9/21/25: Future@Work, Career Fair at Street Works Earth

ALIGN, El Puente, Street Works, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Waterfront Alliance, Kaleidospace, and Veggie Nuggets are teaming up to design a Career Fair as part of Street Works 2025. Concentrated mostly from 12-2pm on Sept 21, we’re creating space for:

• Mentorship. Participants that have walked part of the way on their career journey will be asked to facilitate one-on-one career conversations.

• Job opportunities for all! Participants will come ready to share internships, job openings, and other opportunities for people of all ages.

• Creativity: Youth will have platforms to imagine the jobs of their future.

Why

This fair is a response to people in our community asking: What future is possible for us?

Right now, many folks — especially young ones and those growing up in communities hit first and worst by climate and inequality — are struggling to imagine stable, joyful futures. The uncertainty they face isn’t just economic; it’s emotional and existential.

That’s why this fair isn’t just about workforce development or climate. It’s about mental wellness and creating spaces for folks to build agency. We know it’s hard to think about your future —  let alone plan a career — when you’re dealing with crises, overwhelmed, worried about money, navigating depression, or feel out of control of your life. Workforce development can’t exist in a vacuum. It needs to be designed with the realities of our daily lives in mind.  

We’re grounding future-planning in these realities. By weaving together relationships, expression, and concrete strategies and tools that help people work towards a future that is beautiful and sustainable for them, we’re creating space for clarity, agency, and hope to take root.

Where & when

The same day and location as the core festival.

How we're thinking long term

From the start, collaborators have asked how to bring career development into all our work — not just through one event, but through sustained relationships and creative programming year-round.

We’re beginning with community listening projects in the lead-up to the fair, including a summer survey asking folks to share what they need. We’ll share these findings with NYC workforce development leaders, use them to design the fair itself, and think about other ways to connect New Yorkers to resources year round.