Jobs NYC Center at 2 Lafayette Street
NYC Mayor's Office
The new Jobs NYC Center at 2 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, offering career assistance for New Yorkers seeking City government jobs
New Yorkers looking for City government jobs will soon have a permanent location where they can get help navigating applications, civil service exams and the hiring process. The new Jobs NYC Center at 2 Lafayette Street in Manhattan will offer walk-in career assistance, hiring events, workshops and direct connections with City agencies seeking employees. Developed by the Department of Small Business Services and Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the center will also provide career-development resources for existing municipal employees. The location has already hosted hiring activity during a soft launch, including an August hiring hall that resulted in 17 new hires for the NYC Business Express Service Team. Regular walk-in hours at the center begin October 5.
Mayor Mamdani Opens New Jobs NYC Center, Connecting New Yorkers to Good-Paying Jobs in Public Service
Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Kenny Minaya and Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Yume Kitasei officially launched the Jobs NYC Center at 2 Lafayette Street, a new hub connecting New Yorkers to careers in public service.
Developed by SBS and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), the Center turns a long-vacant City-owned space into a home for walk-in career services, workforce development events, job fairs and agency hiring halls. Regular walk-in hours begin Monday, October 5.
The Center advances the administration’s commitment to connecting New Yorkers with good jobs and strong career pathways while putting underused City-owned space back to work for the people of New York. The Center will also support City employees seeking promotion and other ways to advance in public service careers. It will host panels and workshops on career paths, share Civil Service exam schedules, connect employees and managers to DCAS trainings and organize networking and affinity group events.
“Every New Yorker deserves a real shot at a good job, including serving the city they call home,” said Mayor Mamdani. “The path to public service should not be difficult to navigate. The Jobs NYC Center will help New Yorkers find the right opportunity, understand what it takes to get hired and build a career in public service.”
“I’ve talked to workers across this city who assumed a job in public service wasn’t for them — the process seemed too complicated, with too much paperwork and no one to help them through it,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. “This Center changes that. New Yorkers can walk in, get support and walk out with a path toward a stable job serving their own city.”
“Public service has long been one of the most reliable paths to a stable future for New Yorkers,” said SBS Commissioner Kenny Minaya. “The new Jobs NYC Center will give more New Yorkers access to careers in civil service and help our sister agencies recruit the workforce they need.”
“We’re excited to collaborate with our partner agencies on a win-win for New Yorkers by replacing a vacant storefront with a job center at 2 Lafayette to help connect New Yorkers to jobs, particularly city jobs,” said DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei. “And for those city jobs that require an exam, New Yorkers can go right upstairs to our testing center in the same building. This center fits with our efforts to connect New Yorkers to city jobs online, at our hiring events, through our newsletter and now as this new Jobs NYC Center.”
“As Chair of the NYC Council Civil Service and Labor Committee, I am committed to improving our City’s workforce pipelines and modernizing our hiring systems,” said Council Member Shirley Aldebol. “The new Jobs NYC Center is exactly the kind of effective and innovative project we should be investing in. By demystifying the City job application process, we can increase the accessibility of City jobs for all New Yorkers, while filling crucial vacancies in City government. I am grateful to Mayor Mamdani, DCAS Commissioner Kitasei and SBS Commissioner Minaya for their willingness to tackle the core challenges facing our City’s civil service head-on.”
Mayor Mamdani marked the launch by swearing in 17 new NYC Business Express Service Team (BEST) members, the SBS unit that helps entrepreneurs navigate permits, licenses and inspections to open and run a business in New York City. The members were hired through the Center’s first hiring hall, held in August as part of its soft launch.
The hiring hall is a step toward fulfilling Mayor Mamdani’s Executive Order 18 commitment to double the size of the NYC BEST and accelerate hiring across public service roles.
About the Jobs NYC Center
The Jobs NYC Center helps New Yorkers find and secure jobs with the City. Staff help job seekers identify open positions, navigate the civil service process, prepare applications and connect directly with agencies that are hiring.
The Center builds on SBS’s Jobs NYC initiative, which since 2024 has helped 47 City agencies and public institutions, including the Department of Education, NYC Health + Hospitals and the City University of New York, recruit staff. The new location gives that work a fixed location in the heart of Manhattan.
At 2 Lafayette Street, the Center provides:
- Career Services: Help finding and applying for public-sector jobs, including guidance on civil service exams.
- Hiring Halls: Agency interviews and on-the-spot hiring events that connect New Yorkers directly with employers.
- Workshops and Training: Sessions on public service careers and the civil service process, including Civil Service 101, held on the Center’s street-level Jobs NYC Stage.
- Employer Services: Recruitment support for City agencies and other public sector partners.
- Community Space: A venue for workforce development outreach, networking and events. The space previously hosted temporary activations, including Art on the Avenue installations. Those installations and other arts programming will continue to be incorporated into the Center, bringing culture and workforce development together in a space designed to serve New Yorkers.
Source: New York City Mayor's Office
