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NYCWorks in Full Swing

VIDEO: Robert's Story

Only 54% of the working age population in the city is actually engaged in the labor market, and specific populations continue to suffer disproportionately high rates of unemployment.

NYCWorks, a $14 million New York City Council workforce development initiative administered by United Way, seeks to ensure that chronically unemployed and underemployed adults and out-of-school youth acquire both the hard and soft skills necessary to gain and retain employment.

Focused on the city's most distressed neighborhoods, NYCWorks targets not only those who are temporarily unemployed, but those who have never held a job, the formerly incarcerated, out-of-school youth ages 17-21, and working poor who hold low-paying jobs but still are unable to cover basic necessities.

Results Matter

Launched in March 2006, NYCWorks involves 82 community-based organizations serving high-need neighborhoods in all five boroughs.

In its first two years, almost 17,000 low-wage New Yorkers have benefited from the initiative:

• Of these, 11,784 people were enrolled in NYCWorks soft skills, occupational and entrepreneurial training programs.
• 2,777 participants received specialized services to help manage unique issues they face due to mental/physical disabilities, re-entry after a period of incarceration and/or a previous period of homelessness.
• 2,273 individuals have completed an educational (Pre-GED or GED) program through NYCWorks. So far, 293 participants have gotten their GEDs and 176 have been placed in post secondary educational institutions.
• As of January 2008, 4,647 NYCWorks participants had been placed in jobs.

Value Added

United Way administers NYCWorks on behalf of the City Council and has added over $800,000 in private funding to support the program. Other value added services that we have been able to contribute to the program include:

• UWNYC provides cash advances to agencies to ensure quick startup and no cash flow problems.
• UWNYC provides technical assistance and professional development to participating agencies in areas such as outcome management, job development, retention techniques, engagement of employers, and capacity building for organizational and financial systems.
• United Way forged community collaborations between larger, experienced organizations and smaller, less experienced groups who could not compete on their own for complicated, government-funded contracts.

NYCWorks Grantees

United Way is pleased to join with the New York City Council in announcing that the organizations listed below have been awarded NYCWorks grants.

Click on the links below for a summary chart (available in both Adobe PDF and Microsoft Excel formats) that shows the names and contact information for our NYCWorks funded organizations along with their target populations and types of available training.

• Click here to download the PDF file (21 KB)
• Click here to download the Excel file (243 KB)
• Click here for general comments by the NYCWorks Review Committee

Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Black Veterans for Social Justice, Inc. Medgar Evers College Borough of Manhattan Community College Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center   Alpha-School Center for Progressive Living, Inc. Brooklyn Alliance, Inc. Kingsborough Community College/Continuing Education Local Development Corporation of East New York Partnership for the Homeless/Children & Families Initiative Spring Creek United Community Center Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York   Consortium for Worker Education Center for Employment Opportunities   Career Gear, Inc. Center for Court Innovation H.I.R.E. Network/Legal Action Center Npower NY Citizens Advice Bureau Coalition for the Homeless College of Staten Island Consortium for Worker Education   East River Development Alliance Good Old Lower East Side Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc. Hunts Point Works LaGuardia Community College The Osborne Association The Doe Fund, Inc.   Brooklyn Alliance, Inc. The Door   Binding Together, Inc. Brooklyn Woods Careers Through Culinary Arts Program, Inc. Fort Greene Strategic Neighborhood Action Partnership   Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center The HOPE Program St. Mary's Community Services, Inc. Friends of Island Academy   BronxConnect (Division of Urban Youth Alliance International) CUNY-Catch Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc.   LEAP, Inc. d/b/a Brooklyn Workforce Innovations New York City Technical College d/b/a Access for Women Henry Street Settlement   Binding Together, Inc. Bowery Residents' Committee Good Old Lower East Side Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc.   Mil Al Mission in New York, Inc. Rainbow Center, Inc. of New York South Asian Council for Social Services, Inc. Taiwan Center, Inc. Young Korean American Services & Education Center, Inc. LEAP, Inc. d/b/a Brooklyn Workforce Innovations   Brooklyn Woods, Inc. Center for Court Innovation East River Development Alliance Fifth Avenue Committee, Inc. Fort Greene Strategic Neighborhood Action Partnership Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation Local 28 Education Fund Lutheran Family Health Centers   Consortium for Worker Education Mosholu Montefiore Community Center   Tolentine Zeisser Family Life Center New York University Medical Center (Rusk Institute) Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation   Audubon Partnership for Economic Development New Heights Neighborhood Center The Osborne Association Per Scholas   Bronx Educational Services Care for the Homeless Career Gear (New York) StreetWise Partners, Inc. Queens Educational Opportunity Center   Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Inc.   LEAP, Inc. d/b/a Brooklyn Workforce Innovations Local 32BJ Thomas Shortman Training Fund Riverdale Mental Health Association, Inc.   Bronx Council on the Arts Development Corporation Rockaway Development and Revitalization Corporation   Consortium for Worker Education Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc. Southern Queens Park Association, Inc.   Dress for Success, Inc. Haitian-Americans United for Progress, Inc. STRIVE   The Fortune Society St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center Seedco   Citizens Advice Bureau Highbridge Community Life Center Mount Hope Housing Company National Puerto Rican Forum Phipps Community Development Corporation

United Way of New York City would like to thank the New York City Council for their leadership and vision in allocating $14 million dollars towards addressing the very serious issues of joblessness. The City Council's bold and significant vote to support programs outside of WIA funding is a critical step in improving the state of the workforce development delivery system in New York City.

United Way of New York City would also like to thank all of the organizations that submitted proposals to NYCWorks. The NYCWorks RFP process was highly competitive, yielding requests that far exceeded the amount of available funding. A volunteer Review Committee of more than 40 individuals representing leading experts from foundations, corporations, community representatives, and United Way staff read and evaluated all the proposals, based on their proposed plan of action, organizational capacity, staff qualifications, and budget justification. Overall, the reviewers were impressed by the high quality of the submissions as well as the innovative models proposed by organizations from across the city.

Projects were selected on the basis of their review, coupled with their focus on RFP targeted populations (including attention to the ratio of adult to youth programs), geographic diversity and sector focus. Additionally, all selections had to meet NYC Council prescribed funding allocations by borough.

While we recognize that this effort is just a small part of what is needed to meet the workforce demands of New York City we are looking forward to an exciting and productive initiative.

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