Press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tracy Munford
(212) 614-5538 (office)
(646) 483-6804 (cell)
CSS Calls NY Career Pathway Program the Beginning of a Way Out of Poverty for Low-Income New Yorkers
New York, NY, April 11, 2008 -- The Community Service Society (CSS) commends Commissioner David Hansell, Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Commissioner Patricia Smith, Department of Labor, and Assembly Member Keith Wright, Chair of the Social Services Committee, for their leadership in creating a Career Pathway Program in the new State budget. This program will help low-income New Yorkers – 60 percent of whom are young adults aged 18-24 – access education and job training services linked to careers in high-growth sectors of the economy.
CSS President and CEO David Jones commented, “Our workforce development system is too often constrained by federal limitations. We are encouraged that Governor Paterson’s administration and legislators such as Assembly Member Wright are taking steps to create innovative solutions to ensure that unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers have access to more than just a job – but a paycheck and careers in industries that pay family sustaining wages. We have advocated a pathway to work in sustainable wage jobs for low-income New Yorker’s for a long time – the Career Pathway Program is a major step in the right direction.”
According to CSS’s 2007 Unheard Third survey – the only survey nationally to examine the priorities of and hardships facing low-income urban residents – 43 percent of workers earning below the poverty line in New York City face three or more hardships, such as inability to pay the rent, purchase prescription drugs, or put food on the table. Jeremy Reiss, CSS Director of Workforce Mobility Initiatives, says that “Programs like the Career Pathways Program will create opportunities for low-wage and unemployed workers across New York State to achieve economic security.”
CSS also applauds Commissioners Hansell and Smith, and Assembly Member Wright, for targeting 60 percent of its resources on the 18-24 year old population and for ensuring eligibility of emancipated 16 and 17 year olds who are heads of household. According to CSS research, there are nearly 200,000 young adults aged 16-24 in New York City who are not in work and not in school; the scope of this crisis statewide – in cities such as Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, and Rochester – is much greater. This Career Pathway program will help disconnected youth enter the workforce and stay employed.
CSS has worked closely in collaboration with OTDA, DOL, Assembly Member Wright, and other advocates – including national experts, The Workforce Alliance (TWA) – on creating and championing this Career Pathway Program and looks forward to working with these key stakeholders as the program is rolled out statewide in areas of high need.
For 160 years, the Community Service Society of New York has been the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers and continues to advocate for the economic security of the working poor in the nation’s largest city.
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