Advocates and DOL point to apprenticeships, wraparound services and child-care investments to expand workforce

At the workforce budget hearing Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon highlighted apprenticeship expansion, child-care investments and training for green jobs as central to workforce development in the governor's FY27 proposal.

Reardon said the Office of Just Transition and related funds have supported training in EV infrastructure, weatherization, and wraparound services — help with childcare and housing that reduce training dropouts. "We distributed grants last year for training programs," she said, adding examples in Suffolk County: United Way and Suffolk County Community College training centers that included weatherization simulations.

Separately, representatives from the New York State Educator Workforce Development Hub (EdHub) and other public witnesses urged a $50 million budget appropriation to scale registered apprenticeships, streamline credentialing and build a statewide intermediary that coordinates employer-engaged pipelines for child-serving careers (child care, preschool, special-education supports). EdHub said a statewide apprenticeship and retention investment would reduce seats lost to staffing shortages and help parents return to work.

The testimony also covered digital working papers for youth employment (a single online portal) and DOL's efforts to provide career-center VR experiences and teacher-ambassador programs to expose students to trades and apprenticeships. Legislators asked for follow-up on reporting and ROI metrics for workforce grants; witnesses and the department agreed to provide program-level detail and performance reporting.

Next steps: advocates asked appropriators to consider the targeted $50M to scale apprenticeships, and DOL committed to follow up with data on program locations, graduates and training/completion rates.