Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday that the City’s Sandy Recovery Workforce1 initiative would be making additional free pre-apprenticeship training opportunities available to low- and middle-income residents of Sandy-impacted areas.
De Blasio launched Sandy Workforce1 as part of his Sandy recovery overhaul in 2014. The program is part of the broader mission of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations to connect Sandy-impacted residents with high-quality middle class careers in the unionized construction industry and jobs related to the recovery and rebuilding of these communities.
“Since the beginning, we have been committed not just to our recovery, but to providing opportunities to New Yorkers in our hardest-hit neighborhoods. Build it Back has thus far connected 680 Sandy-impacted New Yorkers to high-quality employment, including many to the construction trades through union pre-apprenticeship vouchers. We are now increasing our capacity so that more Sandy-impacted New Yorkers can access these life changing opportunities,” said de Blasio.
All pre-apprenticeship vouchers are funded through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery Program (CDBG-DR). To date, 84 vouchers have been distributed and 66 people have graduated from the programs using our vouchers, preparing them for union work as Roofers, Metal Lathers, Painters, Laborers, and Carpenters.
Residents in Sandy-impacted zip codes interested in taking advantage of these pre-apprenticeship opportunities should visit their nearest Sandy Recovery Workforce1 office at sandyrecoveryopportunities.com.
Sandy-impacted zip codes in Brooklyn are 11203, 11214, 11223, 11224, 11229, 11231, 11234, 11235, 11236.
“Superstorm Sandy shattered communities in Brooklyn and across New York City, displacing families from their homes and forcing people to lose their jobs,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. “By supporting men and women who want to work rebuilding their neighborhoods, the Sandy Recovery Workforce1 initiative is helping to create a community stronger than before the storm, with hundreds of workers prepared for construction jobs that provide good wages and benefits to those given the opportunity. I am proud to be involved in this critical partnership with the City to build Brooklyn back the right way.”
Canarsie lawmakers State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud, Assembly Member Jaime Williams and City Council Member Alan Maisel all lauded the collaboration between theMayor’s Office, the City, The NYC Building and Construction Trades Council and pre-apprenticeship training providers is truly a win for our community, which saw the neighborhood’s waterfront area hit hard by the storm.
“The importance of being able to assist the residents of high impacted areas from Super-storm Sandy must remain a priority, the Mayor’s Office and their noble initiatives and programs – especially the construction pre-apprenticeship program – will assuredly provide for skills that will long last into the future that can assist our constituents in the years to come. The high impact areas of Sandy must always remain a focal point of our attention and the residents of these areas must always be an important priority and allotted tools continue to allow our residents to flourish,” said Williams.
Coney Island City Council Member Mark Treyger, Chair of the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, noted there are plenty of employment opportunities created by Sandy, and the residents affected by the storm should be the ones given the opportunity to fill those positions.
“While there is still so much that needs to be done to help communities victimized by Sandy regain what they lost and become more resilient against future storms, I commend the City administration and organized labor for collaborating with elected officials from impacted areas to create career pathways for Sandy survivors, to improve access to job training, and good, union jobs,” he said.
