Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed members to a number of Sector Advisory Councils, which will inform the Administration's efforts to restart the economy and city life. The councils will serve as critical links to disseminate information about re-opening and provide guidance to shape the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These councils include: Labor and Workforce; Large Business; Small Business; and Arts, Culture, and Entertainment; Faith; Construction and Real Estate; Non-Profits and Social Services; Public Health and Healthcare; Education and Vocational Training; and Surface Transportation. Learn more from the Mayor’s press releases (May 6 and May 8).

NYCETC is honored at the appointment of Jose Ortiz, Jr. to the Labor and Workforce council, as well as the appointments of several Board members - David Garza (Henry Street Settlement), Eileen Reilly (CAMBA) and Jennifer Mitchell (The HOPE Program and Sustainable South Bronx); NYCETC members - Henry Garrido (DC 37), George Gresham (1199 SEIU), Darly Corniel (CWE), Rebecca Lurie (CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies), Julia Jean-Francois (Center for Family Life, Colvin Grannum (Bed Stuy Restoration),  Seth Pinsky (92nd Street Y), Dennis Walcott (Queens Public Library), Nat Fields (Urban Resource Institute), Eric Goldstein (UJA Federation), Msgr. Kevin Sullivan (Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of NY), Scott Short (RiseBoro Community Partnership), Eileen Torres (BronxWorks),  Marco R. Damiani (AHRC), Eric Weingartner (The Door),  Melissa Aase (University Settlement), Andrea Anthony (Day Care Council), Richard Beattie (New Visions for Public Schools), Kristin Kearns (Jordan, Urban Assembly), Susan Stamler (United Neighborhood Houses), and David Jones (Community Service Society); and partners on the NY Workforce Recovery Strategy Group - David Ehrenberg (Brooklyn Navy Yard), Angie Kamath (City University of New York), Melinda Mack (New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYATEP), Jodi Sturgeon (PHI), Wayne Ho (Chinese-American Planning Council), Linda Barron (Staten Island Chamber of Commerce), Tom Grech (Queens Chamber of Commerce), Randy Peers, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce), Lisa Sorin (Bronx Chamber of Commerce), Jessica Walker (Manhattan Chamber of Commerce), Andrew Rigie (NYC Hospitality Alliance), and Steven Choi (New York Immigration Coalition).

The NYC Employment and Training Coalition and the Human Services Council are releasing data from their collective memberships showing that, despite the fact that the need for workforce training is growing rapidly across New York City, the organizations that provide these services are facing existential financial challenges that could hamper the city’s economic recovery from COVID-19. Read NYCETC's report and HSC's two briefs. Thank you to HR&A Advisors for their support on this analysis.

Within NYCETC's report - Economic Ripple Effects: Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the New York City Workforce Development Sector & Marginalized New Yorkers - a clear picture emerges about the financial impact of the pandemic and proposed City and State budget cuts on workforce organizations’ financial health, staff, and ability to deliver critical employment and training services to current clients, as well as the millions of New Yorkers who are facing job loss and severe economic hardships at unprecedented levels.

Politico: City nonprofits facing widespread service cuts amid coronavirus shutdown
Bronx Times: Workforce training crisis threatens Bronx COVID-19 recovery

• Governor Cuomo's Office publishes NY Forward: A Guide to Reopening New York & Building Back Better (May 11)
  • See Regional Monitoring Dashboard for metrics on regional re-opening
• Congress Introduces Relaunching America's Workforce Act (RAWA) - Members of the House of Representatives introduced RAWA, which calls for significant investment in workforce and skills in future stimulus package (May 11)
• Mayor de Blasio Announces New Senior Appointments to Help Guide COVID-19 Recovery for Small Businesses (May 11)
• U.S. Department of Labor Issues Guidance Announcing the Availability of $100 Million in Short-Time Compensation Grant Funds for States (May 10)
• NYC Council Frequently Asked Questions For Fiscal 2020 Discretionary Funding CPVID-19 Related Issues (May 5)
• Guidance Regarding Fiscal 2020 Discretionary Contracts (April 24)

• HSC Fight for the Frontlines Fridays: May 15 will be second week of action, focusing on acquiring PPE, incentive pay, and a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for human services workers.
• Sign-On Letter: Asian Pacific American (APA) Community COVID-19 Demands: deadline is today, May 13

• COVID-19 Community Needs Survey: to collect and aggregate COVID-19 related unmet needs data across all of NYC, for the purposes of advocacy, fundraising and identifying under-served communities. 
• Pulse Poll 2.0 on Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on New York 501(c)3 Nonprofits: The results will help Nonprofit New York better advocate for nonprofits during the next round of Congressional action.

• Contact Tracing: Both the City and State are hiring employees and supervisors for contact tracing reaching out to the contacts of those diagnosed with COVID-19 to track the spread. Learn more here for the City (three types of contract tracer jobs along with many non-tracing jobs listed), and here for the State (contact tracers, team supervisors, and community support specialists).
• COVID-19 Staffing Portal: NYC community-based behavioral health providers are having increasing challenges maintaining essential staffing in a variety of services for New Yorkers with behavioral health needs and developmental/ intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the New York City DOHMH launched the NYC COVID Congregate Care Staffing Portal to expedite access to needed relief staff for providers and to track trends and potential issues related to staffing. The portal is now open to any licensed NYC provider. Email to register: staffingsolutions@coalitionny.org

• Upwardly Global is now offering free, self-paced job-search and skill-building digital tools to help navigate the job search process for all jobseekers - regardless of immigration status, and uincluding American-born citizens from vulnerable communities. Learn more and sign up here. UpGlo is hosting a partner convening and live demo of these free resources on Friday, May 15 (RSVP) and May 22 (RSVP).
• The Financial Clinic has launched the Marketplace – an expansion of its online financial coaching platform Change Machine. The Marketplace is a recommendation engine that equips practitioners to confidently connect their customers with trustworthy fintech products and services. The first product suite - Marketplace Relief - is intended to mitigate financial insecurity amidst the unfolding economic recession triggered by COVID-19.
• WeWork for Good initiative: no cost workspaces to governments and nonprofits (including those who are existing members) playing an active role in supporting the public health response and the economic resiliency of impacted communities due to COVID-19. Applications accepted until May 31. 

The Workforce Funders collaborative invites funding requests for projects aligned with our 2020 strategic priorities:

1. Addressing systemic or structural barriers that affect low-income workers;
2. Increasing the career success of community college students; and
3. Reorienting the workforce system to the modern economy.

In response to the current COVID-19 crisis, the Workforce Funders will also consider submissions from organizations and intermediaries that serve low-wage workers affected by the crisis, including restaurant, retail, app-based and other service workers.

The Workforce Funders collaborative makes grants through the New York City Workforce Development Fund at the New York Community Trust.  Letters of Interest for the collaborative’s first strategy - addressing systemic barriers that affect low-income New Yorkers and responses to the current COVID-19 crisis - must be uploaded to the New York Community Trust’s online portal by 5 pm on May 18. Letters of Interest for the collaborative’s second and third strategies - increasing the career success of community college students and reorienting the workforce system to the modern economy - must be uploaded here to by 5:00 p.m. on September 29.

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the availability of up to $312 Million in funding aimed at creating job training and employment search services for older Americans. Authorized by the Older Americans Act of 1965, the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a community service and work-based job-training program for low-income, unemployed seniors administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration. SCSEP grants are awarded in a competitive process through a Funding Opportunity Announcement. The department will award approximately 10 to 22 grants to organizations that provide individuals 55 and older with career services, engagement in community service activities, and work experience and job skills training that leads to greater self-sufficiency. Applications are due by June 15.

STRIVE NY Executive Director and NYCETC Board Member Lakythia Ferby and essential workers and STRIVE graduates Che McCoy and Erika Orgaz were featured on PIX11 News last week. The segment shows how STRIVE has helped over 100 New Yorkers get essential jobs on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and why workforce development organizations are more necessary than ever before.