Aspiring fashionistas from the five boroughs are gaining a
marvelous opportunity to jump start a career in New York City’s most glamorous
industry (yes, I mean the fashion industry).
Gabrielle Fialkoff, senior advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio,
announced the launch of NYC Fashion Forward which appears to be a public-private
partnership backed by the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, the
Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and the New York City
Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). The program plans to create a
significant amount of paid internships to local students who aspire to work in
fashion.
NYC Fashion Forward includes 100 paid spots at designers,
including Alice + Olivia, J Crew and Coach.
The city announced on Monday a new program that connects high
school and college students with internships in fashion.
Students can apply for NYC Fashion Forward through the Ladders for Leaders
program. Internships run for six weeks, starting in July. Salaries vary
depending on the designer.
For the summer of 2016, as part of NYC Fashion Forward,
NYCEDC will commit to financially back 60 summer jobs, created in collaboration
with the Mayor’s Fund, the CFDA and the NYC Department of Youth and Community
Development, that pair participating students with employers that will be able
to best offer real world training and mentorship. In addition, the Mayor’s Fund
and CFDA will work with prominent, large-scale fashion firms across the city to
create the remaining 40 employer-funded summer internships.
The following employers have committed to host young people
this year through NYC Fashion Forward:
3.1 Phillip Lim
Alice + Olivia
CFDA
Coach
David Wolfson & Associates, Inc.
Design Incubator Inc.
Designers & Agents
Diane von Furstenberg
J. Crew
Haskell Jewels LLC
K/LLER COLLECTION
Kate Spade & Company
Krupp Group
Lulu Frost
Maison De Mode
Melissa Joy Manning
New York Embroidery Studio
Nicholas K
Opening Ceremony
Rachel Comey
Timo Weiland
Tommy Hilfiger
NYC Fashion Forward is part of the NYC Center for
Youth Employment’s ongoing efforts to create pipelines of young talent into our
city’s industries, in order to build employment services that meet the needs of
both the youngest New Yorkers and city business. Launched in May 2015 by the
Mayor’s Fund, the NYC Center for Youth Employment has a specific goal of
supporting 100,000 unique work-related experiences each year, including
high-quality summer jobs, career exposure, skills-building, and supportive
mentorships, by 2020. In collaboration with city agencies, employers and other
stakeholders, the Center is also focused on evaluating the city’s youth
workforce system as a whole, with an eye toward expanding effective programs and
filling in gaps.
Are you familiar with the MADE Fashion Week and Made in
NY?
Announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio in February 2015 at MADE
Fashion Week, the ambitious suite of ‘Made in NY’ fashion initiatives tripled
the City’s investment in the local fashion economy from $5 million to $15
million. Part of the City’s expansion of its signature ‘Made in NY’ program, the
new fashion initiatives set out to cultivate a robust pipeline of fashion
industry talent within New York City, catalyze growth of emerging creative
businesses, and support fashion manufacturing facilities across all five
boroughs. To date, the initiatives have showcased over 150 local fashion brands
to an estimated 650 million people; connected emerging businesses with over 75
industry-leading mentors; generated $500,000 in sales for New York City-based
designers; and awarded over $4.5 million in financing and prizes to emerging and
small businesses.
Read more at http://www.nycedc.com/press-release/mayors-fund-advance-new-york-city-cfda-nycedc-announce-new-partnership-provide
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