We are in the midst of an unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to a historic economic downturn and record-setting high unemployment. The mood of the nation is one of anger, anxiety, feelings of unfairness and a palpable fear over our collective future. We’ve also learned that many of our fellow Americans, particularly people from minority communities, are enduring the brunt of these issues.
In some much-needed leadership and a call-to-action, the chief executive officers of a number of top-tier United States companies—including Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Accenture and JPMorgan—established an organization, along with New York City-based higher education institutions, to specifically help increase the hiring of people from minority communities in New York.
The group is called the New York Jobs CEO Council and the organization’s ambitious goal is to hire 100,000 people from low-income Black, Latino and Asian communities by the year 2030. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna and Accenture CEO Julie Sweet will cochair this new group.
The New York Jobs CEO Council will collaborate with educational institutions, such as the City University of New York (CUNY), community-based organizations and nonprofit groups. The focus will be placed on helping Black, Latinx and Asian communities, in low income areas, and help them succeed in the workforce. Collectively, they’ll train, prepare, offer apprenticeships, internships and hire minority job seekers.
Dr. Gail Mellow, an experienced educator for over 30 years, who most recently served as president of LaGuardia Community College, is the executive director of the group and said of the program, “Access to quality education and training for in-demand jobs is key to creating economic opportunity for youth and workers in New York.” Mellow added, “Our mission is to ensure people in New York’s most vulnerable communities can access the skills that they need to pursue promising career pathways and benefit from the city’s economic recovery.”
JPMorgan’s Dimon said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Today’s economic crisis is exacerbating economic and racial divides and exposing systemic barriers to opportunity.” Too often, talented individuals with great abilities across New York were not offered entry or opportunities at New York City’s top employers.
Dimon also said in a press release, “Many New Yorkers are stuck in low-paying jobs that could be lost in the future or are struggling to navigate the labor market as the Covid-19 crisis has further exacerbated the economic inequities in the city. As companies with a long-standing commitment to the New York area and its residents, we are using our collective power to prepare the city’s workforce with the skills of the future and helping New Yorkers who have been left behind get a foot in the door.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pointed out, “The [Covid-19] crisis highlighted a sad societal truth: underserved communities too often pay the highest price, and as we work to build back better from this virus, New York is confronting this injustice head on.” Cuomo added, “The new initiative will play an important role connecting underserved communities with career resources and access to New York’s world-class educational institutions, helping ensure economic prosperity is a dream anyone can realize, no matter their zip code.”
Sweet, the head of management consulting firm Accenture, wants to help close the gap between what’s taught in schools and what’s needed to know to excel in the current and future workplace. She is a proponent of apprenticeship programs and working closely with schools to sufficiently prepare graduating students for the demands required of jobs now and in the future. For the participants in the program, Sweet anticipates, “Some will go into entry-level jobs, some will have apprenticeships.
A large portion of the jobs—about 25,000—are pledged for students from the CUNY’s university system. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, chancellor of CUNY, said, “Young people in low-income and minority communities feel this failure the most. Unless we actively work to close the gap, Covid-19 will make matters worse.”
In a time when we’re losing faith in our American institutions, it’s heartening to see groups and people coming together to help, empower and improve the lives of many people who’ve been overlooked.
