Testimony submitted by Gregory J. Morris, Chief Executive Officer of New York City Employment & Training Coalition on September 22, 2026.
Good morning, Chair Aldebol and members of the Committee. I’m Gregory Morris, CEO of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC), the country’s largest network of workforce development providers.
I testified before this Committee in April, three months into the new administration, about a municipal workforce carrying more than 13,000 unfilled positions. Five months later, I want to give credit where it is due, walk through what the Fiscal 2026 Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) tells us about DCAS – and what it doesn’t – and then make a specific ask.
Progress Made
The current administration and Council have advanced important recruitment reforms while building on initiatives already underway. In February 2026, the Mayor eliminated the two-for-one hiring restriction, allowing agencies to hire within their personnel budgets. Beginning July 1, under Local Law 57 of 2025—sponsored by Council Member Carmen De La Rosa—civil-service exam fees were waived for New York City high school students and first-time applicants, while Notices of Examination became available for translation into more than 190 languages.
What’s Next: What the MMR Shows—and What It Still Needs to Measure
The DCAS section of the MMR tells a story about the front of the pipeline:
- Jobs NYC received 1,775,665 employment applications in Fiscal 2026, and DCAS reached more than 15,500 people through 268 career outreach events.
- The exam schedule grew from 186 to 208 exams, a 12% increase.
And yet, according to the Comptroller’s Agency Staffing Dashboard, the City had 15,530 vacant full-time positions this spring – a 5.1 percent vacancy rate, still more than double the pre-pandemic level – and the active workforce shrank after the freeze ended, from 292,483 in January to 291,717 in April. Nearly two-thirds of the vacancies are civilian titles: caseworkers, community associates, clinical and administrative staff. DCAS’s own resources table in the MMR shows the agency at 2,139 personnel against 2,598 authorized – roughly 18 percent vacant at the agency that runs hiring.
These figures point to a deeper challenge: expanding recruitment and removing front-end barriers have not yet translated into a fully staffed municipal workforce. Somewhere between the application and the appointment, the pipeline is losing people, and the MMR cannot tell this Committee where.
The MMR leaves four essential issues unresolved:
- The MMR measures exam-to-results and stops. The 101-day figure is a real achievement, but it covers one segment. No indicator tracks time from eligible list to appointment, list utilization, how many candidates are reached before a list expires, or how many people who pass an exam are ever hired. Those numbers decide whether a working adult stays in the process or walks away.
- Exam applications fell 28 percent — from 166,000 to 119,117 — and the MMR attributes it to the exam mix. The MMR shows that the share of active employees in titles included on the civil-service exam schedule fell from 53.4 percent to 44.8 percent—and DCAS acknowledges that this indicator measures exam coverage, not performance. If an exam didn’t cover competitive titles, eliminating fees cannot help New Yorkers still waiting for the chance to take one.
- The pathways that exist are built for two populations, and neither is ours. The Civil Service Pathways Fellowship requires a CUNY bachelor’s degree. The Youth Apprenticeship title serves ages 16 to 24. Both are good. But the New Yorkers NYCETC members serve — working adults aged 25 to 54, immigrants, people without a four-year degree, people coming home from Rikers — have no comparable structured route from a community-based training program into a City title. The MMR has no indicator that would even show they are missing.
- Nothing tracks whether the waiver is working. The Fiscal 2027 MMR should report how many first-time and high-school waivers were granted, how many of those candidates sat for an exam, passed, were listed, and were appointed — disaggregated by race, gender, and borough. The chapter already shows the female share of new hires falling from 40.6 to 37.3 percent in one year; without waiver data, the Council will not know whether the law is closing that gap.
The Racial Equity Plan Reinforces the Case
DCAS’s chapter of the City’s Racial Equity Plan names the right priority first: remove the gaps in race, gender, age, and disability in City jobs. Several of its commitments are exactly what a pathway for working adults requires, and I want to hold the agency to them.
The plan commits to review 150 civil service titles by 2028 and revise minimum qualifications to credit relevant work experience and practical skills. It commits to measure that reform by the number of job applications and the number of candidates on eligible lists for revised titles. Those indicators provide a strong foundation for measuring equitable access and progress. Incorporating them into the MMR would align the City’s accountability framework with the Racial Equity Plan and make its commitments and results visible to the public.
Other reflections:
- The Racial Equity Plan reports that DCAS held 308 career outreach events in Fiscal 2025, a 66 percent increase. The MMR reports 268 in Fiscal 2026. So outreach fell 13 percent in the year the fee waiver launched.
- Ten “Civil Service 101” sessions on Rikers Island and in ACS youth facilities reached 128 people — the right instinct, at a scale that cannot move a 15,000-position gap.
- The plan’s one program for adult workers without a degree, EPIC, lets employees earn a high school equivalency and 27 college credits, but it’s open only to people already on the City payroll. The New Yorker outside the system, without a degree, over 24, still has no door.
- Finally, the plan commits DCAS to deliver the first Local Law 27 pay equity analysis by May 2027, covering the 15 titles that deviate most from citywide gender demographics and the 15 that deviate most by race. This Committee should ask for that report on the record, because the titles it names are almost certainly the ones a community-based pathway should be feeding.
The Lesson of the Last Five Months
Removing barriers is essential, but it is only the beginning. Lifting a hiring restriction creates the authority to hire; waiving an exam fee expands access. Recruitment brings people to the door, but a pathway helps them move through it and into a career.
DCAS has already demonstrated the value of this approach through two promising pathways: one for CUNY graduates and another for young people. Both deserve recognition and expansion. The next opportunity is to build a third pathway—one designed for working adults, who make up most of New York City’s labor force and the people served by our community-based workforce system.
Meanwhile, the State has extended NY HELPS through June 2028, allowing State and most local governments to hire for many titles without an examination. The program has filled more than 42,000 positions, but New York City has chosen not to participate. Reasonable people—including our labor partners—disagree about that decision, and I am not here to relitigate it. But if the civil-service exam remains the gateway to public service in New York City, the City has a responsibility to build an accessible pathway to that gateway for every New Yorker—not only those already connected to a college campus.
What NYCETC Proposes
NYCETC proposes a coordinated, equity-centered civil-service pathway for working adults, building on what DCAS has already shown can work through its fellowship and apprenticeship models. The pathway would combine neighborhood-based recruitment; exam preparation; credentialed training aligned with actual City vacancies and DCAS’s revised minimum qualifications; fee assistance and wraparound supports; placement in partnership with unions and hiring agencies; and advancement opportunities for incumbent workers. It would initially target the sectors with some of the City’s deepest staffing needs, including healthcare, early childhood education, parks, and sanitation, and would be delivered with CUNY community colleges and the City’s labor and trade partners.
NYCETC’s share of the investment would support training, exam preparation, fee assistance, and the wraparound services that enable working adults to complete the pathway. The remaining resources would support union and labor partners, ensuring that the initiative is anchored in appointments and advancement—not training completions alone.
In its first year, the pathway would directly serve at least 300 New Yorkers:
- 50 participants earning industry-recognized credentials;
- 100 completing civil-service exam preparation;
- 25 securing full-time City employment; and
- 125 incumbent municipal workers receiving training for advancement.
What We Ask of This Committee
Our proposal has two core components: fund a third, community-based civil-service pathway for working adults, and strengthen the MMR so the City can measure whether that pathway leads to appointments and career advancement. The specific actions below would put both components into practice.
1. Beginning with the Fiscal 2027 Preliminary MMR, require DCAS to report the time from eligible-list placement to appointment; list-utilization rates; exam passage and appointment rates; Local Law 57 waiver participation and outcomes; and the Racial Equity Plan’s indicators for applications and eligible-list placements under revised minimum qualifications. Report these measures by title and demographic group.
2. Pair the fee waiver with preparation. Fund free exam preparation through community-based workforce providers so that Local Law 57 reaches New Yorkers who would benefit most—not only those who already know how to navigate the civil-service system.
3. Extend the fellowship model to the workforce system. Adapt the Civil Service Pathways Fellowship’s core features—a paid title, specialized training, and eligibility for a civil-service exam after one year—for graduates of community-based training programs, not only CUNY bachelor’s-degree recipients.
4. Designate workforce organizations as formal recruitment and preparation partners for DCAS and hiring agencies.
Nearly 1.8 million New Yorkers applied for City jobs last year. The talent is here. The interest is here. The City has already built promising models—and thousands of positions remain open. NYCETC and our members can help connect these assets by building a pathway for working adults and helping the City measure whether it leads to appointments and career advancement.
Together, we can do more than fill vacancies. We can make public service a visible, navigable, and achievable career for New Yorkers in every community. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.