2017

• Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Mark-Viverito Announce $1.7 Million in Aid for Residents Displaced by Hurricane Maria
  December 18, 2017
  Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito today announced a public-private partnership to provide over $1.5 million worth of supplies - including clothing, bedding and other home goods - to residents displaced by Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on September 21st.

• Mom, Son Strive To Build a Life in New York
  WSJ – December 17, 2017
  Jessica Torres and her 5-year-old son Manuel are just some of the thousands who came to New York seeking refuge in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. On Monday, city officials are expected to announce a donation of about $1.5 million in goods for those who, like Jessica, were displaced by Hurricane Maria and are living in the city.

• 10 new mini-soccer fields to open across the city to keep kids active
  Daily News – October 17, 2017
  The city will open 10 new mini-soccer fields across the five boroughs Tuesday, thanks to a public-private partnership aimed at keeping kids in under-served neighborhoods active.

• First Lady McCray, Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC, U.S. Soccer Foundation, New York City Football Club, Adidas and Etihad Airways Kick-Off Opening of First Ten Soccer Fields as Part of New York City Soccer Initiative
  October 17, 2017
  First Lady Chirlane McCray, Senior Advisor to the Mayor and Director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships Gabrielle Fialkoff, and Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, were joined today by New York City Football Club players, community leaders, agency partners and philanthropic sponsors for a ribbon cutting at P.S. 083 Luis Munoz Rivera / P.S. 182 The Bilingual Bicultural School in Harlem to inaugurate the first ten new mini-soccer pitches across the City.

• NYC Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity, Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, and Citi Community Development Announce the Launch of the Nation's First-Ever Municipal Service Design Studio Dedicated to Improving Services for Low-Income Residents
  October 6, 2017
  Today the Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity, the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, and Citi Community Development announce the launch of the nation's first-ever Service Design Studio and toolkit dedicated to making public services for low-income New Yorkers as effective and accessible as possible. The announcement took place at Parsons School of Design at the New School, where over 400 public servants, nonprofit leaders, and members of the design community gathered in support of the new initiative.

• Mayor de Blasio Announces New Initiative Pairing Vocational and Educational Opportunities for Young Parents with Child Care
  Sep 8, 2017
  Today, Mayor de Blasio and Gabrielle Fialkoff, Senior Advisor to the Mayor and Director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships, announced a four-year $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to integrate child-care support and parent coaching into its services for young parents who are out-of-work and out-of-school. New York City will invest an additional $316,000 in this new initiative, the New York City Performance Partnership Pilot (NYCP3).

• Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito Announce City Employees Can Set Aside Portion of Paychecks to Support Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts
  Sep 1, 2017
  In response to the on-going devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced that, starting tomorrow, employees of the City of New York will be able to directly donate a portion of their paychecks to hurricane relief efforts.

• As NYC Tech Industry Grows, City Aims to Fill Skills Gap
  InformationWeek – July 13, 2017
  Ladders for Leaders is a New York City initiative by the Office of the Mayor that aims to tackle NYC's youth employment crisis while training what they hope will be the most diverse tech workforce.

• Girl Scouts Troop Will Expand to 15 Homeless Shelters
  New York Times – July 12, 2017
  A Girl Scouts troop established in February at a homeless shelter in Queens will expand to 14 additional shelters throughout New York City and is expected to serve about 500 girls.

• De Blasio Administration Invests More Than $1 Million to Expand Girl Scout Troop 6000
  July 12, 2017
  The Department of Homeless Services, the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC form public-private partnership to expand Troop 6000 to reach 500 girls and women in the program’s first year.

• Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City Activates Fallen Heroes Relief Effort and Calls on New Yorkers to Stand with NYPD Community
  July 7, 2017
  The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City today announced that it is activating its Fallen Heroes Relief Effort following the tragic killing of Officer Miosotis Familia in the line of duty in the Bronx on the morning of July 5th.

• Mayor de Blasio Kicks Off Summer Youth Employment Program with record 70,000 Jobs and Over 11,000 Worksites
  July 5, 2017
  Mayor Bill de Blasio and DYCD Commissioner Bill Chong today announced the start of the 2017 Summer Youth Employment Program with a record 70,000 young New Yorkers employed at more than 11,000 worksites. SYEP, which runs through August 19, is the nation's largest summer youth employment initiative.

• Mayor de Blasio Announces Record Number of Summer Jobs in Ladders for Leaders
  July 3, 2017
  Mayor de Blasio and Office of Strategic Partnerships Director Gabrielle Fialkoff today announced that for the third consecutive year, New York City has placed a record number of young adults in high-quality, paid summer internships through the Ladders for Leaders program. A pro-bono ad campaign urging employers across the City to hire local talent helped secure 600 participating employers this summer, as projected, up from 475 in 2016.

• Students land paid summer internships at 600 companies through city workforce program
  Daily News – July 1, 2017
  A record-breaking 600 businesses are offering paid, private-sector internships this summer in the city's workforce-development program, the de Blasio administration says. The program, Ladders for Leaders, matches high-achieving high school and college students to internships.

• Mayor de Blasio and Senior Advisor Gabrielle Fialkoff Announce Gains in Summer Jobs for New York City's Most Vulnerable Youth
  June 23, 2017
  Celebrating two years of progress, the Center for Youth Employment (CYE), a public-private partnership between the de Blasio administration and local private sector leaders, tripled the number of summer jobs for New York City’s most vulnerable youth—New Yorkers ages 14 to 24 who are or have been involved in the shelter, justice or foster care systems.

• Ladders for Leaders puts students on path to paid internships and better futures
  Queens Times-Ledger – June 8, 2017
  The de Blasio administration is hoping to expand an internship program which is already popular with high school and college students in Queens. The public-private partnership, called Ladders For Leaders, placed 1,538 high-performing students at 475 job sites last summer with paid internships

• How New York City is solving the puzzle of out-of-work youth
  Crain's – May 17, 2017
  Most successful adults can vouch for the importance of early work experience in setting them on a path toward stable, rewarding careers...Unfortunately, both nationally and in New York City, too few young people have access to work opportunities.

• Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito Release Youth Employment Task Force Report
  APR 26, 2017
  Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito today released the Youth Employment Task Force Report, which provides recommendations to enhance youth workforce programming and services to the City's most vulnerable youth.

• Ladders for Leaders Supporting Next Generation of Talent
  Real Estate Weekly - April 25, 2017
  As New York's real estate industry makes incredible strides today, we must also remain focused on finding and inspiring the leaders of tomorrow.

• Mayor de Blasio and Senior Advisor Gabrielle Fialkoff Launch Ad Campaign Encouraging Employers to Hire Summer Interns
  March 13, 2017
  Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gabrielle Fialkoff, Senior Advisor and Director of the Mayor's Office of Strategic Partnerships, today unveiled a broad multi-media advertising campaign calling on New York City's employers to hire interns this coming summer.

• New York City Wants More Companies to Hire Summer Interns
  Wall Street Journal - March 12, 2017
  Swamped? Spread too thin? "Working like a dog?" If so, then New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has a fix: Hire a summer intern. These questions are part of an advertising campaign the city unveils Monday to spur more companies to join "Ladders for Leaders," a program that helped 1,538 high school and college students find paid internships last summer at 475 sites. About four times that many young people applied, the city said.

• Department of Consumer Affairs Kicks Off the Tax Season with Continued Expansion of NYC Free Tax Prep
  January 18, 2017
  Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Lorelei Salas today kicked off the tax season with the launch of the Agency's 15th annual tax time campaign and encouraged New Yorkers who earned $64,000 or less to file for free using NYC Free Tax Prep. Commissioner Salas also announced the Agency's continued expansion of NYC Free Tax Prep with the addition of services in neighborhoods and languages previously underserved, as well as an eligibility screening and texting program and a pilot queue management system.

• Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Consumer Affairs Release Study on Improving Access to Affordable Housing Opportunities
  January 10, 2017
  Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Vicki Been and Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Lorelei Salas today announced the release of a study, Improving Access to Affordable Housing Opportunities, that explores the experience of affordable housing applicants and recommends ways to further support applicants through an outreach and education strategy that incorporates financial empowerment services.