On April 14th, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Center for an Urban Future released A City of Immigrant Workers: Building a Workforce Strategy to Support all New Yorkers, a report that makes clear recommendations to ensure that the city’s workforce development efforts address the specific needs of immigrant New Yorkers. Made possible by the Ford Foundation and the New York Foundation, the report comes a little more than a year after New York City Mayor de Blasio launched an ambitious new approach to workforce development.

A City of Immigrant Workers argues that the success of the city’s workforce development system depends on its ability to address the major barriers faced by immigrant New Yorkers, who make up nearly half of the workforce. Immigrants make up the vast majority of workers in the fastest-growing occupations in the city—from home health aides and construction workers to registered nurses and software programmers. They are disproportionately clustered in lower-wage jobs, have lower incomes on average, and often experience higher rates of poverty. A significant number of immigrants do not speak English well and have lower levels of formal education, while thousands of others are unable to utilize credentials and degrees because they are not recognized in the United States.

By providing an in-depth look at challenges that immigrants experience disproportionately, as well as those that immigrants face uniquely, A City of Immigrant Workers offers a comprehensive strategy to improve workforce services and workplace quality for the city’s large immigrant population. Specifically, the report finds that the city and private workforce funders should invest in English classes, adult education, and training and certification programs for workers with varied levels of educational background and English proficiency; ensure that immigrants have access to relevant services in the neighborhoods that they live and work, and; improve the quality of the low-wage jobs that so many immigrants fill.

To mark the report’s release, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Center for an Urban Future, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Ford Foundation, and the New York City Workforce Funders, hosted a convening to engage stakeholders in discussion around the report’s major findings and recommendations. The gathering drew nearly 100 attendees, including representatives from city government, leaders from community based organizations, and private workforce funders.

Read the full report here.