This NYC job training program is helping young adults pivot to high-earning careers

A group of adults eager to switch careers or leave their low-wage gigs graduated from a unique job training program last month, ready to work in a growing industry: managing modern-day buildings.

The 14-week workforce development program, run by the nonprofit Stacks+Joules, works to train New Yorkers from largely disadvantaged backgrounds to operate buildings that now rely on technology and apps to run more efficiently. The program propels them into jobs where pay starts at nearly $60,000 a year and prepares them for an industry desperate to hire and expected to grow as New York City aims to go carbon neutral by 2050.

“I see a lot of other workforce programs that are like ancillary skills, but they’re not directed at the job. This is one educational tenet that is really definitive of Stacks+Joules, is not teaching the overview, but teaching an incredibly specific task,” said Jonathan Spooner, co-founder of Stacks+Joules. “The outcome has to be employment. It has to be a job.”

Unlike some other workforce training programs that are more broad, Stacks+Joules has a narrow focus that’s successfully helped most of its graduates get jobs in the industry. The program has enrolled more than 100 people since launching in 2021 in New York City, with nearly 88% of the students completing the workshops. In the prior four cohorts, 83% of graduates are employed with most working in the clean energy sector.

Narrowly tailored workforce training programs like the ones run by Stacks+Joules may be critical for Mayor Eric Adams’ goals to spur an “inclusive economy.” In December he announced the city will invest $600 million in workforce training programs around the city to prepare 250,000 young New Yorkers to enter a changing workforce. Stacks+Joules doesn’t receive any city funding but is already planning on launching its next class next month.