We work every day to strengthen the people, programs, partnerships, and policies that help New Yorkers access quality jobs and help employers meet the needs of a changing economy. Our work includes sharing timely information through our weekly newsletter, lifting up leaders and ideas through the NYC Workforce Drop podcast, hosting the city’s annual workforce development conference and other member convenings, and advocating for policies and investments that make workforce development a core part of New York City’s economic future.
Across everything we do, NYCETC is focused on practical solutions that strengthen New York City’s workforce system, including better data, stronger employer partnerships, clearer career pathways, deeper public investment, and real economic mobility for workers, families, communities, and businesses.
Workforce Development Agenda
NYCETC’s Workforce Development Agenda outlines a tangible path to making workforce development central to New York City’s economic strategy. The agenda calls for targeted investment in communities with the greatest need, stronger supports such as childcare and transportation, better hiring and wage data, and accountability structures that help the workforce system deliver stronger outcomes for New Yorkers and employers.
Our 10-Point Plan
Informed by NYCETC members, workforce providers, employers, advocates, and public-sector partners who see every day what is working, what is missing, and what New York must build next.
- Public Service Reimagined: Revitalizing NYC’s Municipal Workforce
- The Comeback Initiative: Reskilling and Upskilling College Stop-Outs
- Tech Equity Revolution: Bridging Digital Access and Building Tech Skills in Every Borough
- Fueling Jobs: Securing Business Capital to Support Local Hiring
- The Unbreakable Chain: Workforce Investment for Sustainable Economic Growth
- Mainstream NYC: A Pilot Program for New Yorkers on the Margins
- Workforce Navigator Corps: Strengthening Employment Pathways and Building Industry Partnerships
- Contracting Without Crisis: Overhauling NYC’s Human Services System
- The Data Advantage: Focusing on Benchmarking and Metrics for NYC’s Workforce Development System
- From Policy to Progress: Ensuring Equity and Accountability in Community Hiring
Learn more about each point by watching the Workforce Development Agenda Release and Policy Forum recorded live from The Greene Space.
Current Initiatives
Workforce Benchmarking Network
Led in partnership with the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW), the Workforce Benchmarking Network NYC Cohort is a peer learning initiative that helps workforce organizations strengthen data capacity, improve program performance, and track long-term job placement, retention, and wage outcomes. The 2026–2027 cohort includes 17 organizations serving thousands of jobseekers across all five boroughs, with a focus on strengthening economic mobility and closing equity gaps.
Learn more about the Workforce Benchmarking Network. For more information on joining the 2027-2028 cohort, please contact Stephanie Birmingham, Director of Community and Operations, sbirmingham@nycetc.org.
Benefits Cliffs Coaching
NYCETC is working with Leap Fund to help workforce organizations better understand and respond to benefits cliffs, the moments when a worker’s increased earnings can put critical public benefits at risk. Through member programming and field learning, NYCETC is helping providers explore tools that support jobseekers and workers as they make informed choices about career growth, income, and financial stability.
Learn more about the Benefits Cliffs Coaching Pilot.
NYC Energy Efficiency Workforce Coalition
The NYC Energy Efficiency Workforce Coalition, launched by NYCETC and The Green Launchpad, is an employer-led initiative focused on strengthening career pathways, addressing talent gaps, and advancing equitable growth in New York City’s energy efficiency sector. The coalition brings together contractors, program implementers, workforce partners, and subject-matter experts to help align training with real job opportunities, local occupational tracks, advancement pathways, and employer needs.
Read the NYC Energy Efficiency Workforce Coalition press release.
Campaigns We Support
We proudly support the following coalitions and campaigns led by our partners in advocacy:
- Just Pay Campaign led by the Human Services Council
- New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy
Past Initiatives
New York City Inclusive Growth Initiative
From 2021 to 2022, the New York City Inclusive Growth Initiative brought together a steering committee to develop the Inclusive Growth Blueprint, a shared vision for the future of economic development, workforce development, and affordable housing in New York City. The initiative was convened by NYCETC, the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, and Regional Plan Association.
New York Workforce Recovery Strategy Group
In 2020, as New York City faced the economic impact of COVID-19, NYCETC helped organize the New York Workforce Recovery Strategy Group to create space for public, private, and nonprofit leaders to respond to rising unemployment, small business instability, and urgent workforce needs.
Invest in Skills NY
From 2020 to 2021, Invest in Skills NY brought together employers, economic development leaders, and workforce organizations to make the case that skills training is essential to New York’s economic future. In 2021, the partnership released Follow the Money: Understanding New York City’s Workforce System Funding, a report examining how workforce dollars move through the city’s system.