Clayton Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”) today announced that it has committed $4.25 million in grants in each of the next two years, for a total commitment of $8.5 million, to 15 non-profit organizations having a direct impact on workforce development in New York City.

The grants were made by the CD&R Foundation (the “Foundation”), created in 2021 to help meaningfully formalize and expand the Firm’s philanthropic, service, and educational efforts. Since its inception, the Foundation has committed approximately $17 million of unrestricted, multi-year grants to nearly 30 organizations in New York City and London identified as CD&R’s Talent Solution Partners (“TSP”), which work to advance opportunity for underserved and underestimated talent through educational and professional development.

"The CD&R Foundation is proud to support these 15 impactful organizations and the dynamic executives who lead this important work. These organizations are providing untapped talent access to industry-informed skills training, wraparound support services, employer networks, and ongoing professional development throughout the entire talent life cycle—all of which place them on the path to upward economic mobility. We are inspired by the positive impact they are making in the lives of the talent they serve,” said CD&R Foundation President, Randy Moore.

The organizations were selected in partnership with CD&R’s New York Foundation Grants & Service (“FGS”) council which consists of CD&R partners and employees. This 11-member council is a key part of the Foundation’s governance body, with responsibility for reviewing applications, interviewing nonprofit CEOs, and ultimately recommending a slate of TSPs with associated grant quantum for the Foundation Board of Director’s approval.

“We believe that CD&R broadens its reach by empowering our employees to become action ambassadors,” said Don Gogel, Chairman of both CD&R and the CD&R Foundation. “Governance structures like the FGS council deepen our impact by supporting employees’ hands-on understanding of the organizations and talent we aim to serve, as well as effective volunteer strategies to tackle pervasive workforce issues.”

“Following an extensive four-month evaluation process, which included significant education to raise our awareness of the challenges facing the talent populations our TSPs serve, we are pleased to have chosen a group of organizations that align with the CD&R Foundation’s goal of enabling ‘Equity through Opportunity,’ said CD&R Partner and FGS councilmember, Stephen Shapiro. “These organizations empower high school students, out-of-school youth/young adults, women, immigrants, and the justice-impacted, while driving college completion and facilitating access to jobs which provide economic access and upward mobility."

Details on the Foundation and mission statements for each of the second cohort New York City TSPs can be found below and at the following link: www.cdr-inc.com/cdr-builds#cdr-foundation.

• Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI) empowers low- and moderate-income people by helping them gain access to living-wage employment opportunities and career paths, and developing programs that counter prevailing market inequalities and contribute to a broader movement for economic justice.
• Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) is the largest reentry organization providing comprehensive employment services to people recently released from incarceration. CEO currently operates in 31 locations and is dedicated to ensuring that justice-impacted job seekers have opportunities to achieve social and economic mobility.
• Commonpoint Queens’s mission is to sustain and enhance the quality of individual, family and communal life throughout the borough of Queens, through services to people of all ages, ability levels, stages of life, and backgrounds.
• Comprehensive Youth Development partners with New York City public high schools to prepare at-risk young adults, ages 14-24, secure a successful future for themselves and their families by developing their capability to graduate from high school and make informed decisions about higher education and careers.
• COOP Careers helps overcome underemployment through digital skills training and peer connections.
• Drive Change supports formerly justice-involved young people (age 18-25yrs), creating quality employment pathways to support their economic and emotional wellbeing, working at the intersection of re-entry and hospitality (food service), running both direct service and systems change programs.
• Emma’s Torch’s mission is to empower refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking through culinary education and workforce development.
• Goddard Riverside invests in people and strengthens communities within the social justice framework to fulfill its mission of creating a fair and just society where all people can make choices that lead to better lives for themselves and their families.
• Hot Bread Kitchen’s mission is to create economic opportunity for immigrant women and women of color through food entrepreneurship programs, job skills training and placement, and an ecosystem of support in New York City.
• JobsFirstNYC creates and advances solutions that break down barriers and transform the systems supporting young adults and their communities in pursuit of economic mobility. They bring together—effectively and efficiently—community, corporate, human, organizational, private, and public resources to connect young adults and their communities to better economic opportunities.
• The Knowledge House’s mission is to empower and sustain a talent pipeline of technologists, entrepreneurs, and digital leaders who will uplift their communities out of poverty.
• Non-Traditional Employment for Women (NEW) prepares, trains, and places women in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades that support New York.
• The Opportunity Network’s mission is to ignite the drive, curiosity, and agency of underrepresented students on their paths to and through college and into thriving careers.
• Paraprofessional Healthcare Inst. (PHI), the nation’s leading authority on the direct care workforce, helps transform eldercare and disability service, fostering dignity, respect, and independence for all who receive and provide care.
• Project Basta’s mission is to close the employment gap for first-generation students of color and change the face of workforce leadership.

About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses across a broad range of industries, including Industrials, Healthcare, Business Services, Consumer, Technology and Financial Services. Since its inception in 1978, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $40 billion in over 100 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $175 billion. For more information on CD&R, please visit www.cdr-inc.com and follow the Firm's activities through LinkedIn and @CDRBuilds on Twitter.