initiatives

AIM is a one-on-one mentoring program for young probationers. AIM pairs these young adults and their families with an adult advocate. The advocate provides intensive mentoring and also connects the young adult and his or her family back to school and to other resources.

Arches is a group-mentoring program for the young probationers. The program supports young adults as they go back to school and re-enter the job market. Through Arches, young adults meet regularly for six months with a group of other teens, adult mentors and, probation officers.

Cornerstone Mentoring is a group mentoring program that engages middle and high school youth who reside in NYCHA communities and surrounding areas. The program is an added service layered into existing Cornerstone program sites. Participants take part in discussion groups, community service projects, and group outings.

Cornerstone Mentoring Evaluation Reports

To connect to a Cornerstone Mentoring program provider, visit the Department of Youth & Community Development (DYCD).

The CUNY Fatherhood Academy is a cohort-based education, work readiness and parenting program for young adult fathers. Based at CUNY community college campuses, the program provides parenting workshops, high school equivalency exam preparation services, work readiness services, and post-secondary education transition support.

To learn more about CUNY Fatherhood Academy, visit the YMI website.

CUNY Fatherhood Academy Evaluation Reports

The CUNY Fatherhood Academy - 2014
The CUNY Fatherhood Academy: Findings at a Glance - 2014

ECHOES is an alternative-to-placement program with a focus on workforce development. Participants receive case management and life coaching services from their Probation Office. In addition, the ECHOES program offers life skills preparation, work development, and service learning opportunities, offered by CBO partners. the Department of Probation (DOP) and CBO partner staff jointly manage weekend and summer work teams.

IMPACT trains HSE program graduates who are enrolled in college to serve as mentors and tutors for current HSE students and to provide peer support for other alumni enrolled in college. In addition to peer mentoring, the program incorporates post-secondary education transition and retention support services. This program is currently inactive.

Jobs-Plus is a place-based program for NYCHA residents with 3 core components: (1) on-site employment services, (2) financial education, rent-based and other incentives that help "make work pay," (3) community support for work that organizes neighbors to promote work and serve as a support network to overcome barriers.

NYC Opportunity launched the first City-funded Jobs-Plus site in East Harlem with its agency partners in 2009. With support from the federal Social Innovation Fund, NYC Opportunity established a second site in the South Bronx and a site in San Antonio, TX. Research on these sites helped inform the federal Jobs-Plus Initiative created by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2014. Since 2009 Jobs-Plus in NYC has grown to 10 sites serving 27 NYCHA developments, largely with the support of city funding through the Young Men’s Initiative.

Jobs-Plus Evaluation Reports

For more information visit the website of NYCHA.

For more information on Jobs-Plus research visit the website of MDRC.

Justice Community offers court-involved young adults a range of employment and career related opportunities and services, including community benefit projects, job readiness training, career exploration services, and job search assistance. Community benefit projects are central to the program model, and help participants to develop soft and occupational skills, as well as teamwork and project management experience, while fostering greater community engagement. Justice Community also offers case management services, basic education, and high school equivalency test preparation classes, and encourages post-secondary education, technical education and/or occupational training leading to nationally recognized credentials. This program is jointly funded by YMI and NYC Opportunity.

Justice Scholars is an education-based program serving court-involved young adults living in communities with high rates of poverty and incarceration, and low rates of high school completion. The program offers multiple educational tracks (pre-HSE, HSE, high school completion, and post-secondary), as well as job readiness, career exploration and case management services. This program is currently inactive.

Cure Violence is an evidence-based violence prevention program that leverages the experiences of young men who have themselves experienced violence to act as "credible messengers" of an anti-violence message, in order to prevent and reduce youth violence. Violence interrupters work in the community and in partner hospitals to stop conflicts before they happen, and outreach workers redirect the highest-risk youth away from life on the streets. Program provider staff also engage in outreach and organizing to mobilize communities to reject violence as a social norm.

This program is currently overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.

NYC Justice Corps is a cohort-based program serving justice system-involved young adults that combines workforce development services and recidivism risk reduction strategies. Participants engage in restorative service through participation in Community Benefit Projects, intensive work readiness services, case management, cognitive behavioral interventions, and flexible support for placement in educational programs, 'next-level' work readiness programming, vocational training and employment. This program is jointly funded by YMI and NYC Opportunity.

Learn more about NYC Justice Corps.

NYC Justice Corps Reports

Westat Final Outcome Report, 2014
Metis Year 1 Evaluation, 2009

NYC Men Teach is a teacher recruitment and retention initiative that aims to increase the number of qualified male teachers of color within NYC public schools. The program includes both CUNY and DOE programming.

To learn more about NYC Men Teach, visit the NYC Men Teach webpage.

Reading Rescue is an early childhood literacy tutoring and school staff development program that employs an evidence-based curriculum. This program, currently housed at the NYC Department of Education (DOE) and implemented by the Literacy Trust, serves second graders at select elementary and Renewal schools. Reading Rescue is further supported by Read More Corps, a cohort of NYC Service volunteers.

The Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) was designed recognizing that many young adults who are not working and not in school, already possess the basic skills needed to enter the labor market and may need only a short-term intervention and work experience to connect to sustainable employment or educational programs. Participants in YAIP develop essential workforce skills through a combination of educational workshops, counseling, short-term paid internships, post-program follow-up services, and post-program placement in education, advanced training, or employment.

Young Adult Internship Program Reports

Young Adult Literacy programs provide young adults who are not working, not in school, and read at the 4th-8th grade levels with literacy and numeracy instruction, support services, and paid work experiences within a youth development framework. Beginning in 2015, half of the program sites were selected to implement a bridge model, pairing academic instruction and workforce services to build the competencies necessary for work and career alongside education.

initiatives

Programs