adams, Robert Cornegy Jr., and Barry Grodenchik to urge Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council to increase investments for workforce development training providers and clients. Attendees also heard from business partners, service providers, and program participants on the urgent need for resources to support training and employment programs as a key strategy of the pandemic recovery.

Responding to the urgency posed in the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic, NYCETC convened over 80 leaders from the private and human services sectors to create space for a solutions oriented discussion on the immediate crisis of unemployment and small business collapse in New York City that resulted from the pandemic and recession. Together, this group of leaders and experts developed Recovery For All: A Vision for New York City’s Equitable Economic Recovery, outlining strategies for New York City’s recovery in the following areas: the education and training ecosystem for displaced workforce and marginalized communities; relief programs for individuals and hard-hit communities; rebuilding through public works and direct public employment; recovery for local small businesses and nonprofits, and support for new business development.

Invest in Skills NYC (ISNYC) is a collaboration between NYCETC, the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYATEP), and JobsFirstNYC to make workforce development an economic priority and achieve policy change that streamlines the workforce development system through significant sustained state and local investment. In September 2021, ISNYC released our recommendations for the next New York City mayor to achieve an inclusive and equitable recovery for our city.

In response to the civil unrest and continued harassment and brutality toward Black Americans in our city and country, 90 leaders of Black, Latinx, Asian and Middle Eastern descent published an open letter calling on Mayor de Blasio and City leadership to protect the right to peacefully protest and create meaningful, structural and immediate ways for demands by POC leaders and communities to be heard and enacted. This letter was written by NYCETC’s Jose Ortiz, Jr. with the support of our friends and partners — Steve Choi (New York Immigration Coalition), Janelle Farris (Brooklyn Community Services), Damyn Kelly (Lutheran Social Services of NY), Frankie Miranda (Hispanic Federation), Eileen Torres (BronxWorks), and Jo-Ann Yoo (Asian American Federation).

Our research and communications are central to our innovation and advocacy efforts. We center our research on the needs of our member organizations and jobseekers, and how City policies and investments can impact their programs and services.