APRIL 2016 • Volume 12 • Issue 04 Making internships work for NYC youth and employers How Many Energy Professionals Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb? 13 In the last few years, the technologies for LEDs and other “simple” Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) have advanced rapidly. With relatively low-costs and short paybacks, these projects are “no-brainers” that are relatively easy for facility owners to bid out and complete by themselves. However, the biggest economic impact is often from higher-cost ECMs with longer useful life-cycles and paybacks. In the example below, focusing only on the ECMs with short paybacks, means leaving over 75% of the potential economic benefits on the table and wasting an important opportunity to upgrade the facility! For most facility owners, implementing large, high-dollar, multiple-system energy-savings projects is definitely not a “DIY” exercise. When it comes to these projects, facility owners are either unaware of or disconnected from the existing tools and resources available to them. And to make matters worse, these alternative solutions are often technically complex and require substantial investments or debt financing. As a result, facility owners are neither motivated nor compelled to choose to implement perfectly viable solutions that are huge potential windfalls. In order to maximize cash flow, subject matter experts must be brought in to help decision makers to develop the confidence necessary to move these projects forward. Ian Harris, Business Development Associate for BlocPower, tells his clients, “This process is a marathon, not a sprint. We learn the interests and priorities of each client through deep listening, then make a proposal that matches up to those needs. Our job is to cut through all the confusion to give our customers the opportunity to see that we are offering them a way out of the mess they are currently in. You can only do this by being patient, and listening and learning.” Specialized owners’ representatives like Sol Alliance provide their clients with at least three options and one recommendation for an energy project’s design and budget; bids from contractors for all labor, equipment, and materials required for construction; financing instruments for construction (e.g. bank loans, operating leases, energy services agreements, etc.); and performance guarantees (or insurance) that validate the expected performance over 5-10 years. Stephen Owen, founder of Sol Alliance, says that “By aligning our interests with the property/business owners and other stakeholders, we are able to focus on the customer’s experience and provide them with transparency and control. This enables the decision makers to more easily evaluate and implement the alternative energy option(s). Rather than selling products and services, we develop solutions.” Instead of shying away from large energy-savings projects, facility owners should build a strong project development team. “Where there’s an ROI, there’s a way!” The purpose of Queens Chamber’s Energy Committee is to help businesses to reduce their energy usage, lower their utility bills, and join the “Energy Efficiency Revolution.” We urge you to attend our bi-monthly meetings and learn how together, we can make a difference. For additional information, please call one of the Co-Chairs: Marshall Haimson (516) 445-2200 or Jim Sheuchenko (516) 350-1076. Visit www.queenschamber. org to join the Chamber. By David Fischer In May 2015, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City launched the NYC Center for Youth Employment with one big goal: to support 100,000 high-quality jobs, internships and mentorships every year to youth and young adults by 2020, almost twice the total from before Mayor de Blasio took office. Achieving this goal will open countless new pathways of opportunity for our city’s youth, helping them connect to great careers at family supporting wages. But it will happen only if businesses perceive them as assets who can add to the bottom line—not “when they grow up,” but now. That’s where Ladders for Leaders comes in. A highly competitive internship program run by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, Ladders places high school and college students with strong grades, great communication skills and work experience into paid summer internships with New York City businesses, small and large, in fields from retail to finance to media and technology. Ladders for Leaders intensively screens and prepares participants before the start of the program, ensuring that interns show up ready to contribute on Day One. As part of the Center’s 2015 launch, we sought to engage more employers and show how hosting these interns can strengthen their businesses—and they responded. Ladders more than doubled from the previous year, growing from 475 to 1,035 interns. And sure enough, host businesses got as much value from the experience as did the interns themselves. Take SimpleTherapy. A small digital startup that offers video-based, short-duration exercise therapy programs for patients with chronic pain, SimpleTherapy has struggled to find quality staff within their budget. Early last summer, the company was preparing a new release and knew they needed help to meet critical deadlines, so they decided to try Ladders for Leaders. For six weeks, their Ladders intern Chang worked hand-in-glove with SimpleTherapy’s team of developers. She proved instrumental in helping SimpleTherapy to test their product and meet deadlines. By the end of her six-week internship, it turned out Chang wasn’t the only one who gained something. Through Ladders for Leaders, SimpleTherapy was able to bring on board a highly motivated and energetic young adult ready to work on the front lines of a tech startup. For a small investment, Ladders helped SimpleTherapy to increase capacity and improve performance. Participating in the program also helped create a mentorship environment at SimpleTherapy, infusing their team with new energy. When we asked SimpleTherapy if they wanted to host another Ladders for Leaders intern for the summer of 2016, the answer was a resounding “Yes.” If your business is looking for young talent to provide help this summer, the answer is clear for you too: join SimpleTherapy and hundreds of other New York City employers in turning to Ladders for Leaders. Get in touch with us today at nyc.gov/cye to begin working with the talent of tomorrow. David Fischer is the founding director of the NYC Center for Youth Employment.
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