David Fischer

Founding Executive Director, NYC Center for Youth Employment

Kansas City

David Fischer is the founding executive director of the NYC Center for Youth Employment, created by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2015. For 15 years before joining CYE, David worked as a researcher, strategist and administrator in New York City’s workforce development field. He served as Senior Director for Career and Technical Education (CTE) with the NYC Department of Education (DOE) from 2011 to 2014, managing a portfolio of over 400 CTE programs in virtually every sector of the economy. At DOE, he designed and implemented new program models blending education and work experience and tied new CTE program development to labor market demand. David began his career in workforce development as a researcher at the Center for an Urban Future, where he authored a series of reports, briefs and opinion pieces on subjects including demographic change in the local workforce, reforms to city job training and placement initiatives, and CTE’s potential to prepare students for high-value careers.