City Budget Funds Key Worker Training Programs

Speaker Adrienne Adams and the New York City Council Announce FY26 Budget Agreement (Photo Credit: John McCarten/NYC Council)

The City Council finalized its budget on June 30, renewing funding for essential job training and career placement programs administered by the Consortium for Worker Education. 

“The City Council is showing its commitment to helping workers thrive and stay in New York City,” said Marco A. Carrión, President of the Consortium for Worker Education. “CWE and our partners are giving workers the skills and support they need to succeed in today’s economy -- and tomorrow’s.”

Years of City Council support for the Jobs to Build On and Worker Service Centers programs have allowed CWE to build a network of training centers at community organizations and unions that reach workers across the city. Workers know and trust these neighborhood institutions and the hands-on training programs they provide help workers break out of the cycle of unemployment and low-wage jobs.

These City-Council-funded programs made a real difference for Lashawn Edwards.  Edwards came to STRIVE, a partner funded through the Jobs to Build On program, looking for help getting a job. She came away with a new confidence in herself that empowered her within and outside the workplace.

Lashawn Edwards succeeded in her career, thanks to training and support she received at STRIVE, a Jobs to Build On partner organization. 

Edwards grew up with an abusive parent and later experienced domestic violence in her marriage. When she found STRIVE, she was living in transitional housing. She wanted to work so she could move into an apartment with her three young sons and take control of her life.

After completing the STRIVE program, she climbed the career ladder before becoming a program coordinator at the New York City Department of Investigation. 

With her new career and renewed self-esteem, Edwards has moved out of transitional housing and is looking forward to the future. As a survivor of domestic violence, Edwards says that STRIVE helped her gain the confidence that she needed to succeed in the workplace, and in life. “They give you the encouragement that you need,” she says. “People have to break away from low self-esteem and fear. This program gives them the motivation they need to push forward.” 

Thousands more New Yorkers can count on the training and support they need to secure a rewarding career, thanks to renewed funding from the City Council.