Testimony submitted by Gregory J. Morris, Chief Executive Officer of New York City Employment & Training Coalition on September 22, 2026.
Good afternoon, Chair Dinowitz and members of the Committee. I’m Gregory Morris, CEO of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) the largest city-based network of workforce development providers in the country. NYCETC is a FutureReadyNYC partner, and I co-chair the Education and Human Services Industry Commission convened by NYC Public Schools’ Office of Student Pathways.
I’m here with a simple message: The State has set a clear destination for every graduate, and the City now has an opportunity to build—and measure—the pathways that will help every student reach it.
The Portrait sets the destination
In July 2025, the Board of Regents adopted the Portrait of a Graduate: six attributes — academically prepared, creative innovator, critical thinker, effective communicator, global citizen, and reflective and future-focused.
It broadens student readiness beyond a test score, and we welcome that.
But attributes such as “effective communicator” and “reflective and future-focused” come alive through experience. They are developed and demonstrated in the settings uniquely suited to prepare students for workplace success—a job, a paid internship, or a project with an employer. Career-connected learning is not an add-on to the Portrait; it is how students build and demonstrate these capabilities.
New York City already has the implementation vehicle.
FutureReadyNYC is the City’s effort to develop industry-aligned coursework, credentials, college credit opportunities, career exploration, and paid work-based learning. By the City’s own account, students have earned more than $30 million through work-based learning since Fiscal 2022, and participating students show better attendance and GPAs. The oversight question is whether NYCPS will move from a promising program in about one in three high schools to a universal, accountable system.
Aligning the Destination and the Direction: What the Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) Doesn’t Tell Us
I want to spend most of my time on accountability, because the clearest place to see the gap is the Fiscal 2026 Mayor’s Management Report. Here is what I found.
1. The indicators most closely aligned with the Portrait are also the ones we cannot yet see. Goal 1e, “Increase postsecondary enrollment,” and Goal 1f, “Increase high school students’ access to coursework that prepares them for future success,” speak most directly to whether students are gaining the knowledge, experiences, and opportunities the Portrait envisions. Yet every Fiscal 2026 indicator under both goals is reported as “NA,” leaving the City without a current public measure of progress. The latest postsecondary-enrollment rate, from Fiscal 2024, is 63.0 percent, while the latest college-and-career-readiness rate, from Fiscal 2025, is 54.2 percent. These figures provide a foundation to build on. With a broader, more ambitious definition of readiness now in place, the City can set a Fiscal 2027 target beyond the current 55.2 percent and measure the full range of academic, career-connected, and workplace experiences that will help every student realize the Portrait.
2. FutureReadyNYC appears in the narrative and nowhere in the numbers. The MMR credits FutureReadyNYC with lower chronic absenteeism, higher attendance, improved GPAs, $30 million in student earnings, 75,000 students completing career-exploration coursework, and 190 participating high schools. FutureReadyNYC gives the City a strong foundation for measuring career readiness. By adding indicators for student participation, paid placements, credentials, college credits, and employer commitments, the MMR can make the reach and results of the City’s flagship career-readiness program visible and establish a clear baseline for expanding what works.
3. Five of the six Portrait attributes are not yet reflected in the MMR. The MMR measures whether students are academically prepared in a dozen ways, but it does not yet capture whether graduates are critical thinkers, effective communicators, creative innovators, global citizens, or reflective and future-focused. If the Portrait is the City’s standard for student success, its accountability framework should measure the full Portrait—not only one-sixth of it.
4. The funding picture should be more visible. FutureReadyNYC does not appear in the chapter’s spending table, making it difficult to distinguish baselined City funding from federal, State, philanthropic, or time-limited support. Greater transparency would help policymakers understand what is sustaining the initiative, where funding may be vulnerable, and what investment is needed to expand its reach.
5. The City can connect participation to outcomes. Citywide chronic absenteeism stands at 33.5 percent, above the 29 percent target, and increased this year. The MMR identifies FutureReadyNYC as a strategy for reducing chronic absenteeism. Measuring and publishing attendance outcomes for participating students would allow the City to demonstrate the program’s impact, learn from its strongest results, and direct funding toward what works.
NYCETC’s role, and the Industry Commissions
This school year, the Office of Student Pathways moved its Industry Commissions — sectors covering healthcare, business and technology, construction and engineering, education and human services, and more — from broad discussion to a Strategic Action Plan model. Each Commission commits to two or three measurable actions against three district priorities: expanding student access to career-connected and work-based learning, aligning curriculum to industry needs, and industry-led educator upskilling. Progress is checked in the fall, at a winter equity checkpoint that asks who is being reached and who is not, and at a spring year-end reflection.
Our partners are ready to contribute. As co-chair of the Education and Human Services Commission, I am helping lead a shared commitment to map the pathways into education and human-services careers—including entry points, credentials, prior-learning opportunities, and the durable skills needed to succeed. We will also deliver employer-led “Power Ups,” create structured career-exploration experiences around real workplace challenges, and provide NYCPS with actionable feedback so the model grows stronger through its first year of implementation.
The Commissions are valuable employer-led infrastructure: they bring partners together, define quality, map pathways, and connect students to industry expertise with support from a small central OSP team. Their impact can grow significantly when paired with the City’s unique assets: a citywide intermediary strategy, dedicated funding for paid placements, and the public investment needed to achieve scale. Incorporating the Commissions’ contributions into the MMR would also make their progress visible, strengthen accountability, and help the City build on what works.
What we ask
1. Put FutureReadyNYC in the Fiscal 2027 Preliminary MMR. Establish indicators—specific to FutureReadyNYC and distinct from CTE—that track participating schools and students; eligibility, offers, starts, and completion of paid work-based learning; hours worked and wages earned; credentials and college credits attained; and employer commitments. Disaggregate results by borough, sector, and student subgroup.
2. Publish the path to every high school. Set a clear expansion timeline, annual targets for schools and students, and one authoritative measure of the program’s reach.
3. Establish a dedicated multiyear budget. Baseline City funding, distinguish it clearly from federal, State, philanthropic, and other time-limited resources, and include the full investment in the NYCPS spending table.
4. Create “Commitment 100.” Establish a citywide commitment to connect every young adult to a quality job, paid work experience, or career pathway. Just as Vision Zero set a clear, measurable goal and aligned agencies around achieving it, Commitment 100 would make universal career access a defining City priority with transparent targets, shared accountability, and the infrastructure needed to reach every young New Yorker.
5. Invest in the infrastructure required for scale. Secure measurable employer commitments, fund a citywide intermediary strategy, and strengthen OSP’s capacity to make the Industry Commissions and Advisory Council an effective feedback loop connecting schools, employers, and students.
The Portrait establishes the destination. The City Council can help set the direction by ensuring the City builds, funds, and measures the pathways every student needs to reach it. NYCETC and our members are ready to build those pathways with you. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.