2025 Policy and Advocacy Impact Statement

Year-at-a-Glance Impact

• 5,500+ Workforce Buzz subscribers with 24 issues in 2025
• 200+ Organizational sign-ons in opposition to proposed federal budget
• 30+ legislative meetings across city, state, and federal policymakers
• 18 State and Federal Policy in-depth updates
• Monthly check-ins with all 33 Workforce Development Board Directors and our partners at the New York State Department of Labor

NYATEP focused this year on sharing information and insight regarding state and federal workforce policy, through the twice-monthly Workforce Buzz newsletter as well as deeper analyses of major developments. Highlights included the following: 

• Our 2024 State of the Workforce report, released last winter, tracked who’s working across the Empire State, in what industries and occupations, and the performance of key education and employment systems. It also offered a look at demographic change and evolving demand, with a focus on the prevalence of immigrants in key sectors statewide and their substantial contributions to New York’s economy. 
• We tracked the delayed New York State budget and offered analysis once it finally came out, highlighting modest aggregate increases in state funding for workforce programs along with roughly equivalent reductions to higher education initiatives. 
• Through the spring, we covered federal policy issues including the Trump administration’s attempt to close Job Corps, its “Make America Skilled Again” proposal to roughly halve workforce funding and merge 13 programs into a single block grant, and its budget reconciliation measure.  We also noted the inclusion of “Workforce Pell” in the bill that finally passed in July. 
• As the Trump administration began to clarify its workforce policy through an executive order in April and a fuller strategy blueprint released in August, we offered analysis as to what it might mean for funding, reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and more. 
• After the House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that would have decimated federal workforce funding in Fiscal Year 2026 and beyond, we rallied the community with a sign-on letter sent to the full New York congressional delegation and additional resources for our members and partners to register their opposition, including analyses of budgetary and service impact in each congressional district.  

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