Improving Upward Income Mobility in New York City

The Capstone team’s project for the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) focused on LINK, a suite of economic development pilot initiatives announced by Mayor Bloomberg in early 2012 with the goal of improving upward income mobility amongst New York City’s lower-skill and low-income residents The team researched and developed proposals for two pilot initiatives: Immigrant Professional Bridge and PROGRESS Networks.

Foreign-trained immigrant professionals often face significant barriers to reentering their skilled profession after they immigrate to the United States and as a result many are under-employed working in low-skill, low-wage jobs. While New York City has a robust network of service providers helping this population regain access to their professions, misinformation about the process is common and can create costly delays, resulting in economic stagnation and perpetual underemployment. The Capstone team recommends that Immigrant Professional Bridge focus on enhancing that network to help immigrants overcome obstacles and enable them to contribute their full economic potential and achieve upward income mobility. The proposed one-year pilot centers on building on the work organizations provide in a number of ways: (1) creating a centralized information source to clarify the steps skilled immigrants should take to reenter their professions; (2) expanding provider capacity; (3) strengthening strategic partnerships, and (4) creating internships and job pool

PROGRESS Networks target upward income mobility for the city’s low-income population through the formation of employer consortia. Consortia would leverage scale to reduce costs for small to medium size enterprises (SMEs), then transfer those savings to employees through improved skill training and access to support services. By addressing the challenges that SMEs face, such as profit stagnation and resource shortages, consortia would address real business needs facing employers while mitigating barriers to upward income mobility facing employees. The proposed pilot centers on pooling resources across businesses to hire retention specialists and “success coaches” trained in helping employees stay and move ahead in their jobs.