As Mayor Bloomberg wisely recognizes, people need to be prepared not just for jobs, but for good jobs. The long-term health of New York City, the prosperity of its businesses and its citizenry, depends on a workforce with top-notch skills, prepared to take on the challenges of tomorrow.

Founded in 1981 as the Private Industry Council of the City of New York (PIC), the New York Work Alliance began its existence as the quasi-governmental agency responsible for overseeing New York City’s implementation of federal workforce development programs. Thus we have a special appreciation for the vast array of problems and opportunities ahead. Our longstanding ties to business and industry continue to shape our work, giving us a special appreciation of the issues confronting New York City.

As we have evolved from the PIC to the New York Work Alliance, we have sought to find ways in which our unique background could best contribute to the workforce development in New York City. We bring to our current work our years of experience delivering a top-performing direct service program. Since 1992, we have been a prime contractor for the state’s Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Affairs. Our Refugee Social Service Program (RSSP), involving multi-ethnic and cross-faith service providers throughout the city, continues to help refugees achieve self-sufficiency and economic stability. RSSP’s success, due in large measure to our consortium approach and exceptionally close connections to employers, has inspired us to develop other collaborative initiatives.

Our Pathways to Success program was created to address the economic self-sufficiency needs of female heads of households with multiple barriers to employment. Such “barriers” require these individuals to overcome problems including substance abuse, life trauma issues, domestic violence experiences, episodes of homelessness, and possible involvement in the child welfare and/or criminal justice system.

Through the Pathways program, the Alliance has partnered with the social service agencies with programmatic expertise in working with multiple problem families headed by women, and the businesses and industry sectors that will offer realistic employment and job upgrade opportunities. By partnering with organizations that truly understand the client/customer and marrying their expertise with our knowledge of business and industry, the Alliance can create pathways that recognize the importance of life-long learning and provide support beyond job placement to help individuals achieve incremental goals toward self-sufficiency.

Our work continues to be informed by a broad understanding of and familiarity with all the constituencies invested in workforce development in New York City – employers in business and industry; local, state and federal government; workers and job seekers; and the many faith and community based organizations committed to helping individuals with diverse backgrounds and needs.

We look forward to serving you.

William C. Gresham