Brooklyn Workforce Innovations

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI) is a community-based network of social enterprises and job-training programs in South Brooklyn. Its mission is to empower low- and moderate-income people by creating living-wage employment opportunities and access to career paths. It creates stable, long-term employment through creation of job-generating community enterprises and job-training and placement programs.

BWI seeks to develop programs that counter prevailing market inequalities (especially those based on race and gender) and contribute to a broader movement for economic justice. Its innovative approach to economic and workforce development combines social purpose business creation, sectorally-targeted skills training programs rooted in employer demand, and extensive pre- and post-placement support services. By developing businesses and leveraging jobs in targeted sectors, we ensure that there is real market-oriented employer demand which means our participants will have access to real jobs. By providing skills training in those fields, we ensure that training is targeted to these jobs. We also focus on providing long-term, ongoing social supports to ensure that our participants have all the tools they need to get into permanent jobs that pay a living wage and bring a sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction.