Programs

CUNY Recovery Corps is a special Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) for CUNY students to help the city reinvigorate its economy in the aftermath of the pandemic downturn. Through CUNY Recovery Corps, students worked on initiatives supporting our city's small businesses, public health organizations, community-based nonprofits, government agencies and schools. The program launched in Summer 2021 and served 4,100 students in partnership with CUNY, the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) and the Mayor's Office of Youth Employment (MOYE) and prioritized enrolling students most impacted by COVID-19.

License to Careers (L2C) is a pre-apprenticeship initiative to train and place 50 recent high school graduates into career-track positions within the transportation sector.

The program supports young people ages 18 to 24 who are out-of-school and out-of-work in receiving their NYS Driver's License as well as places them into careers within the transportation sector. The program is a collaboration between the Young Men's Initiative (YMI), the Mayor's Office of Youth Employment (MOYE), and the Workforce Development Corporation (WDC).

The Parent Empowerment Program (PEP) offers family-friendly support services to help young parents reach their employment and education goals through DYCD's Train and Earn program at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT).

The program serves 50 young parents ages 17 to 24 and their children with services that address the education, employment, and developmental needs of both parents and children.  PEP provides access to childcare, high school equivalency preparation, work readiness and occupational skills training (including paid work experiences), parenting support, and other wraparound services. PEP is a collaboration in partnership with DYCD, the Mayor's Office of Youth Employment (MOYE), NYC Opportunity, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, DOE Pathways to Graduation, and DOE LYFE Centers.

Emerging Leaders is a program option within SYEP that serves young New Yorkers with barriers to employment, including involvement with the foster care or juvenile justice systems, homelessness or housing insecurity, families receiving Human Resources Administration (HRA) Cash Assistance, and students in DOE ACCESS and DOE District 75. The Mayor's Office of Youth Employment (MOYE) co-convenes a working group of City agency partners to support the program, which has grown from serving  1,000 youth to as many as 4,000 in one summer.

Unity Works is a comprehensive workforce development program for LGBTQI people, specifically aimed at creating work and education opportunities for homeless and runaway LGBTQI youth.

The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) program will engage young adults 16-24 who are currently homeless or at risk of experiencing homelessness to facilitate their attainment of:

• Basic work skills credentials, most importantly the High School Equivalency (HSE);
• Advanced training opportunities during the program; social and emotional trauma-informed mental health support to help prepare them to successfully  enter the workforce; and
• Meaningful connections to both short- and long-term career opportunities, culminating in enrollment in higher education and/or advanced workforce training credentials with direct, facilitated connection to long term LGBTQI affirming employment opportunities.

Unity Works is a collaboration between the Ali Forney Center, DOE Pathways to Graduation, Department of Youth & Community Development, Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC, the Mayor's Office of Youth Employment (MOYE), and the Unity Project.