INTRODUCTION
NEW YORK CITY
is home to over 1.7 Million young people1 striving to carve out a path for themselves. Growing up in the five boroughs should bring tremendous opportunity for all but New York City continues to have both the largest and one of the most segregated school systems in the nation2 resulting in squandered potential, the perpetuation of systemic inequities and an environment where your zip code directly correlates with economic mobility3. These baseline realities are presently compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing further clarity to the depth and breadth of barriers faced by low-income young people, particularly those who identify as people of color. Contending with learning loss4 and the immediate adverse mental health impacts of isolation5, youth are set to experience significant delays in social-emotional development and academic progress largely influenced by their racial and socio-economic backgrounds. Older youth, i.e., those preparing for high school graduation, college enrollment or their first postsecondary employment opportunity, are especially impacted by the economic downturn of this moment. Using the Great Recession as a case study, we know that recession era graduates earn less over the course of their career6 and experience alarming long-term health impacts, including a “higher incidence of unhealthy behaviors and higher middle age death rates”. 7 With all of this being true of young adults who did not experience the significant academic disruptions and trauma of living through a global pandemic, we must take proactive, intentional steps to ensure that our next generations of leaders do not become a lost generation lagging behind. The history of access to employment in New York City and our country is characterized by the systemic exclusion of people of color.8 As documented by the Center for American Progress, the median wage in the United States in August 2019 was $18.58 per hour but the average wage in service, domestic and agricultural occupations, where Black, Latinx and Asian Americans are overrepresented, was just $12.57 per hour.9 At a recent White House briefing, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice noted, “the U.S. economy has lost a staggering $16 trillion over the last 20 years because of discrimination against families of color” and she continued to state, “if we closed racial gaps in income and opportunity, these same economists have estimated we could add $5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next five years and add over 6 million new jobs for all Americans”10.
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