Announcing Tech Year NYC: Bridging the Tech Jobs Gap in NYC
Today, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Youth Employment and Girls Who Code, Tech:NYC is excited to announce the launch of a new initiative, Tech Year NYC, which sets out to bridge the gap between local talent and careers in NYC’s tech sector. We invite you to register as an employer partner for our summer and fall programming here.
In 2020, the Summer Youth Employment Program, the nation’s largest internship program, was put on hold due to uncertainties with the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Due to strong support from Tech:NYC’s community, we galvanized support from 100+ tech companies to provide career-enhancing opportunities for students, as well as the funding needed, to ensure every student had sufficient access to at-home Internet connectivity.
Collectively, Tech:NYC member companies and partners have hosted 3,000+ students through Summer Bridge, a project-based learning experience that exposes NYC youth to job opportunities in technology. This successful experience inspired us to figure out how the tech industry could continue to support students in New York City while adapting to the permanent shift of many tech offices and workplaces.
This summer, the Tech Year NYC pilot program will be an expansion of prior years, running from July 5 - August 12 and serving 1,000 students, ranging from 16-26 years old, who are curious about pursuing careers in technology. Students will be compensated for their participation from the City and will walk away with additional skill-building opportunities and professional skills essential to pursuing work in the tech sector. We will also continue to engage a cohort of 500 students through paid stipends throughout the fall.
We are recruiting employer partners to lead 5 week-long project-based challenges, open their doors for “tech open houses,” and participate in professional skills workshops for these students.
Tech Year NYC builds upon the success of our past programming to roll up a wide range of citywide workforce development programs into one unified access point that benefits both NYC youth and tech employers. Many of these programs draw upon successful partnerships with city organizations and nonprofits to help young adults contextualize the unique aspects of the tech industry & their career journey by incorporating:
Industry exposure (open houses, CS fair, hackathons, attending tech events)
Job readiness (hiring panels, job shadowing, workplace challenge)
Storytelling & professional skill-building (resume workshops, interview prep)
The City has developed dozens of important and transformative programs that broaden access to career pathways for NYC youth. We hope to make it easier for tech startups to find and engage with these programs throughout the year.
Additional partners for this summer program include the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) and the Career & Technical Education team at the New York City Department of Education. We are also collaborating with a handful of additional non-profit and private partners to offer career-ready skills to student participants.
We invite Tech:NYC member companies to step up to host students this summer and fall for a workplace challenge, workshop, or other career skill-building event. To learn more about Tech Tech Year NYC, read more about the program here or click here to register as an employer partner.