THE ORGANIZATION: Nearly 172,000 New York City young adults are out of school, out of work, and out of options.Community-based organizations are stretched beyond capacity to meet their needs.Employers seek a well-trained and motivated workforce to replace retiring baby boomers.Funders demand measurable returns on their investment. Only a coordinated effort can answer these challenges . . .

OUR MISSION: To leverage all available community, corporate, human, organization, private and public resources to bring out-of-school and out-of-work young adults into the economic life of New York City.

OUR HISTORY: In early 2006, the New York City Workforce Funders Group and the Tiger Foundation, with assistance from Public/Private Ventures, laid the groundwork for an organization designed to focus attention and resources on the seemingly intractable crisis of disengaged young adults (18-24 years old). Citing the success of intermediaries in fields such as community development and public education, the business plan prepared by David La Greca found that New York City contained no neutral, independent, organizing mechanism to bridge the public/private divide, promote more effective investment, encourage employer involvement, improve provider quality, identify and spread best practices, or drive out underperforming programs. No “market maker” existed to rationalize what is an irrational, disjointed, and too often mediocre system. JobsFirstNYC emerged to play this role.

FIND OUT MORE HERE: http://www.jobsfirstnyc.org