A coalition of 27 CEOs from some of the largest New York-based companies, which includes BlackRock's Laurence D. Fink, Jamie Dimon from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and BNY Mellon's Todd Gibbons, has launched an initiative committed to hiring more New Yorkers from low-income and diverse communities and connecting them with the necessary training resources for high-paying jobs.
The New York Jobs CEO Council is partnering with educational institutions, community organizations and non-profits to hire skilled workers and provide New Yorkers, especially those in low-income and Black, Latinx and Asian communities, with the skills needed to enter the workforce. Partners include City University of New York, the New York City Department of Education, HERE to HERE and CareerWise New York.
Since many of the council companies have internal educational and diversity programs, the plan is to conduct a full inventory of all educational programs both internal and external, share knowledge and find gaps within the programs.
"We're committed to helping build a better, fairer society in New York and all the communities where we operate," Mr. Fink said in a statement. "Having benefited from the city's incredibly talented and diverse talent pool since our founding more than 30 years ago, we know we can achieve more together than we can alone."
The council companies aim to hire 100,000 traditionally underserved New York residents by 2030, including 25,000 students from CUNY.
"This is a 10-year commitment to produce an inflection point in the diversity and preparedness of employees in companies in New York," said Gail Mellow, executive director of the New York Jobs CEO Council, in a phone interview. "We're going to link arms and create a sustainable system."
Ms. Mellow added that the COVID-19 pandemic impacting a disproportionate amount of non-white communities, and the Black Lives Matter movement gaining more traction has "only accentuated the urgent need of a major change in how we deal with employment and giving poor people a chance to make it into the middle class."
