In a Bedford-Stuyvesant classroom, student Ethan Harris showed Mayor Eric Adams how to cut a piece of pipe — a typical task in the electrical technology program offered at Boys and Girls High School. 

“I was kind of scared. I ain’t going to lie to you, but I got through it because I know what I’m doing,” Harris said.

Despite using a sharp hand saw and not quite having perfect form, the mayor got through it as well without injury.

“He almost had one, but he sturdied up,” Harris said.

What You Need To Know

  • The city is expanding its Future Ready NYC program to a total of 135 schools, serving 15,000 students

  • The program allows students to get career experience, earn credit or credentials, and get paid

  • There will be two new career path options: HVAC and Decarbonization, and Human Services

These are the kinds of skills students learn as part of the city’s career-connected learning programs, which include career and technical education programs like this one.

“It doesn't say you can't go to college. You can, but it is better to leave college that you paid off on your own than have hundreds of thousands of student loans because you had the skill of being an HVAC worker,” Adams said.

Now, the city is expanding its Future Ready NYC program, which teaches students job skills, allows them to earn college credit or industry credentials and gives them paid work experience.

“This past year alone, we put over $8.2 million into the hands of our high school students through our work based learning opportunities. So that's $8.2 million into the hands of 10,000 high school students before they even leave high school,” Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said.

With the expansion, Future Ready NYC will serve 15,000 students in 135 high schools and the city is adding two new career pathways: HVAC and Decarbonization, allowing students to learn about heating and cooling ventilation systems, and Human Services, focused on careers in counseling and mental health.

At Boys and Girls, the HVAC program is still being launched. But Katheryn Mosso Chavelo is studying architectural drafting and is already learning skills that can help her get a job in the green building industry — recently learning how to build walls for what are known as passive houses.

“What I love about this program is how it connects what I'm learning to real world opportunities,” she said.