Connections to Care Wins Workforce Innovation Award

NYC Opportunity-sponsored mental health initiative, has been awarded the NYC Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC)’s Workforce Program Innovation Award. The award, which is given annually, honors one workforce program that has brought a new practice to the field and serves as a model for forward-thinking programming.

C2C was created to increase access to mental health services at the community level, with the goal of increasing positive outcomes for vulnerable New Yorkers in their own communities. C2C trains frontline staff members at community-based organizations, including workforce providers and others, who are then able to address mental health challenges faced by their clients. In many cases, those challenges can be an obstacle to gaining and holding onto full-time employment. C2C had served over 23,000 participants and trained over 1,4 00 staff as of September 30, 2018.

NYC Opportunity has played a key role in C2C’s work, helping to manage and rigorously evaluate the model to determine if combining mental health services with other social services can lead to improved mental health and also help individuals achieve better outcomes in areas such as employment, housing stability, and financial independence. C2C is the result of a public-private partnership led collaboratively by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and is part of ThriveNYC, an action plan to guide the City toward a more effective and holistic mental health system.

Read more about C2C’s Workforce Program Innovation Award.