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Mayor de Blasio Announces New Executive Director for Mayor's Office of Workforce Development

April 28, 2016

NEW YORK––Mayor de Blasio today announced Barbara Chang as the new Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (WKDEV). Chang brings over 30 years of non-profit management experience to WKDEV, an office established by the Mayor to serve as the coordinating entity for the City's workforce initiatives.

“Barbara Chang has a wide range of experience in the nonprofit and workforce sectors, and she currently plays a crucial role in connecting diverse and well-qualified individuals to jobs in the IT sector” said Mayor de Blasio. “I’m confident that Chang will utilize her skills and experience to continue the transformation of our workforce system that we started in 2014 with Career Pathways, and help us connect New Yorkers to quality jobs with family-supporting wages. I look forward to her work in the Office of Workforce Development.”

Barbara Chang is currently the CEO of Code to Work, a non-profit that connects well-qualified and diverse individuals to jobs in the IT sector. Prior to CTW, she served as Executive Vice President of Per Scholas, where she oversaw fundraising and the training program at the largest IT workforce development organization in New York City. As Executive Director, Chang will be responsible for engaging leaders from the private sector, public agencies, labor unions and community-based organizations to help New Yorkers build skills employers seek for in-demand occupations. Chang also will play a key role in steering the City’s Workforce Development Board and the Center for Youth Employment. She is set to begin her new role May 2, 2016.

Barbara Chang Bio:
Barbara Chang has over 30 years of nonprofit management experience in the NY-metropolitan area. She is currently CEO of Code to Work, a new employer-focused nonprofit venture whose mission is to seed greater diversity in the IT sector by introducing qualified diverse job candidates to employers through a skills-based hiring approach. Prior to CTW, she served as Executive Vice President of Per Scholas, the largest IT workforce development organization in New York City, overseeing fundraising and the training program. Chang also was the CEO of NPower National and Executive Director of NPower New York. The NPower network was a federation of 12 locally-based nonprofits dedicated to helping other nonprofits use technology effectively in their communities. In that capacity Chang oversaw affiliate growth and financial stability as well as initiated service delivery standardization across the federation. The network annually sustained an overall budget of over $20 million. Barbara also held senior leadership positions at the Primary Care Development Corporation in New York City and Planned Parenthood in Nassau County. She holds a Masters in Administration from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

About the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development:
The Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (WKDEV) was established in 2014 to coordinate the City’s workforce initiatives. In 2014, the Mayor convened the Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force, to set priorities and principles for the City’s employment and training programs that align with the needs of employers. The office published Career Pathways: One City Working Together, which laid out a multi-year vision for transforming the City’s vast array of workforce programs to better serve New Yorkers in building skills employers seek, improving job quality and increasing system and policy coordination. The WKDEV office is a policy and strategy making body which oversees the Workforce Development Board – a body majority of business members required under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014, and coordinates with the Mayor’s Fund Center for Youth Employment (CYE), a public/private initiative to coordinate, expand and improve workforce services for young adults.

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