"Helping More Queens Residents Access Tech Careers"
A Center for an Urban Future Policy Symposium

Replay of the event
Event materials

New York's fast-growing tech sector has become the city's most consistent source of new middle- and high-wage jobs, but much work remains to be done—both citywide and in communities across the five boroughs—to ensure that far more New Yorkers of color are able to access these well-paying careers. To shine a light on this opportunity, CUF held a five-borough forum series to discuss what actions are still needed to close the opportunity gap for tech careers in New York and bolster tech education and training infrastructure in communities across the city.

This forum focused on the opportunity to expand access to tech careers in Queens. It featured Queens-based leaders discussing the borough's tech education and training ecosystem, and examined what more policymakers, employers, educators, and workforce practitioners should do to help more Queens residents get on the path to technology-powered careers.

Speakers included:

• Queens Borough President Donovan Richards
• New York City Council Member Nantasha Williams
• New York City Council Member Julie Won
• New York State Assembly Member Clyde Vanel
• Kenneth Adams, President, LaGuardia Community College
• Thomas Grech, President & CEO, Queens Chamber of Commerce
• Jukay Hsu, Co-Founder & CEO, Pursuit
• Clarisa James, Co-Founder & Executive Director, DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice
• Anthony Negron, Director of Digital Programming, New York Hall of Science

A video of the full discussion is available here.

This symposium was made possible through generous support from Amazon. We are also grateful for general support from The Clark Foundation and the Altman Foundation, and ongoing support from a number of other philanthropic funders.