New Projects
It’s been an exciting first half of the year for Public Works Partners!
We are thrilled to be helping the NYC Department of Small Business Services implement Small Business First, Mayor de Blasio’s 30-point plan to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses and improve communication between business owners and City government.
Building on work over the past year, the NYC Change Capital Fund has asked us to continue to provide support and TA to five dynamic community development organizations across the city as they implement data-driven performance management strategies.
We facilitated a leadership retreat for NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene’s Division of Prevention & Primary Care. We helped them develop a slate of specific, measureable goals for the coming year intended to reduce health inequality experienced by different populations across the city.
We continue to invest our efforts in the best on-the-ground ways to design and implement career pathways. In April, we led a productive session at the NYC Employment & Training Coalition’s annual policy forum on exploring exactly how employment and training providers can play a leading role in shaping effective career pathway strategies for NYC to the benefit of their clients. We also participated in the Career Pathways Learning Lab to explore the ways employment and training providers can collaborate to turn theoretical career pathways into actual ones. Finally, we have been asked by an international foundation to research the potential for career pathways in the hospitality sector.
Public Works Partners in the News
Our recent work with NYCHA, along with partner Community Resource Exchange, was cited in the housing authority’s recently released long-term strategic plan NextGeneration NYCHA. With input from myriad stakeholders, including NYCHA residents, we developed an approach that will help NYCHA to identify and deliver high-quality human services to more public housing residents—and to do it in a way that is financially sustainable.
The NYC Employment & Training Coalition hosted a panel earlier this month on the Trial Opportunity Partnership—a program Public Works Partners designed for a consortium led by Nontraditional Employment for Women that connects transitional jobs to skill building opportunities. Now, several organizations are collaborating to use subsidized employment opportunities to help individuals make career changes by strategically tying wage subsidies to successful training programs and providing trial employment opportunities to support graduates in gaining experience towards securing employment in their new fields.
In April, the New York Times cited research by Public Work Partners that led to the Parks Department speeding up its process for designing, building and renovating parks and playgrounds. (See the full study here.)- Public Works was proud to sponsor Economic Development for a Just City, the second event in their series Community Development 360° marking 50 years of the Pratt Center. The event was moderated by Councilmember (and former Pratt Center executive director) Brad Lander and featured Maria-Torres Springer, commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services; Michelle Neugebauer, executive director of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation; and Graham Macmillan, director of Corporate Social Responsibility & Business Partnerships at Citi. Keep an eye out for Pratt’s third event in this anniversary series later this fall.
We are Proud to Support the Coro New York Leadership Center
We here at Public Works are huge supporters of the Coro New York Leadership Center. Our team congratulates its latest alumna of Coro’s mid-career Leadership New York program, Allison Quigney. Her graduation last month comes on the heels of a very successful Coro New York fundraising gala in April, which Public Works helped to sponsor. Applications for the next class of Leadership New York will be available shortly, but you can register now for an information session or to be notified when applications are available.