Community Voices Heard

This report shares results from Community Voices Heard’s ongoing monitoring of the Parks Opportunity Program (POP), the largest paid transitional jobs program in New York City. The research documents the experiences of Job Training Participants (JTPs) who participated in POP in FY04 and FY05. It builds upon CVH’s earlier research of FY01 and FY02 POP participants, looking concretely into changes in the program (collapsing of the varied entry-level job titles into one distinct “training participant” category, union status elimination, wage reduction, welfare case maintenance, etc.) and how these have impacted program participants. The report is based on ongoing discussions with 1,320 JTP workers, 130 field surveys, 4 focus groups, and 9 extensive individual interviews.