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Job Center Created Under New York City's Landmark Welfare Reform Program
Seaport Job Center Will Test Innovative New Welfare Initiatives
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani-joined by Anthony P. Coles, Deputy Mayor for Planning,
Education and Cultural Affairs; and Jason Turner, Commissioner of the Human
Resources Administration (HRA)-today opened the Seaport Job Center, a full-service
employment center serving clients on public assistance. Located within HRA's
headquarters, blocks away from the City financial district on Wall Street,
the Seaport Job Center will also function as a testing laboratory for new
welfare program initiatives and procedures before they are implemented throughout
the other Job Centers Citywide. The opening of HRA's Seaport Center represents
a bold effort to further integrate welfare participants back into the mainstream
world of work.
"Today we can measure real progress as we transform our City from the Welfare Capitol of the World to the Work Capitol of the World," Mayor Giuliani said. "New York's welfare-to-work program is one of the country's most successful, having cut the number of people dependent on government in half, and helping thousands of people make the transition from welfare to work.
"Every week, more than 1,200 former welfare recipients report they have found a job. That's tremendous progress, the effect of which on individual human lives is incalculable. But we can calculate the amount of money this progress saves City taxpayers-$120 million every month. This great success continues with the opening of the Seaport Job Center. No longer are these offices that encourage people to get on welfare. Now when someone walks into a Job Center, the first question he or she hears is, 'What can we do to help you find a job?' That kind of emphasis instills the work ethic and helps people take control of their lives," the Mayor added.
The purpose of Job Centers is to provide welfare applicants and recipients with opportunities to avoid dependency through employment and job-related activities.
Deputy Mayor Coles said, "The Seaport Job Center's unique location in the Human Resources Administration's headquarters building will allow it to function as a laboratory for new polices and practices, enabling the City to continue to improve its extraordinarily successful welfare reform program. It's also a stone's throw from Wall Street, symbolic heart of the City's booming financial services industry, where no doubt many of Seaport Job Center's clients will find work."
"The Seaport Center, as a laboratory for change, will help us meet the Mayor's objective of having all New Yorkers work to their highest capacity," said Commissioner Jason Turner.
Job Centers now in operation include Greenwood, Bay Ridge, Linden, Bushwick and DeKalb in Brooklyn; Queens, and Jamaica in Queens; Crotona, Concourse and Bergen in the Bronx; Dyckman, Seaport, Hamilton, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Waverly in Manhattan; and Richmond in Staten Island.
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