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Mayor Bill de Blasio Announces NYC Tech Talent Pipeline Industry Partners and Commitments to Strengthen City's Tech Workforce

February 12, 2015

Industry leaders including LinkedIn, Verizon, Microsoft, Google, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, AT&T, Facebook, Udacity, Kickstarter, AppNexus, Betaworks, Buzzfeed, DoSomething.org, Newscorp, The New York Times, RMS, Stack Exchange, Foursquare, Trello, Tumblr, Control Group, Thinkful, Infor, Interbrand, and Apploi pledge funding, programs, and ongoing support to deliver tech education and job opportunities to New Yorkers

3,000 New Yorkers will benefit from initial industry commitments in 2015; additional NYC Tech Talent Pipeline initiatives and programming to be announced in coming months

NEW YORK – Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced 14 initial industry commitments to support the delivery of technology education, training, and job opportunities to thousands of New Yorkers as part of the Administration’s NYC Tech Talent Pipeline initiative. Announced by the Mayor in May 2014, the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline is a first-of-its-kind, $10 million public-private partnership designed to support the growth of the City’s tech ecosystem and prepare New Yorkers for 21st century jobs. The commitments were announced at today’s inaugural convening of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline Advisory Board, during which Mayor de Blasio and 25 executives representing the City’s leading companies came together to help define employer needs, develop technology training and education solutions, and deliver quality jobs for New Yorkers and quality talent for New York’s businesses.

More than 20 industry partners, including members of the Advisory Board, have  already responded to the Administration’s call to deliver quality jobs for New Yorkers and quality talent for the City’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem. The Administration has been working closely with industry partners for several months to develop many of these programs and other resource commitments, which include tech skills training programs, scholarships, critical research, and funding support. The City will link key resources to these and future NYC Tech Talent Pipeline programming as additional programs and investments are unveiled.   

“We have a responsibility to ensure all New Yorkers have equal access to the technology education, training, and job opportunities that are essential in the 21st century economy,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We see real opportunities to deliver for our businesses and our people, and today have come together with leaders across all sectors to realize this vision.”

“New York City is the epitome of a diversified urban economy, the home of innovation, and the birthplace of opportunity—all of which make it the natural home for a rapidly growing tech ecosystem,” said Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen. “The Tech Talent Pipeline will make sure that New Yorkers will have the skills and access that they need to succeed in a 21st century economy, while delivering to companies the talent they need to grow and thrive.”

In support of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline’s mission, LinkedIn, in partnership with the City of New York, concurrently published data highlighting the top technology jobs and in-demand skills in New York City. This data will inform NYC Tech Talent Pipeline efforts and empower educators, community-based organizations, and policy makers to close the gap between unfilled technology jobs and qualified homegrown talent. The data reveals that one in every five NYC businesses employs technology talent, with the majority of NYC technology jobs located in the technology, financial services, marketing & advertising, and media & entertainment sectors. User interface design and web & mobile development rank highest among the “in-demand” skills sought by employers, with nearly 13,000 NYC firms currently employing or hiring talent with these critical skills. More information on this dataset is available at http://lnkd.in/nycresearch.

“Industry partnerships like the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline enable employers, training providers, and government to work together to develop homegrown talent that will fill jobs in growth sectors offering good wages and career opportunities,” said Maria Torres-Springer, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “It is great to see so many leading tech companies around the table and I look forward to working with them to deliver quality job opportunities to New Yorkers and quality talent to businesses.”
           
“Today’s convening represents a first and integral step in delivering for our businesses and our people,” said Kristen Titus, Founding Director of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline. “Inspired by the bold vision of Mayor de Blasio, the Tech Talent Pipeline and industry’s top leaders have come together to fuel the growth of technology and innovation here in New York and deliver unparalleled opportunities for all New Yorkers.”

New York City’s tech ecosystem has experienced dramatic growth, now directly employing nearly 300,000 people and indirectly generating another 250,000 jobs, altogether accounting for 12.6 percent of the city’s workforce. The NYC Tech Talent Pipeline Advisory Board, which is comprised of 25 CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, and senior executives representing four sectors and more than 40,000 workers, will play a critical role in defining employer needs, informing training and education solutions to meet the skills gap, and providing career opportunities for local homegrown talent. Board members include:

  • Allen Blue, Co-Founder, LinkedIn
  • Shankar Arumugavelu, CIO, Verizon Wireless
  • Judy Spitz, CIO, Verizon
  • Fred Wilson, Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures
  • Kevin Ryan, Chairman, Gilt Groupe; Founder, MongoDB, Business Insider, Zola
  • Don Duet, Co-Head of Technology, Goldman Sachs
  • Serkan Piantino, Head of Facebook New York
  • Chad Dickerson, CEO, Etsy
  • Jon Oringer, CEO, Shutterstock
  • Yancey Strickler, CEO, Kickstarter
  • Charles Phillips, CEO, Infor
  • William Floyd, Head of External Affairs, Google NY
  • Marissa Shorenstein, President, AT&T New York
  • Oliver Kharraz, Co-Founder & President, ZocDoc
  • Max Haot, CEO, Livestream
  • David Fullerton, VP of Engineering, Stack Exchange
  • Eliot Horowitz, Co-Founder and CTO, MongoDB
  • Jon Williams, Co-founder, CTO Club
  • John Paul Farmer, Director of Tech & Civic Innovation, Microsoft NY
  • Andrew Pile, CTO, Vimeo
  • David Tisch, Co-founder, Techstars; Head of Startup Studio, Cornell Tech; Managing Partner, BoxGroup 
  • Chris Hughes, Co-Founder, Facebook; Publisher, The New Republic
  • Ali Marano, Head of Technology and Social Good, JP Morgan
  • Brandon Atkinson, Chief People Officer, AppNexus
  • Jocelyn Leavitt, Co-Founder and CEO, Hopscotch

“The NYC tech community has long been invested in the development of the talent pipeline,” said Fred Wilson, Managing Partner of Union Square Ventures. “Today’s announcement marks an important step toward realizing our collective vision to make computer science education and training available across the five boroughs.”

“New York’s greatest resource is our people. It is their intelligence, determination and teamwork that form the backbone of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline,” said John Paul Farmer, Microsoft’s Director of Technology & Civic Innovation. “Microsoft is committed to this community and proud to work with the City and CUNY to build brighter futures through impactful initiatives like the Microsoft NYC Tech Jobs Academy.”

“The skills required in today's job market get more sophisticated each day and AT&T is committed to ensuring New Yorkers have access to the education and training needed to fill these roles," said Marissa Shorenstein, President of AT&T New York. “Building the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline is an innovative way to approach the challenge and we are excited to be a part of it.” 
“In our experience, developing the talent at your fingertips is both a good policy and a great business decision,” said Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor. “We at Infor have made this a core principle of our work through our Education Alliance Program and CUNY collaboration, and are pleased to support the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline’s vision of a city in which tech businesses have to look no further than their own borough to find quality candidates for essential tech jobs.”
“The demand for talent presents an unparalleled opportunity for more New Yorkers to become a part of the tech workforce and improve income for themselves and their families” said Jukay Hsu, Founder and Executive Director of Coalition for Queens (C4Q). “There are talented adults in every borough and neighborhood, and the work of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline and the contributions of industry partners are critical to the future of our communities. This new industry partnership will provide more opportunities for New Yorkers from every background—particularly our low income and diverse communities—to gain the skills and access needed to participate in the digital economy. We've seen the impact of this work firsthand and look forward to many successes to come.”

“The Tech Talent Pipeline has created enormous opportunity for young adults who do not have a college degree,” said Sandra Escamilla, Executive Director of the Youth Development Institute. “We look forward to continuing to be a part of the community-based experts and organizations that the Tech Talent Pipeline engages to ensure that all New Yorkers have equal access to, and support for, these living wage careers.”

“There are thousands of New Yorkers who have the potential to move from being tech consumers to being creators and technicians in technology jobs. For too many frustrating years, they’ve stood with their noses pressed to the glass, watching others benefit from the tech sector without a way to gain the experience or access to participate themselves. This pipeline initiative can be their way in. I thank Mayor de Blasio for his visionary leadership and the members of the Tech Talent Pipeline Advisory Board for their public commitments to open the door to high quality job opportunities for 3,000 New Yorkers in the next year,” said Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. (D-36, Brooklyn).

Recently, the Tech Talent Pipeline launched the NYC Web Development Fellowship, targeting 18- to 26-year-olds without a college degree. Graduates of this program are already driving the success of some of NYC’s largest tech employers as full stack developers, software developers, and creative technologists. 

“During my commute to a job that was paying me $5 an hour plus tips, I would pour through programming books to teach myself how to create a website,” said George Taveras, a graduate of the NYC Web Development Fellowship. “The Web Development Fellowship was a breakthrough for me and I learned more in those classes than I could have ever learned on my own. The Fellowship gave me the opportunity to truly realize my passion for software and web development, and now I am working at XO Group as a Full Stack Developer, earning more than $65,000 per year.”

The Tech Talent Pipeline is part of the Mayor’s Career Pathways initiative, an ambitious transformation of the public workforce system. As part of the initiative, industry partnerships in six key sectors bring together businesses, community-based organizations, government, academic institutions, and training providers to provide employer insights into the skills and training needed in their industries, as well as to provide hands-on experience and connections to jobs. Supported by several philanthropic partners, including inaugural funders JP Morgan Chase, the NY Community Trust and the NYC Workforce Funders, the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline is the industry partnership devoted to the City’s tech sector.

The full list of initial commitments includes:

Skill-focused Training and Education Solutions:

  • Google, in collaboration with the Department of Youth and Community Development, the After School Corporation, and Coalition for Queens, will launch and support numerous training programs for underserved New Yorkers including 1,200 CS First middle school students, 30 graduating high school seniors and 20 low-income adults.                         
  • AT&T will provide Udacity tech nanodegree scholarships for 100 NYC students, and also expand its successful STEM two-week summer camps for youth to include new programming in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and continue its $1.64 million partnership with the NYC Fund for Public Schools.       
  • Microsoft will partner with the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline and CUNY to pilot an intensive “Tech Jobs Academy” to equip 25 students with the skills necessary to obtain their first job and start a career in the NYC tech ecosystem.
  • Verizon will serve as a corporate supporter of Mayor de Blasio’s NYC Tech Talent Pipeline initiative, supporting programs and efforts that equip New Yorkers with “in-demand” tech skills.
  • Infor, a business application software company, will offer approximately 1,000 CUNY students access to proprietary Infor resources, including a new skills-driven curriculum, internship opportunities, and connection to employers.
  • Goldman Sachs, the New-York based investment banking firm with nearly a third of its global staff focused on tech, will join the advisory board and support the efforts of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline to create education and career opportunities for New Yorkers in the technology ecosystem.
  • Starting this summer, Kickstarter, AppNexus, Betaworks, BuzzFeed, DoSomething, Microsoft, Newscorp, The New York Times, and RMS will offer paid internships to participants of the NYC Web Development Program, a five-month intensive tech skills bootcamp for 18-to 26-year-old New Yorkers without a college degree that provides training, workplace exposure, and connection to tech jobs at salaries of $65,000 and more.
  • Stack Exchange, an NYC-based company dedicated to supporting online developer communities, will join forces with Foursquare, Kickstarter, Trello, Tumblr, and Control Group to provide on-site training for more than 50 new programmers seeking employment.         
  • Thinkful, an online coding and design school, will launch a new career services initiative to help its graduates connect to jobs as engineers and designers in the booming New York City tech ecosystem, including a commitment to connect 50 local graduates to local companies.       
  • AppNexus, a global, 800-employee technology company headquartered in New York City, will host a tech fair for the NYC Department of Education and CUNY, located at the company’s Chelsea workspace, which will provide students with exposure to diverse work environments, career paths, and internships/employment opportunities at tech-enabled companies.
  • The NYC Foundation for Computer Education (CSNYC) will provide up to 1,200 NYC public school students currently taking computer science courses the chance to learn about and explore careers in tech by hosting a CS Opportunity Fair this March with tech companies, innovators, and instructors. 

In-Kind Services to Define Needs and Reach New Yorkers

  • LinkedIn will provide research based on aggregate LinkedIn data from members in the New York City region that identifies “in-demand” tech skills and provides real-time data that can be used by teachers, trainers, mentors, and employers to help inform education and training efforts.
  • Facebook will offer first-hand exposure to a thriving tech workplace and local tech talent by hosting career exploration events, including a NYC talent showcase and the second NYC Tech Talent Pipeline Advisory Board convening.
  • Interbrand New York contributed to the development of the visual identity, branding and web presence of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline. Interbrand is the world's leading brand consultancy and publisher of the Best Global Brands list.
  • Apploi will contribute 15 job listing and application terminals to help connect NYC residents to jobs in the tech sector.       
  • NYC CTO Club will commit to convening its members, Chief Technology Officers of leading NYC companies, to provide feedback, inform training curriculum, and support the scaling of successful efforts to prepare New Yorkers with in-demand tech skills.

Support for Successful Education and Training Programs

  • JP Morgan Chase & Co., a leading global financial services firm serving millions of consumers in the United States committed to rethinking workforce cultivation, is a founding supporter of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline. The company has also launched the JPMorgan Tech Connect to prepare women for technology analyst positions.
  • New York Community Trust and the New York City Workforce Funders will affirm the goals and bolster the work of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline as founding supporters.

For more information on the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline go to techtalentpipeline.nyc.

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