Page 13 - SKILLS - 2023

3.8% — and the second lowest in the state, after Long Island. But that overall number doesn’t reflect every segment of the workforce, some of whom are still struggling to get a job.
“The people who we serve are still finding it difficult to find work,” says Thom Kleiner, executive director of the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board. Entrenched barriers to employment, including transportation, affordable housing, lack of childcare, and other issues has created what he calls “a disconnect between those available to work and businesses having difficulty finding workers. The big-picture issue is trying to reconcile those two phenomena.” (For more on local initiatives to train workers with barriers to employment, see page 48.)
These competing and seemingly contradictory factors have “forced employers to be much more proactive, aggressive and creative” in finding workers, says Jason Chapin, director of workforce development for the Westchester County Association (WCA).
Bridging the Disconnect Between Positions, Candidates
The county has been refocusing its efforts to address that disconnect. “In 2022, my office shifted gears to bringing employers and job seekers together,” Gibbons says, a shift that has included holding a half-dozen or so job fairs around the region recently. “We also pivoted from a sector-based approach to looking
at niche populations with high unemployment rates.”
In particular, those with a disability or a history of justice involvement are often overlooked as potential hires. The county is trying to “encourage employers to be more open-minded,” she says. To that end, they have hosted workshops and job fairs specifically to boost these workers. And they are not alone. “Workforce entities are paying more attention
to those two sectors now than
maybe any time in recent memory,” Kleiner adds.
The county promotes an organization called ConConnect, created by a local entrepreneur named Andre Peart. The Yonkers-born Peart, with his own history of justice
“I think we have to do
a better job of helping young adults and even teens understand what opportunities are out there and create more and better career pathway programs. There are many trade
jobs out there, and a lot of money in the pipeline for infrastructure will create a significant opportunity for those who don’t want to go to college.”
—Jason Chapin, Director of Workforce Development, Westchester County Association
involvement, created a platform and website, “like LinkedIn for the formerly incarcerated,” Gibbons says. Peart built his business, which connects
and matches employers and job seekers, with the help of Element 46, Westchester’s startup accelerator program. “He has clients like Lowe’s and Amazon,” Gibbons says. The formerly incarcerated, she stresses, “are loyal, hard-working and really appreciate being given a second chance.”
The county has also held job fairs specifically for the differently and diverse-abled. At a recent fair, such big employers as CVS and local hospitals had the chance to meet and interview about 200 job seekers who were provided support like sign language interpreters, assistance
for the blind and accommodations for the neurodiverse. “It was really gratifying to see the activity that happened that day,” Gibbons says. “And there was strong demand for us to do more for that population.”
Chapin notes that there are more than 1 million adults with disabilities in New York State, but only about
a third of them are working. “I think employers are recognizing that a lot of them have the skills and the ability to accommodate their disabilities,” he says.
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