The Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (OWD) directed over $14 million to more than 90 community-based organizations that provided job training, adult education, youth programs, apprenticeship opportunities and financial education to Boston residents from July 2016 to June 2017, according to the Fiscal Year 2017 OWD Annual Report, released last week.
Some successes, as noted in the report, Fiscal Year 2017 OWD Annual Report: Taking Action for Economic Equality, include the following:
- Among clients of the one-stop career centers, 59 percent obtained employment within the first quarter of exit, earning an average wage of $21.36 per hour.
- Upon job placement, graduates of training programs funded by Neighborhood Jobs Trust grants earned an average wage of $15.23 per hour with 72 percent earning benefits as well.
- Students in the Tuition-Free Community College Plan achieved a higher first-year retention rate (65 percent) than the state (59 percent) or national (49 percent) averages for community college students.
- Young adults who participated in credit-building workshops and one-on-one financial coaching through the Youth Credit Building Initiative showed improved credit histories, higher credit scores, and less delinquency than a control group.
- Participants in the City’s Summer Youth Employment Program had 35 percent fewer violent crime arraignments and 57 percent fewer property crime arraignments in the 17 months following program participation.
- Taxpayers who received a Financial Check-Up from a trained financial guide improved their credit scores by an average of 15 points within one year and reduced their installment debt by an average of nearly $500 more than a control group – within just two months.