A Powerful Partnership for Worker Training
A new $5 million training center at Bronx Community College's Patterson Garage will train students for careers in transportation industries through the new Pathways to Industrial and Construction Careers, and other programs.
Help is on the way for New Yorkers seeking a union job in the transportation sector. The Consortium for Worker Education and partners in government, labor, and business are launching a new workforce training program, New York City Pathways to Industrial and Construction Careers (PINCC).
The program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Good Jobs Challenge, which is investing $500 million into workforce development programs across the country, including $18.6 million to New York City.
PINCC is led by the New York City Human Resources Administration, which provides cash and other assistance to low-income New Yorkers. The grant will allow HRA and CWE to provide the holistic wraparound services that working people need to succeed while they train for good-paying careers. The Building and Construction Trades Council and DC37 are also receiving funding for construction and public sector workforce development programs under the grant.
Mayor Eric Adams tours Bronx Community College transportation career training facilities with Professor Clement Drummond, who has worked with CWE to train auto technician students since 2016.
“All New Yorkers deserve to earn a living wage and share in our city’s prosperity, and that’s why I’m proud to announce the Pathways to Industrial and Construction Careers,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. “With the support of an $18.6 million federal grant, we are taking major steps towards making sure that thousands of New Yorkers have access to jobs that they can support a family with, while giving our city’s employers access to the talent they need to thrive. This is a dynamic new approach to workforce development and a major shift from the previous way jobseekers and employers were served. And this isn’t just about a single program — we are applying this same philosophy to revolutionize our approach to talent development in New York City by signing an executive order to streamline the efforts of nearly two dozen city agencies and offices that administer these programs. Lives will be changed because of this work and employers will be provided with a strong talent pipeline needed to grow.”
CWE’s role in the PINCC initiative will focus on the public and private transportation sector, where CWE has been piloting successful programs for years. In 2016, CWE launched NYMAP, a New York State-registered diesel mechanic’s apprenticeship in partnership with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) to create an industry on-ramp for logistics companies like UPS. CWE built on it by developing Commercial Driver’s License and other training courses to connect young Bronx workers to in-demand, unionized professions.
PINCC and the new funding will allow CWE to bring the NYATLAS framework from the Bronx to the whole city, and open it to New Yorkers of all age groups.
Chad Ingram became a diesel mechanic through an apprenticeship administered by CWE and the Machinists Union.
“The Consortium for Worker Education is thrilled to partner with Mayor Adams to launch PINCC,” says John McDermott, Director for Strategic Partnership at the Consortium for Worker Education. “This project supports CWE’s core mission of providing New York City’s workers pathways to high-wage careers in union jobs. In its powerful partnership of city agencies, unions, employers, and educational institutions, PINCC also provides a blueprint for the city’s new approach to delivering workforce services for families and communities.”
HRA will recruit participants and will work with other city agencies to simplify access to support services, like childcare, cash assistance, or transportation, that have been barriers to success for job trainees in the past.
“What they are doing is blending services from across agencies to make sure workers have the resources to engage in training,” says McDermott. “Whatever the participant needs, they will bring in the relevant agencies to provide wraparound services.”
In 2019, students at Alfred E. Smith High School sign up for CWE's driver's license training.
Participants can sign up for training programs in a wide range of jobs. CWE will partner with Transport Workers Union Local 100 to train workers for positions with the MTA. With Teamsters Joint Council 16 and International Association of Machinists District 15, CWE will train and place workers into driver and mechanic jobs in New York’s many unionized trucking and logistics fleet operators. The expanded five borough footprint will allow CWE to train workers for jobs in new sectors, like air-travel and connect with employers in the city’s other industrial hubs.
All these employers are facing significant skills gaps, says McDermott, and there are additional opportunities for workers in waterborne tourism, the growing airline sector, and the transition from diesel to electric engines.
Part of the funding is dedicated to providing access to driver’s license training, fees and test support for 1,000 participants. Working with youth in the Bronx, CWE found that the lack of a driver’s license cut off would-be workers from many jobs. Workers are required to have a driver’s license for all jobs at airports, for example, even those that do not involve driving.
PINCC will place 2,300 New Yorkers into careers over the next three years.
“We are excited to partner with the city on this,” says McDermott. “The city is enacting systemic changes that will allow us to provide much more robust services, fill skill gaps, and help the city in the economic recovery.”