2026: The Year of Workforce Development
By Sherazade Langlade, CEO
As 2026 gets underway, many of us in the workforce development space are hopeful that Mayor Mamdani’s administration will invest in building a stronger workforce development system to provide more New Yorkers with opportunities for economic mobility. This is an especially urgent need today, when lower- and middle-income families across New York and the country feel more squeezed than ever.
While affordability is often discussed in terms of inflation, the real driver for helping people get ahead is ensuring that they have access to good jobs and clear pathways into middle-skill careers—jobs that allow people not just to survive, but to build stable, sustainable lives.
For the past two decades, WPTI has worked for greater economic mobility by helping the workforce development field stay ahead of the changes shaping the future of work, while also providing organizations with the support and tools they need to assist jobseekers.
In the past year, a major part of this work has been helping organizations understand and respond to the growing impact of artificial intelligence.
Working alongside partners like NYCETC, JobsFirstNYC, Meet the Moment, and the NYC Workforce Funders, we conducted research and developed one of the first practical AI guidelines designed specifically for workforce development organizations.
Since launching those guidelines last fall, we’ve already reached hundreds of workforce practitioners through training sessions, convenings, and conference presentations. More than 90 practitioners joined our online launch event, and we’ve continued to share these tools with organizations across the field.
We also launched our first AI Learning Lab, bringing together 30 practitioners from 13 organizations, including community-based nonprofits and city agencies. Over four sessions, participants explored how AI is changing the labor market and how organizations can begin using these tools responsibly—from workflow automation to data privacy, ethics, and internal policy development.
By the end of the program:
67% of participants were actively using AI tools in their work
100% recognized the need for enterprise-level security and internal AI policies
This spring, we’ll launch a second cohort of the AI Learning Lab as we continue supporting organizations that want to thoughtfully integrate AI into their programs and operations.
We’re also seeing strong interest in the green economy as another pathway into middle-skill careers.
Through our Green Jobs Learning Lab, we’ve supported 11 organizations across New York City—including community-based organizations, CUNY community colleges, and city agencies—to help them better understand green career pathways and design programs that connect jobseekers to these opportunities. We received applications from 26 organizations for this first cohort, which shows just how much interest there is in this space.
Across four sessions, participants explored what counts as a green job, how to map career pathways, how to engage employers, and how to build programs that connect jobseekers to quality jobs while supporting a more sustainable and equitable economy.
And in the coming months, we’ll also be expanding our Industry Champions initiative, an initiative of NYC Public Schools and the Department of Youth and Community Development, which focuses on strengthening connections between workforce providers and employers in sectors like healthcare, business, and finance—industries that offer strong middle-skill career pathways.
Across this work, our goal is simple: to strengthen the workforce development ecosystem so more New Yorkers can access good jobs and real economic mobility.
If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to explore our calendar of free workshops and learning opportunities, where we’re sharing tools, insights, and practical strategies with practitioners across the field.
Thank you for being part of this community—and for the work you do every day to expand opportunity.