Leadership from business, education, non-profit, labor, employers to help reshape workforce training

Task force to bolster administration’s efforts to provide quality employment opportunities for more New Yorkers to develop a stronger, resilient economy

NEW YORK—Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the 30 members of ‘Jobs for New Yorkers’ that will develop real-time 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 low-paying 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, well-paying jobs that support families,” said Mayor Bill 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 low-income 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, NYCCLC; 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 dynamic 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 low-wage 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 our 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. 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,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

“The labor movement will continue to help provide working men and women with the training and support necessary to secure good jobs paying family-sustaining wages,” said Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “I applaud the de Blasio administration for initiating this task force, and I look forward to working with other city stakeholders to help reduce the crippling income disparities that have plagued hard working New Yorkers for far too long.”

“To become a city of equal opportunity, New York City must advance opportunities for upward mobility through job training and supports that lead to family-sustaining wages,” said Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and Executive Director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. “We applaud Mayor de Blasio’s efforts to move the city’s workforce system to one that is focused on higher wages and growing sectors, and support his aim to ensure that less-skilled workers have access to comprehensive training, apprenticeship and job placement programs.”

“As one of the largest private employers in New York City, JPMorgan Chase knows from experience that this is a tough problem to tackle. We look forward to working with other task force members on solutions that better connect businesses with education and workforce training providers,” said Carlo Frappolli, Head of Talent at JPMorgan Chase. “We know these workforce partnerships are an effective way to create more career pathways for New York City job seekers and to improve economic opportunity for all.”

“I am very honored to serve as a member of the leadership committee of ‘Jobs for New Yorkers.’ Mayor de Blasio’s commitment to better balancing the employment base of our city is of paramount importance, and the entire task force shares his vision of growing city businesses of all sorts, enhancing the skills of our labor force, and finding meaningful and rewarding employment for our unemployed and under-employed neighbors,” said Leo Hindery Jr., Managing Partner at InterMedia Partners.

“I’m happy to serve on Mayor de Blasio’s task force. The New York Community Trust and the NYC Workforce Funders are pleased to have a productive relationship with the City as we work together on this pressing issue. We applaud the Mayor for seeking advice from experts about the most effective ways the City can help low-skilled New Yorkers succeed in jobs and careers while growing our economy. The Trust, like other foundations, is eager to work closely with the City to improve jobs and to increase access of disadvantaged New Yorkers to employment,” said Patricia Jenny, Vice President for Grants at New York Community Trust.

“Greater New York Hospital Association applauds the Mayor’s focus on the workforce needs of New York City and we look forward to working with him to ensure a great health care system for the city’s residents,” said Tim Johnson, Senior Vice President of the Greater New York Hospital Association.

“Per Scholas is honored to play a role in helping revolutionize workforce development in New York City while also leading the way to transform the South Bronx—once considered the epitome of neighborhood disinvestment and abandonment—into New York’s newest tech industry hub,” said Angie Kamath, Executive Director of Per Scholas in New York City. “Our high outcomes have only been achieved by collaborating with multiple partners from the community, city government, nonprofit and corporate sectors. ‘Jobs for New Yorkers’ is leveraging the vast experience of its members to think about how we both build on successes but also challenge ourselves to take risks and try promising new approaches.”

“The ‘Jobs for New Yorkers’ task force will engage in critically important work on two levels at once,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Kyle 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.”

“I am delighted to serve on the Mayor’s jobs task force. As a lifelong New Yorker, I recognize that nothing is more important to the city’s future than ensuring employment opportunities for its people,” said John Mogulescu, Senior University Dean for Academic Affairs at CUNY.

“The biggest growth sector in the coming years in NYC and around the world is technology and we must make certain our children are educated properly so they can work in high quality well-paying tech sector jobs. I am pleased that NYC and its public school system is making strides to provide this kind of education to the children of NYC,” said Fred Wilson, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures.

“Workforce Development is a crucial component for a growing economy. Helping people find the skills to secure a decent wage and benefits is vital. I am honored to serve on Mayor de Blasio’s Task Force and look forward to working with the team he has assembled,” said Cesar J. Claro, Executive Director of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation.

“It’s an honor to participate and contribute to Mayor de Blasio’s ‘Jobs for New Yorkers’ task force, and I’m thankful that the Mayor is taking leadership on this important issue. Within these past few years, we have seen a dramatic shift in the burgeoning Queens tech community and the opportunities that it provides. 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,” said Jukay Hsu, Founder of Coalition for Queens (C4Q).

“There is no more important issue facing the city than the skills gap. The ‘Jobs for New Yorkers’ task force can help guide City policy and action and achieve real economic benefit for all New Yorkers,” said Stanley Litow, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs and President of the IBM International Foundation for IBM.

“A world class city like New York City needs a world class workforce development system that achieves the right balance between the needs of job seekers and businesses, integrates the resources of government, employers, providers and private funders effectively to impact workforce strategy and programs, and leverages the exponential advances in technology to prepare New Yorkers for work in a changing world and changing economy,” said Ira Machowsky, Executive Vice President of FEGS.

“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 family-supporting wages and real career paths,” said Maria Torres-Springer, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “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.”

The task force’s membership is comprised of: Nisha Agarwal, Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs; John Banks, Con Edison; Steven Banks, NYC’s Human Resources Administration; Bill Chong, NYC’s Department of Youth and Community Development; Cesar Claro, Staten Island Economic Development Corporation; Steven Dawson, Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute; Fred Dixon, NYC & Company; Leecia Eve, Verizon; Carmen Fariña, Department of Education; Greg Hambric, Modells Sporting Goods; Daniel P. Huttenlocher, Cornell NYC TECH; Jukay Hsu, Coalition for Queens; David Jones, Community Service Society; Steve Kempf, Lee Spring; Deborah King, 1199 Health Care Fund; Chauncy Lennon, JP Morgan; Stanley S. Litow, IBM; Cynthia Lopez, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment; Ira Machosky, FEGS; Cheryl McKissack, McKissack & McKissack; Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospitality Group; Shola Olatoye, New York City Housing Authority; Andrea Phillips, Goldman Sachs Foundation; Feliz Matos Rodriguez, Hostos Community College; Jessamyn W. Rodriguez, Hot Bread Kitchen; Jake Schwartz, General Assembly; Mindy Tarlow, Mayor’s Office of Operations; Gilbert Taylor, Department of Homeless Services; Josh Wallack, NYC’s Department of Education; Denise Warren, New York Times Media and Sondra Youdelman, Community Voices Heard.

Background on ‘Jobs for New Yorkers’ Leadership:

Vincent Alvarez
Vincent Alvarez is the first full-time president of the NYCCLC, and the organization’s first Latino President. Alvarez is the board chairman for the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University, as well as a board member for the Greater New York Councils, Boy Scouts of America; the AFL-CIO State Federation CLC Advisory Board; and the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at City University of New York. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta, where he majored in business economics.

Jennifer Jones Austin
Jennifer Jones Austin is the Chief Executive Officer and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. Prior to joining FPWA, Jones Austin served as senior vice president of United Way of New York City. In 2006, Jennifer Jones Austin was appointed New York City’s first Family Services Coordinator by Mayor Bloomberg. Jones Austin earned her law degree from Fordham University School of Law, a Master’s degree in Management and Policy from New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and a Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.

Carlo Frapolli
Carlo Frappolli is Head of Talent at JPMorgan Chase. In this capacity, he is responsible for talent management, leadership development, succession planning and talent acquisition. Frappolli is a graduate of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. Frappolli’s civic involvement includes being on the National Board of the American Liver Foundation and the Chancellor’s Advisory Council at TCU.

Leo Hindery, Jr.
Leo Hindery, Jr. is Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners, a series of media industry private equity funds he founded in 1988. Hindery is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and co-chair of the Task Force on Job Creation and Trade. In 2008, he was an economic and trade advisor to presidential candidate Barack Obama. From 2001 until October 2004, he was the founding Chairman and CEO of The YES Network, the regional television home of the New York Yankees. Hindery is a director of Common Cause New York, the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council.

Patricia Jenny
Patricia Jenny is Vice President for Grants at The New York Community Trust, New York City’s community foundation. Since 2001, she managed a national environment program supporting efforts across the country to address climate change, environmental health, and habitat protection. Jenny also manages a philanthropic collaborative focused on improving the workforce development system for New York City job seekers and employers. Jenny has also served as the director of the Neighborhood Strategies Project.

Tim Johnson
Tim Johnson is Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Finance and Graduate Medical Education at the Greater New York Hospital Association. Johnson is also the executive director of the GNYHA Foundation, which identifies grant-funding opportunities for individual institutional projects as well as collaborative projects that can serve common needs across multiple institutions. He holds a Master of Science degree in Mathematics and Statistics and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy.

Kyle Kimball
Kyle Kimball serves as President and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where he leads the organization’s continued efforts to position New York City as the global center for innovation and to increase economic empowerment and mobility for all New Yorkers. Since joining NYCEDC in 2008, Kimball has helped to develop and implement NYCEDC’s strategy to bolster the City’s economy, including expanding entrepreneurship and developing new career paths that expand and strengthen New York’s middle class. Kimball previously worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a vice president and at J.P. Morgan, also as a Vice President.

Angie Kamath
Angie Kamath is currently the Executive Director of the New York site of Per Scholas, a national nonprofit that breaks cycles of poverty by training and placing unemployed and underemployed adults into entry and mid-level IT positions. She has also served as Deputy Commissioner of Workforce Development at the NYC Department of Small Business Services. Before working in City government, Kamath was the Executive Director of StreetWise Partners, a job training organization, and she began her career in corporate finance at Citigroup. Kamath holds a B.S. in Business Management from Cornell University and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University.

John Mogulescu
John Mogulescu is the Senior University Dean for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the CUNY School of Professional Studies, where he is responsible for the oversight of collaborative programs between CUNY and the New York City Public Schools, CUNY Prep Transitional High School, the CUNY Language Immersion Program, CUNY Start, the Adult Literacy and GED Preparation Programs, and the University’s Workforce Development Initiative. Mogulescu received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.S.W. from New York University.

Maria Torres-Springer
Maria Torres-Springer serves as Commissioner of Small Business Services. Prior to joining the de Blasio administration, Torres-Springer served as the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she oversaw the development and implementation of more than 100 initiatives designed to support innovation and entrepreneurship across all industries. Torres-Springer has also served at the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development & Rebuilding as a senior policy advisor and as the Chief Operating Officer of Friends of the Highline.

Fred Wilson
Fred Wilson has been a venture capitalist since 1987. He currently is a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and also founded Flatiron Partners. Fred has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Fred is married with three kids and lives in New York City.

From the Mayor’s Office
pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov
(212) 788-2958

Four accomplished technologists from a federal intelligence agency, NYC government, a leading philanthropic foundation, and the fashion house of Dolce & Gabbana- we could not have asked for more diversity in terms of the companies that were represented at the IT Panel at Per Scholas yesterday. However, there was a more powerful and striking commonality amongst our 4 speakers: they were all women, and all women of color. The 40 female Per Scholas students who attended were inspired, wowed, and simply excited to see strong powerful women make it in IT – and importantly these 4 professionals came from the same communities in many cases as our students.

The advice flowed for 2 hours and if our guest speakers did not have to leave, I am pretty certain they could have held a captive audience for another 2 hours! Hearing about the experiences of being a women in a male dominated industry was honest and a good eye opener for our women in tech students. While the entire session was compelling and chock full of advice here are a few of the reflections that resonated with me include:

1. Be tough, be prepared, and expect to be held under greater scrutiny simply because you are a woman.
2. 75% of being an IT professional is research – know how and from whom to find out new information. Always self study and use every tool and mentor you can.
3. Always keep your hand up – offer to help on anything to advance in your career. Mentors and sponsors will notice you and will help.
4. Find the smartest person in your area of interest and make it your business to meet and learn from them regularly.
5. Network! Network! Network! Get to the point in your career when you don’t need to apply for jobs formally, but rather you get tapped for new positions because of your reputation and work ethic.
6. Don’t cry. Ever. And if you are so frustrated or upset and you need to – get yourself to a private spot or the bathroom ASAP! (Or “pretend you poked yourself in the eye by accident”!)

Great advice, and advice backed by experience. And why might our students listen and take heed? Because these same guest speakers who are on top of their games professionally, have had their share of personal challenges and growth opportunities. The speakers candidly shared their stories – whether it was about starting out as a secretary, being out of work for years, being homeless for 2 years, or giving up the chance to go to college to care for her children. And they shared and held these experiences with pride – because they never let anything get in their way. They resolved to not accept their realities and to be smart and creative and ambitious to change their path. That is courage and perseverance up close and personal.

For those of us in the room yesterday – we shared in a powerful moment together. Seeing strong, brave, accomplished women guide and share their stories to a new crop of future technologists was one of those moments that no one in the room will forget for years to come. You can view the pictures from the panel by clicking here.

Bronx-based IT job training nonprofit, Per Scholas, Attends White House Event Focused on Serving the Long-Term Unemployed

Plinio Ayala, Per Scholas President & CEO, meets with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss strategy, scale and implementation

Bronx, N.Y. January 31, 2014 — Per Scholas, a national non-profit providing free IT job training and career support to individuals in underserved communities, will attend a White House event on Friday, January 31 convened by President Obama to discuss strategies for helping our nation’s nearly 4 million long-term unemployed get back into the labor market. President and CEO Plinio Ayala is attending to share the Per Scholas approach to serving the long-term unemployed and will sit with Vice President Biden to discuss how to strengthen skills training across the country.

Sector partnerships will be one of the strategies featured at the event as a tool to help the long-term unemployed re-train for new well-paying, family-supporting careers. These business-led partnerships bring together multiple firms within the same industry along with local colleges, training providers, community-based organizations and workforce investment boards. These employers work together to define common skill standards for hard-to-fill positions, and then partner organizations align publicly funded training and support services to prepare people for those jobs.

Mr. Ayala has been called to the White House to share the successes of Per Scholas in building such partnerships to re-employ local residents in the Information Technology industry. One of the hallmarks of the approach is that it is employer-driven with a growing list of employer partners who play an integral role in the program and graduates’ success. They include ASI System Integration, Barclays, Bloomberg, Cablevision, JPMorgan Chase, Neuberger Berman, NYSE Euronext, Pomeroy, Time Warner and many others.

A number of organizations promoting the national expansion of sector partnerships will also be in attendance, including National Skills Coalition and Business Leaders United for Workforce Partnerships. Other event participants will include CEOs from national corporations, small- and medium-sized employers, foundations, and other local organizations working to help the long-term unemployed in a variety of ways.

Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker will be joining President Obama at the event to discuss a number of new efforts by the Obama Administration to bring new attention to the long-term unemployed. Among those efforts, it is anticipated that President Obama will be announcing new support for sector partnerships and other workforce intermediaries working with the long-term unemployed, building on the successful models developed by such organizations as Per Scholas.

Per Scholas provides free IT training, career development services, and job placement support for unemployed adults who have the drive but lack the skills to succeed in the IT industry. The Creating IT Futures Foundation, the philanthropic arm of CompTIA, partnered with Per Scholas to form the IT-Ready training network and spurred the national expansion of the program. IT-Ready has served 5,000 people to date in New York, Cincinnati and Columbus, OH, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and the National Capital Region. The network will grow to eight cities by 2016 and will train more than 1,000 individuals annually. Learn more at www.perscholas.org.

I have had the good fortune to spend time with amazing accomplished female technologists in the past week, and I wanted to share some of their insights.

Last week, I was at the 2nd Anita Borg Institute’s NYC networking event and like the first event (I did not attend, but my colleague did and loved it) it was a great opportunity to be with women in technology who were at both the beginning and mid of their careers and really interesting in both mentoring others AND smartly networking.

The keynote speaker Professor Deborah Estrin of Cornell Tech NYC spoke of her wide and varied career in academic and research centers. She spoke of the nagging self doubt she’d often feel and of the self consciousness of being a woman. Her advice: be aware of it – but push through and don’t let it hold you back. Like Lorinda Brandon of Smartbear Software, she recently told a group of over 80 of our students “raise your hand.” Be the one in the group that is willing to try things out whether that is a project, a new initiative or an assignment that is ambiguous but might prove interesting.

There is a lot of talk and advice about women in technology these days — good and important conversations. I am starting to develop an opinion that the most important thing we can do is have mentors for our female technologists. And through the mentoring, acknowledge that trailblazers can often feel self doubt. When you are one of only a few women in the department or unit — it feels weird. Acknowledge it and move past it. Quickly.

Learn more about Per Scholas Women in Tech and reach out if you want to be involved.

At 10:36 this morning, we achieved 100% enrollment in the MRDC WorkforceAdvance study. Since 2011, Per Scholas has been part of the WorkAdvance study, and we’ve met our goal of 700 individuals enrolled into IT-Ready training in New York!

Per Scholas was competitively selected to participate in WorkAdvance, which incorporates tested sector-based employment strategies, one of our strengths, such as job coaching post-employment and other support services for graduates. WorkAdvance and its evaluation are funded through the federal Social Innovation Fund (SIF), an initiative enacted under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. Administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, SIF is a public-private partnership designed to identify and expand effective solutions to critical social challenges.

WorkAdvance is part of the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) SIF project, led by CEO and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City in collaboration with MDRC. In eight cities, the CEO SIF project is replicating, improving, and testing five antipoverty programs — including WorkAdvance — that draw on strategies with evidence of effectiveness in New York City and elsewhere.

While Per Scholas has enrolled 100% of its participants in WorkAdvance, the study will continue to follow participants for two years after enrollment.

WorkAdvance released a policy brief highlighting our work, which you can read by clicking here.

Last week was a huge week for corporate volunteering.

Per Scholas held THREE separate volunteering events at our main site in the Bronx and also in Manhattan. Tuesday June 18th, Barclays hosted an event at their site in mid-town Manhattan, Wednesday June, 19th Moody’s came by our office to help with mock interviews, and Thursday June 20th Interbrand also came by to assist our students with their online presence.

Read more about the Barclays visit below:

Tuesday, June 18th marked the launch of the brand new series of bi-weekly mock interview sessions hosted by our corporate partner, Barclays, during which Per Scholas students are provided with vital interviewing, self-marketing and networking experience. This week, eight students were invited to Barclays’ mid-town location where they were able to experience exactly what a corporate job interview would be like: arriving at an unfamiliar office location, signing into the office building with security and interviewing with multiple individuals for actual IT jobs in the field, such as Desktop Support and Help Desk Support positions. Students were given actual job specifics ahead of time to prepare themselves and were expected to do their research, just as any good interviewee would. Contrary to a traditional job interview, however, Per Scholas students get the added benefit of immediate feedback by the professional mentors volunteering their time to help. Interviewers filled out evaluation forms providing helpful tips for improving the students’ skills in the future — which will aide them in landing the job when the real world opportunity roles around.

Student Laura Harris said of the afternoon: “It was a great experience and I picked up some great tips in terms of how to handle myself during an interview.”

Frank Montes added, “I was a little nervous, similar to what happens in real interviews, and I know I made several mistakes. However, this experience will help me to be better prepared for the future interviews I have to come.”

Fatou Diop also felt similar: “I am very thankful for the experience at Barclays… I learned a lot from it.”

And it’s true. On average, it takes a Per Scholas student three interviews before they land a job (80% of all graduates become employed post training). The more practice our corporate volunteers can offer our students, the greater the chances our students can move that number from a 3 average — to one.

Overall, our first mock interview session was a great first time success! We would like to thank the interviewers, Wayne, Nick, Doug and Golam for taking time out of their work day to assist our students and for their continued support to Per Scholas and its’ mission. With their help, these students were able to sharpen their interviewing skills and left feeling more confident in themselves and their abilities.

If you or your company is interested in volunteering with Per Scholas, please contact Sarah Conte, Corporate Relations & Volunteer Manager, at sconte@perscholas.org.

Last Thursday I had the good fortune to spend my evening with some amazing entrepreneurs and talented IT professionals. And it was all women. Women in Tech is trending (it has its own hashtag) and is an increasingly bigger deal in NYC as the tech community continues to swell — which is exciting.

I attended the Coalition for Women in Tech Meetup at Control Group. Per Scholas is a founding member of the coalition, and as cliche as it sounds — I am psyched. Folks join the IT space often because the environments are fast paced and you have a chance to create something. With this Coalition, and all the energy and excitement that exists around supporting Women in Technology, it feels like Per Scholas will have a chance to help shape a small part of the broader agenda to help get more women into the IT field. Keeping true to our roots of helping those who are underserved and who would not get a foot into the IT world without our help will be our angle. I really think there is tremendous support, interest and appetite to make great things happen for the women we serve.

We are excited to be joining brilliant minds and leaders from NY Tech Meetup, Control Group, Girls Develop IT, AT&T, along with other champions like us — Girls Who Code, Hack n’ Jill, TheLi.st, NYTechWomen, Pipeline Fellowship, Plum Alley and Women Innovate Mobile.

More to come as this develops…

About NYTM

Founded in 2004 by meetup.com founder Scott Heiferman and co-founded by Dawn Barber, the NY Tech Meetup has over 30,000 members, representing professionals from all parts of the New York technology community. NYTM centers around its monthly events, where members gather to watch emerging companies demo new ideas, hear leading-edge thinking on technology topics, and build their networks to develop their businesses. NYTM has been integral in the birth of New York’s new Silicon Alley, with nearly every notable new company, including Foursquare and Tumblr, making their debut at a NYTM demo. NYTM is a not-for-profit, community-led organization. Its Executive Director is Jessica Lawrence, President is Nate Westheimer and Chair of the Board is Andrew Rasiej. www.nytm.org.

About Control Group

Control Group helps organizations envision and build their long-term future. Through strategic consulting, user-centered design, and multi-discipline engineering, Control Group enables organizations to translate their brand into more meaningful and profitable connections with their stakeholders across digital and physical touch points. The firm was recently recognized for their interactive wayfinding kiosks for the New York City MTA, Fast Company’s “Most Ambitious In-Store Retail iPad Experience” for their work with Kate Spade, and one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in New York. Control Group’s clients include leaders in Civic, Real Estate Development, Hospitality, Healthcare, Finance, and Retail industries. For more information about Control Group and its services, go to http://www.controlgroup.com.

About Girl Develop It

Girl Develop It is an international organization, certified by the Board of Education, that exists to provide affordable and accessible programs to women who want to learn software development through mentorship and hands-on instruction. For more information about Girl Develop It, go to: http://girldevelopit.com/.

Keith Klain loves talking software testing. Just Google his name to see for yourself. Keith is Head of Barclays Global Test Center, where he oversees some 700 employees. Prompted by CIO of Barclays and Per Scholas Board member Joe Squeri, he sees software testing as the avenue for dozens if not hundreds of Per Scholas graduates to get their start in a technology career.

So, he came on site and talked software testing to two dozen soon-to-graduate students. Here are some key (no nonsense) takeaways:

• Software testing is the biggest growth segment in IT. The jobs are expected to double over the next two years.
• Companies have lots of legacy systems and are increasingly complex. This means job insurance for skilled testers.
• Software testing has had a low barrier to entry, but to be skilled, you need a brain that thinks critically.
• Learn to learn. People will ignore you if you are not relevant. You must self educate — always.
• To be a good tester, be curious. Ask questions, ask “Why?” (a lot). Don’t just execute steps and walk through the motions. Really try to find the problems and ask why something may not work.
• “Culture eats strategy for lunch.”
• You will want to change the world in a new job (everyone thinks this) but you need to realize and recognize that status quo is hard to change. Not impossible, just hard. Manage your expectations.
• Don’t accept mediocrity

There is also a major commitment made by the Association for Software Testers (AST), of which Keith Klain is a board member, to share curriculum to grow the talent and pipeline of workers in this field. Over the next several months we will be exploring curriculum development for Per Scholas students and alumni in software testing as well as creating a job placement track for testers.

We are hugely appreciative of Keith spending time with us and being so passionate and realistic about the possibilities this holds for Per Scholas. This is why Joe Squeri and Barclays are being honored at this year’s ROI Corporate Dinner. When they make a commitment to invest in their community — they mean it.

We always put our IT training successes in the spotlight, but on Earth Day we move the spotlight to our Asset Recovery team and the corporate partners who share our commitment to a cleaner planet. Since last Earth Day Per Scholas has prevented 261 tons of e-waste from hitting landfills, a total of 28,000 units of equipment from CPU towers to microwave ovens. That weight is the equivalent to 30 grown elephants.

Our committed partners Debevoise & Plimpton, Fox Cable Network, and Estee Lauder are observing this Earth Day by having a week-long, onsite IT recycling drive at their offices on behalf of Per Scholas. The donated equipment will either be re-furbished for use in our IT Training school or processed with our partner dataserv to be safely recycled.

Why does this matter? E-Waste (electronic waste) is super toxic. Responsible recycling aims to minimize the dangers to human health and the environment that disposed and dismantled electronics can create.

Learn more about Per Scholas Asset Recovery.

Plinio Ayala, President and CEO of Per Scholas, wrote “How Workforce Development Can Work Well for Jobseekers and Business” April 4, 2013. It was posted to the Huffington Post blog “What is Working: Small Business.”

Workforce development is all about connecting individuals who want good jobs with employers who want good workers. A well-designed workforce system can help small businesses find and retain a high-quality labor force, at very low cost. A poorly designed workforce system can be a costly distraction, to both small businesses and job-seekers.

As a longtime workforce practitioner, let me provide an example of how one small business was able to take advantage of the workforce system in New York City — and then suggest how that system could be re-designed to help many more small businesses create good quality jobs in this difficult economy:

When Jason Haibi from CS Technology in New York City proposed a company internship program using graduates of an IT Ready training program run by Per Scholas, he never dreamed of the impact it would have on his business. Jason wanted to expand his IT operations, but couldn’t afford the high salaries commanded by fully trained applicants. “By introducing a paid technical operations internship program, we were able to advance our corporate citizenship, while also growing our internal IT operations department from a group of three to five individuals,” Haibi said. “We achieved the additional headcount, consisting of truly skilled individuals, at nearly half the cost of traditional methods.”

The small business benefited because it connected to a workforce development program that tailors job training to fill well-paying, skilled roles that exist. The jobseekers benefited because they had average annual earnings of less than $8,000 prior to attending classes, but are now full-time employees and earning over $40,000 a year. A win-win scenario for all involved — and one that illustrates how workforce development can work well, especially for small businesses.

Elements of this story from one small business can be expanded to inform the redesign of New York City’s workforce development system. With unemployment hovering above 9 percent, the next mayor will need to deliver on the promise of job creation for all New Yorkers. Job creation is driven by both economic development (helping start new companies and expand existing businesses, both large and small), and workforce development (job training for workers as well as helping businesses access New York City’s talent pool). The city can play a central role in supporting both — creating good jobs across all five boroughs and helping businesses succeed.

The good news is that every year, foundations, unions, government agencies and nonprofits spend more than $400 million on workforce development programs in New York City. A number of programs directly help workers and businesses:

Worker-employer matching – connecting the right worker with the right employer

Employee support – helping workers keep jobs and be successful in them

Job training – teaching workers the skills they need for jobs in growth industries

Career development – providing new, on-the-job skills that benefit both workers and employers

Job redesign – rethinking how workers can become more efficient and productive

Despite these resources, businesses and job-seekers get lost in the bureaucratic shuffle, with dozens of agencies and organizations working at cross purposes. Improvements to accountability, inter-agency coordination and even data sharing are necessary changes that will benefit many more New York job-seekers and small businesses that turn to the workforce system when seeking employees.

Last year, I joined a diverse group of stakeholders with decades of experience in the city’s workforce system, supported by the New York City Workforce Funders. We strategized about how New York could do a better job of connecting individuals who want good jobs with employers who need skilled workers. Together, we developed Re-Envisioning the New York City Workforce System. Here are five of our recommendations:

1. Appoint a “job czar” reporting directly to the mayor. The job czar will oversee all workforce resources in the city, bring accountability to workforce programs and coordinate a unified system for job creation with economic development agencies and organizations.

2. Establish a network of nonprofit workforce partnerships responsible for coordinating funding streams and putting programs into practice.

3. Realign financing to reward long-term job outcomes, so that more workers stick with jobs once they are placed in them and learn the skills they need for jobs in growth industries.

4. Design a universal system of program assessment and information management, to eliminate redundancy and help programs make informed decisions about what works to create jobs that match business’s needs.

5. Create a formal Council of Workforce Advisers with foundations, businesses, unions and non-profits advising the mayor on creating a 21st-century training and employment system for the entire city.

Re-envisioning the New York City Workforce System is a blueprint for the next mayor to deliver on the promise of job creation and help businesses, small and large, succeed and expand. It is a call to action to build a workforce with skills that businesses can use today. The result — workforce development that works for jobseekers and employers — will create a stronger economy for the city and a better life for many New Yorkers.