Richard J. Schwartz has a new day job. But the ex-Giuliani aide and architect of the city’s welfare-to-work programs isn’t letting that set back the job training business he started with his own two hands and his ample Rolodex.
Last week the Daily News announced that Schwartz will be taking over as editor of the paper’s editorial page, a job Schwartz described through a spokesman at the News as a “good career move.” Schwartz’s company, Opportunity America, was one of the first firms to profit from the welfare-to-work boom, training public assistance recipients for jobs. Last year brought a nasty setback: The company lost out on tens of millions of dollars it would have received as a subcontractor for another welfare-to-work company, Maximus, after the city comptroller nixed Maximus’ massive contract with the Human Resources Administration.
But the company is alive and well, a spokesperson for the Daily News told City Limits. While Schwartz will be stepping down as president of Opportunity America, his four-year-old firm will go on without him. To learn more about the man behind the News, see www.citylimits.org/archives/9906welf.htm.