In addition to brief remarks by Deputy Mayor Julie Su and a presentation from the Department of Youth and Community Development on its Hats & Ladders application, the agenda included an update on New York’s progress toward implementing Workforce Pell, a federal policy passed last year that goes into effect on July 1. The meeting concluded with a spirited discussion and eventual vote on the City’s Fiscal Year 2027 WIOA budget.
The full video of the meeting is available from the Board’s home page. Below, we take a closer look at the two main subjects.
Workforce Pell
CUNY Vice Chancellor for Career Engagement and Industry Partnerships Lauren Andersen, who represents Chancellor Félix Matos-Rodríguez on the Board, provided an overview of Workforce Pell and took questions from Board members.
As a reminder, Workforce Pell—passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025—expands Pell Grant eligibility to shorter-duration programs of 150-599 hours, or 8-15 weeks, that confer credit toward a recognized higher education credential. Eligible programs must be portable (retaining their value across institutions) and stackable (additive in increments toward a degree), and aligned to high-skill, high-wage, in-demand jobs.
Additional requirements include that programs must be at least one year old, and able to show a verified completion rate of at least 70 percent, with a verified job placement rate of at least 70 percent of completers within 180 days of finishing the program. As Andersen pointed out, this presents a double challenge: the time requirement means that CUNY (or any other institution of higher education) can’t just launch new programs, and even most programs already in place have not had the infrastructure to collect the necessary data.
While the federal government has weighed in with the administrative rule released in May, much remains to be determined at the state level. Each state’s governor must set definitions for portability and stackability, and establish processes and policies around how programs can prove their outcomes as well as governance. New York’s experience with “TAP for Workforce”—a recent expansion of the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) that expanded state funding for workforce programs offered through higher education—provides some guidance here. CUNY is proposing that the state manage Workforce Pell through an advisory council distinct from Workforce TAP, which is run through the Higher Education Services Corporation.
Andersen emphasized that Workforce Pell will be a slow build, in New York and elsewhere. Asked how many programs will qualify when the policy goes into effect in July, she responded that between SUNY and CUNY, the initial number could be under 100.
Our Take
Workforce Pell’s strict eligibility requirements, and the initially small number of qualifying programs, are likely to frustrate many stakeholders who rightly perceive an urgent need for more resources. Understandable as this is, the field should not lose sight of the real potential here: to leverage this new funding stream in ways that help expand the reach and quality of NYC’s larger workforce ecosystem.
For one thing, the data infrastructure needed to render more programs eligible for Workforce Pell should serve the entire system. One chronic challenge for workforce advocates is proving the value of our programs and services—not just with stories, but with numbers. The City and state have a strong interest in working with CUNY (and SUNY) to build that capacity in a way that can support programs beyond those offered across the two higher ed systems.
Vice Chancellor Andersen also suggested that Workforce Pell could represent a great opportunity to direct more support toward incumbent workers, who could move up into higher wage roles with additional skills and credentials. We couldn’t agree more. As NYCETC pointed out in last year’s Putting Our Dollars to Work report, the city is home to roughly 900,000 New Yorkers who are employed in low-wage positions. Helping them move up would advance the Mamdani administration’s economic justice agenda—and shift the perception of the workforce system from being focused merely on job placement to a broader emphasis on long-term economic mobility.
Finally, it’s important to note that as written, Workforce Pell is not oriented toward community-based organizations. Andersen noted that by rule, 75 percent of federal funds must go toward the institution of higher education offering the program, limiting the value proposition for partnering nonprofits. If the City is serious about building the system, it must consider how to supplement those dollars to build more effective norms for referrals and supportive services to help potential Workforce Pell grantees access and successfully complete training.
WIOA FY 2027 Budget
The other topic of note at the meeting came when WDB members raised questions regarding the City’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) budget. NYC Office of Talent and Workforce Development Executive Director Doug Lipari announced that the City absorbed a nearly 6 percent reduction in formula funding for WIOA compared to last year, with the total allocation dropping from $87.4 million to $82.2 million. Adult and Dislocated Worker (DW) funding was cut by 8.3 percent, while Youth program dollars fell by 1.4 percent.
While the WIOA Youth budget was approved without issue, Board member and DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido announced that he would be voting against the Adult/DW budget. He noted two objections: the lack of support within the budget for the 10 percent of NYC’s workforce who are government employees, and the uneven playing field between for-profit and nonprofit providers in competing for contracts to operate Workforce1 Career Centers, which the Board approved last year. Specifically, for-profit providers—who hold all but one of the Workforce1 contracts—receive an up-front fee of up to 20 percent for operating the Centers, and have the advantage of being able to fund operations ahead of time by virtue of their larger margins.
Although a number of Board members echoed Garrido’s concerns, the budget ultimately won approval. The Board additionally approved a motion to submit questions related to the disparity between for-profit and nonprofit providers to the Department of Small Business Services (SBS), which is obligated to respond in writing within 90 days.
Our Take
As City officials pointed out, WIOA rules mandate that both for-profit and nonprofit providers are eligible to bid on contracts to operate workforce centers. The disparities Garrido pointed out, however, are of genuine concern and beg the question of whether alternate arrangements might free up more dollars to support services.
SBS and the Mayor’s Office can set the parameters for contracts in a variety of ways. As WDB co-chair Merrill Pond observed, other jurisdictions have made different choices to facilitate a stronger role for nonprofit community-based providers, and offer potential lessons for New York City. NYCETC looks forward to engaging in this discussion over the months and years to come.
Other Takeaways
- NYC Talent Executive Director Doug Lipari shared that the U.S. Department of Labor came to NYC to conduct an audit earlier this spring. A formal statement of findings is expected in late July, to which the City will respond and make any necessary adjustments. Lipari indicated that the federal auditors were impressed with a number of City practices, including its usage of community partner networks, cohort-based training, and policies related to Individual Training Grants.
- Lipari also referenced that NYC Talent is deploying “a new set of labor market intelligence resources” related to the City’s Industry Partnerships focused on manufacturing, information technology, and healthcare.
- While presenting on Hats & Ladders, DYCD Associate Commissioner Julia Breitman and Assistant Commissioner Nurus Salam mentioned that 40 percent of employers surveyed last year following the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) indicated that they either offered continued employment or invited their participants back for 2026. Data on the nature and extent of year-to-year employer retention in SYEP traditionally has been limited; from a system-building perspective, this is a potentially significant development.
- Finally, Board Co-Chair Adria Powell, Doug Lipari and others acknowledged that this Board meeting was the first in many years without longtime WDB Executive Director Chris Neale, who resigned his role earlier this spring to become Executive Director of the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYATEP). NYCETC looks forward to continuing our long relationship with Chris in his new role.
Suggested Readings
- National Skills Coalition: Making the Most of Workforce Pell; Getting Workforce Pell Right for Young People; Workforce Pell can be a catalyst, unless we try to make it a cure all
- New America: Why Workforce Pell Implementation Matters Beyond July 2026