KCC Work Learn & Grow program

Mayor De Blasio Announces Efforts To Help Young Adults Overcome Challenges Of The COVID-19 Pandemic, Including Partnership With Kingsborough Community College

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a series of steps his administration is taking to support New York City youth and young adults, including a restructured Work Learn & Grow program to focus on college and career readiness. This past fall, the new model, administered by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with NYC Department of Education (DOE) and The City University of NY (CUNY), provided 2,155 high school students with the opportunity to take a for-credit CUNY course through Kingsborough Community College (KCC). After completing the course, participants began a paid internship experience that will run through the spring, through which they can earn up to $3,000.

“Now more than ever, young people need exposure to opportunities that can prepare them academically, socially and emotionally for their future as college students and as members of the workforce,” noted KCC President Dr. Claudia V. Schrader. “With more than 50 academic programs of study, a Center for Career Development & Experiential Learning, and personalized counseling support for students, KCC is uniquely positioned to participate in this important program and help students succeed.”

“The measures we’re announcing today represent just a first set of actions demonstrating our commitment to center their wellbeing as we begin the long road to recovery from the pandemic,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We look forward to working with the new Biden-Harris administration and Congressional leadership to build back NYC better than ever.”

In addition to the Work Learn & Grown program at KCC, the set of initiatives include others in partnership with CUNY:

• CUNY has launched a new Winter Bridge program to enroll 5,000 students from the NYC DOE Class of 2020 who had accepted an offer to CUNY but had yet to matriculate as of the fall semester. Current CUNY students will work as College Coaches, sharing their own experiences as college students, and providing support to help new students complete CUNY enrollment and financial aid processes.  Students in the Winter Bridge Program can enroll for spring 2021 in CUNY Start/Math Start and Accelerated Studies in Associate Programs (ASAP).

• In partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC and the NYC Center for Youth Employment (CYE), CUNY will launch a Welcome Back campaign to re-engage at least 600 students, including 100 former CUNY ASAP students majoring in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields whose enrollments lapsed in 2020, as well as 500 prospective students who were recently admitted into CUNY community college programs but never enrolled. Participants will receive intensive supports through admissions and re-enrollment processes, including financial aid, ongoing academic and career advisement, and STEM intensive programming with peers.
• In partnership with CYE, CUNY Explorers, a program that employs CUNY students as College Coaches and mentors for DOE middle school students, will expand and serve an additional 5,000 DOE students. The program will now provide college exploration through after-school activities and expand to work with high school students in 9th and 10th grade.

“We applaud these initiatives that will enable the City University of New York to continue supporting young adults as they weather the economic fallout from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “CUNY is more than willing to play a vital role in the civic life of the city we are so proud to call home.”

Accompanying these announcements is a new report by the citywide Disconnected Youth Task Force, entitled Connecting Our Future, which focuses attention on New York City’s population of out-of-school/out-of-work (OSOW) 16 to 24-year-olds. Originally convened in 2019, the Task Force updated its original analysis to account for an expected spike in OSOW as a result of job
losses and educational disruptions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This report will serve as the City’s strategic plan to serve this population.

Its report is especially timely in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, which has hit hardest within communities of color both in health outcomes and economic impacts. Following a decade of steady reduction in the number of OSOW young adults, the report estimates that between job losses and educational disruptions, the pandemic has likely at least doubled the number.

The report includes demographic analysis of the OSOW population, a look at the portfolio of programs both to prevent disconnection and to re-engage those already OSOW, and recommendations to provide short-term assistance for current OSOW young adults and long-term, system-level improvements to reduce their number over time. The Task Force includes City officials, nonprofit leaders, advocates, and employers.

By statute, the Task Force will remain active until early 2022. It will reconvene over the winter to determine next steps and begin oversight of implementation from the report recommendations.

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