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BOSTON - Monday,
November 1, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey, the Mayor’s Office of Workforce
Development, and the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) today
announced the disbursement of $2.7 million in Neighborhood Jobs Trust (NJT)
funds to 30 community-based organizations that provide job training,
education, and support services to Boston residents. Bolstered by the
strength of Boston’s commercial development market, $2.7 million is the
largest NJT disbursement in at least 15 years and is expected to help
grantees leverage an additional $7.7 million in funds. The 30
community-based organizations will serve an estimated 3,200 low- and
middle-income residents seeking employment in sectors impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, including technology, culinary, healthcare, and human
services.
“Now, more than
ever, workers are seeking higher paying jobs and quality employment,” said
Mayor Janey. “This historic disbursement of Neighborhood Jobs Trust funds
will enable residents to acquire the skills they need to position
themselves for better opportunities. The City’s employers are in great
need of their skills, and we are grateful to the 30 job training programs
that answered the call to build a stronger workforce.”
“The building boom
that Boston has experienced in the last several years has resulted in
millions of dollars in linkage funding to support needed workforce training
programs for Boston’s residents,” said BPDA Director Brian Golden. “The 30
organizations awarded in this round of funding will strengthen our local
economy by supporting thousands of Boston residents in finding quality,
high-paying jobs.”
The Neighborhood Jobs Trust is a public charitable trust replenished
by linkage fees from developers of large-scale commercial projects in
Boston. Since 2014, new development approved by the BPDA has generated over
$80 million in linkage fees to support affordable housing and workforce
training. Earlier this year, the BPDA approved a 42 percent increase in
linkage fees in Boston. The increase raised the fees to $15.39 per square
foot, of which $13.00 is dedicated to affordable housing and $2.39 is
dedicated to workforce training.
The NJT grant
recipients were selected through an open Request for Proposals (RFP)
process administered by the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (OWD).
The RFP, released in June 2021, garnered 37 proposals, which were evaluated
by a team of OWD staff and outside experts.
Among this year’s
grantees are three organizations receiving first-time NJT funding: Haitian Multi-Service Center, which will
offer English instruction and job training in healthcare and human
services; X-Cel Education, which will train young adults for careers in
water management and conservation; and Immigrant Family Services Institute,
which will provide English instruction and training for the medical
assisting, culinary, or retail sectors.
“The immigrant
community in Boston faces extreme hardship and challenges, which are only
deepened by the impacts of COVID-19,” said Dr. Geralde Gabeau, executive
director of the Immigrant Family Services Institute. “We are so grateful to
partner with the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development to provide career
and job opportunities to our clients who have been impacted so greatly by
COVID-19."
Many previously
funded organizations, including Resilient Coders which provides training to
young people of color for careers in software development, were also
selected for grants again this year based on the strength of their ability
to deliver strong outcomes for trainees.
“Every day of the Resilient Coders
bootcamp, my fingers were on the keyboard to apply new programming concepts
that I had learned,” said Anvy Tran, a 2021 graduate who is now a software
engineer at Audible. “The skills, confidence, and community that I have
gained from Resilient Coders have given me the ability to pursue career
opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to me."
The full list of
Fiscal Year 2022 NJT grant recipients can be found below.
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