Workforce Professionals Training Institute (WPTI) is proud to announce the launch of the new website for our signature initiative, The Hub! The new website is intended to help promote and inform the field of workforce development regarding our newest initiative.

As WPTI has grown and matured, we have looked to new methods to recruit Board Members who will provide the vision and leadership to take our work to the next level.

At the end of May, our Board Chair, Blake Foote, graciously hosted our first ever Board Friendraiser event.

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions brought together more than 400 workforce and business leaders from across the country for its annual conference on June 15-16 in Philadelphia, PA.

The Field Building Hub will be partnering with an array of organizations and experts in workforce policy and practice as it launches initiatives designed to improve the effectiveness and functioning of the workforce system. We are pleased to announce as a Senior Fellow to The Hub Dr. James Parrott, a long-time expert on New York City and state economic and fiscal policy issues.

New York City is in the midst of its largest increase to the minimum wage in over half a century. NYC’s minimum wage began diverging from the federal rate of $7.25 per hour in 2014, when it increased to $8 per hour, and will continue year over year increases to $15 per hour (for businesses with 11 or more employees) through the end of 2018. These changes confront the local workforce development field—inclusive of businesses—with an array of opportunities and challenges for preparing, attaching, and advancing entry level and low skilled workers to the labor market.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation’s cash welfare assistance program established in 1996, is overdue for congressional reauthorization. The recently reauthorized Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA), passed with bi-partisan support, encourages greater collaboration with TANF and other agencies funding workforce and related services.

The minimum wage in New York City has been increasing, incrementally, from $8 per hour in 2014 to $15 per hour by December 31, 2018. Each increase presents opportunities and challenges for local businesses and for workers and jobseekers earning at or near the minimum wage.

In mid-2016, the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) issued three Requests for Proposals for employment services contracts –CareerCompass, CareerAdvance and YouthPathways – that are closely aligned with the City’s Career Pathways strategy launched in late 2014. Shifting from a one-size-fits-all approach, the new programs connect people on Cash Assistance with jobs, training or education matched to their needs, skills and career goals.

WPTI Hires Stacy Woodruff as founding Director of the Workforce Field Building Hub

Workforce Professionals Training Institute (WPTI) is establishing a New York City-wide resource to unite and strengthen key stakeholders in the diverse and wide reaching workforce development field.