CWE Presents to Council Hearing on Workforce Development and Unemployment

CWE testified before the City Council Economic Development and Small Business Committees at a hearing on workforce development and combating unemployment on December 9th (full testimony below).

Darly Corniel, Education Director, testified on behalf of CWE about the work that CWE partners have been doing since the dawn of the pandemic to support workers with their immediate needs and their desire to get back to work safely during the COVID crisis.

“Given this crisis for workers, from who’s ‘going back,’ to lost employment, to profound economic turmoil, CWE has, as its mandate, to do whatever is in our ability to ameliorate the burden to our city’s current and future workers; to partner and collaborate by all means possible; to secure critical resources and to create and innovate for new, sustainable work opportunities,” Corniel testified.

The Committee on Economic Development is chaired by Paul Vallone, while the Committee on Small Business is chaired by Mark Gjonaj.

CWE partners Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, Employment Training Coalition, and Nontraditional Employment for Women also testified at the hearing.

Corniel stressed the key role that the CWE network of unions and community organizations plays in New York City’s workforce development landscape. “CWE is unique in its structure, demonstrating collaborative relations between organized labor and community groups on behalf of workers. While such a mutually benefiting relationship is often recommended, nationally, it only exists in New York City.”

While vaccinations have begun and there is renewed hope for economic support from Washington, the road to recovery will still be long and difficult for New York workers. The CWE network is already working to ensure that New Yorkers have all the support they need to get through this crisis and have the skills and resources to find a good career to take them forward.

FULL TESTIMONY

December 9, 2020

Presented by the Consortium for Worker Education, Inc.

Good Morning, Committee Chairs Gnonaj and Vallone, Council members and Committee staff. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on how the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE) and our network of workforce development community-based organizations (CBOs) and union partners to work to ameliorate the increasing numbers of unemployed New Yorkers. CWE actively engages with the City Council and State agencies to deliver workforce education and training to underserved NYC communities’ residents. CWE’s Jobs to Build On program(JtBO) and  Worker Service Center Program(WSC) were launched by the City Council as its own Workforce Development initiatives.

CWE is unique in its structure, demonstrating collaborative relations between organized labor and community groups on behalf of workers. While such a mutually benefiting relationship  is often recommended, nationally, it is only exists in New York City.

 Several months into the ongoing public health crisis, we know that the economic impacts of this pandemic will not be short-lived. The rising unemployment levels are impacting communities of color the most, the same communities that have suffered in the highest numbers from COVID-19. We need government action, at the local, state, and federal level, to help working families survive the crisis and re-enter the workforce. At CWE, that means uplifting the integral community organizations and unions that NYC workers know, trust, and depend on. Those groups are uniquely equipped to support our city’s unemployed and underemployed, not simply with their workforce development offerings, but their holistic approaches to supporting the individual worker. They understand that it is difficult to find and keep a job if a person’s basic needs are not met first. This testimony will provide some details about how CWE’s network of workforce development partners are supporting those unemployed New Yorkers most in need.

The Consortium consists of more than 40 trusted community-based  organizations, including our senior partners: Henry Street Settlement, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI), SOBRO, Non-Traditional Employment for Women (NEW), Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT), CAMBA, Per Scholas and Urban Upbound who participate through CWE’ JtBO, WSC and the Immigrant Protection Group (IPG).  Our  Network partners provide an array of employment services, including job placement, industry-specific training and workforce education opportunities. These organizations quickly transitioned to host these classes and services virtually after the “PAUSE” in March. Throughout 2020, these groups have continued apace with their education programs, reorganized their classes, and guaranteed that their students received both educational continuity and institutional, material and personal support. CWE service resource umbrella has be  integral to sustaining these important programs in economically distressed communities.

As part of this holistic model, CWE’s partners have expanded security net services—securing unemployment insurance, growing food/ nutrition assistance programs, providing internet access and loans of tech equipment, building resources to access childcare, healthcare and housing, and connecting workers to timely vital social services. Since March, Unemployed New Yorkers have been placed ongoingly in the growing number Essential service jobs in such fields as healthcare, transportation and construction.  

CWE’s workforce development Network trains and places workers in Essential occupations including:

• The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), part of CWE’s JtB0 Initiative, works with formerly incarcerated job seekers, who have entered employment in Essential service fields like the cleaning and sanitation services at NYCHA housing projects.

·        CAMBA put job seekers in Central Brooklyn to work in Essential sector industries like health care, security at homeless shelters, and wholesale grocery distribution.

• Many of the graduates of Brooklyn Workforce Initiatives (BWI) have gained employment in Essential jobs such as bus drivers and NYCHA maintenance workers.

 The Network’s workforce preparation, training and remote education services include:

• Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT) went to remote learning services, with its 30 online ESOL and HSE classes were maintained with a 70% attendance rate

• The Coalition for the Homeless program provides computer classes, job readiness training and internships to women living in homeless shelters.

• The Center for Family Life, which supports worker co-op development in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, has continued to provide remote ESOL workshops, workforce development, and family counseling to its participants. In response to COVID-19, a new line of business is being developed to perform deep disinfection cleaning in commercial buildings.

·       Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC) has launched a virtual culinary skills certifications program.

CWE’s Network delivers robust safety-net services in housing, healthcare, unemployment insurance, food/nutrition assistance and temporary financial support to  New Yorkers in need. Of note, among many:

·       Urban Upbound Northwest Queens organized a food distribution network that serves some of the largest housing projects in the city.

• The Independent Drivers Guild created “Labor Delivers,” a program in which unemployed taxi and black car drivers deliver food to people who might otherwise go hungry. Within a month of its inception, over 11,000 drivers were employed in food delivery, and over 6 million meals had been delivered to New York City residents.

• Henry St. Settlement and CAMBA have created and operate some of the largest community food banks in NYC.

As the public health crisis persists, CWE and our partners are actively engaged in city-wide workforce development recovery effort. The Consortium, in partnership with James Parrot of the New School Center for New  York City Affairs, established the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Project with the objective of monitoring New York City’s ongoing economic and employment conditions and developing policy and programmatic recommendations to facilitate worker and small business recovery.  We are fervently committed to the continued support of New York’s workers in need of education, training and upgrade skills in our changed new economy.

Given this crisis for workers, to who’s “going back”, to lost employment, to profound economic turmoil, CWE has, as its mandate, to do whatever in our ability to ameliorate the burden to our City’s current and future workers; to partner and collaborate by all means possible; to secure critical  resources and to create and innovate for new, sustainable work  opportunities.

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The Consortium for Worker Education

CWE’s Jobs to Build On (JTBO) workforce development program is funded annually by the New York City Council for worker training and employment with a focus on neighborhoods with high and long-term unemployment. JtBO networks with workforce education and training CBOs to recruit, train, and place unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers. Since JtBO was formed in 2007, it has trained and placed more 25,000 New Yorkers in quality, well-paying careers.

CWE’s Worker Service Centers (WSC) program provides instructional services to community-based organizations that conduct workforce training for New York City residents. These services range from job readiness and computer skills classes to short-term occupational training. WSC participants are provided with the basic skills and job readiness preparation to advance to Jobs to Build On and other job training programs. The program is funded by the New York City Council.

CWE’s Immigrant Protection Group is a coalition of 13 union and community-based organizations that collaborate to advocate for the rights of immigrants. Under normal circumstances, the mission of the partnership includes asylum services and family petitions, ESOL and citizenship classes, legal fraud prevention education and other services. Many partners have added new services  to respond to Covid-related safety net, health, housing and general welfare concerns of the immigrant community.

The CWE Health Care Institute has delivered Allied Health Care occupational education and training 14 essential worker job titles to 1199SEIU TEF’s entry-level healthcare workers in the NYC’s care-continuum. This includes certification preparation for new and upgrade employment.

The Child Care Facilitated Enrollment Project (FEP) was developed in 2002 to assist working parents to increase access to childcare subsidies and quality care in New York City through a streamlined process for children up to 13 years of age with qualifying incomes. The FEP is administered by CWE in coordination with OCFS and ACS.

Together with its community and labor partners, the Consortium for Worker Education’s network served over 45,000 in FY19-20. One third of JtBO placements that year were in union jobs. CWE partners with the NYC Central Labor Council (CLC) and 46 of the CLC’s affiliates to provide vocational training and skills upgrades to tens of thousands of unionized workers in all sectors. For 18 years, CWE has delivered training for NYC Building and Construction Trades Council’s  E.J. Molloy Construction Skills pre-apprenticeship program.

For more about the Consortium for Worker Education, visit cwe.org or follow us on social media.