Baldwin UFSD Designated Winner of the P-12 Workforce Innovation Award
District Recognized by The Business Council of NYS for Academic Academies Program
Baldwin Union Free School District (UFSD) has been named one of just four winners of the inaugural Workforce Innovation Award by The Business Council of New York State for the high school’s Academic Academies program. The Workforce Innovation Awards program was established this year to recognize outstanding workforce development training and education providers, as well as business leaders, focused on developing a strong and diverse talent pipeline. The Business Council created four possible award categories. The winners were then selected based on their application and a public voting process, with the exception of the Business Workforce Leadership Award recipient, which was strictly selected by The Business Council.
This year’s four Workforce Awards went to Baldwin UFSD for the “P-12” award category, State University of New York (SUNY) System (Albany) for the “Higher Education” award category, The Guidance Center of Westchester (Mount Vernon) for the “Non-Profit” award category, and GlobalFoundries (Malta) for the “Business Workforce Leadership” award category.
All four award winners will be honored at a luncheon in May at the University at Albany for their leadership and innovation in developing and/or delivering training and education to meet the workforce needs of local or regional businesses. New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon will serve as the keynote speaker.
“We are extremely proud to be among the first to be recognized with The Business Council of New York’s Workforce Innovation Award for our Academic Academies program,” said Dr. Shari L. Camhi, Superintendent of Baldwin Union Free School District. “This accolade speaks to the Baldwin Union Free School District’s commitment to ensuring that all of our students are fully prepared for their future and will make a solid contribution to the local workforce. We have worked diligently to create a program that provides equitable access to invaluable hands-on professional learning experiences and coursework. I would like to thank and congratulate our administrators, faculty, students, and community partners for helping to make our Academies possible for all these years, and we look forward to seeing the program’s continued expansion.”
After an extensive application and review process conducted by The Business Council, the top training and education applicants selected for each category were then designated as “finalists” for the purpose of naming a winner through an online voting campaign. Voting took place over two weeks across multiple social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, in addition to The Business Council’s website. The campaign ended with over 40,000 social media impressions, almost 500 shares, and over 1,400 likes of the finalists’ videos created for social media promotion. There were also approximately 1,600 online votes through The Business Council’s website.
“Hiring a skilled and diverse workforce is a top priority for businesses in New York. To meet those needs, there are many innovative and successful programs across the state focusing on the high-demand skills required to create the workforce of the future,” said Amber Rangel Mooney, director of workforce development at the Business Council of New York State, in a statement. “These programs are crucial to sustaining a healthy economy and in recognizing them, we hope to see their work continue to grow.”