NEW YORK, NY — May 28, 2025 — Today, the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) released Early Learnings from NYCETC Tech Bridge Grantees, a brief highlighting early progress and insights from a pioneering effort to build a more inclusive and equitable tech workforce in New York City.
This publication is the first installment of NYCETC’s On the Ground series, spotlighting bold ideas and transformative efforts reshaping New York City’s workforce landscape. Each edition will feature strategies aligned with our 10-point Workforce Development Agenda—highlighting individuals and organizations bridging education and employment, advancing economic mobility, and confronting the real barriers to progress: inadequate investment, limited access, and system fragmentation—not a lack of talent.
The NYCETC Tech Bridge Grant initiative, supported by a $1 million commitment from Google’s 2022 NYC Tech Opportunity Fund, supports future-focused, equitable collaborations that connect underrepresented New Yorkers to high-wage, sustainable careers in tech, one of the city’s fastest-growing sectors.
The initiative awarded grants to five standout organizations—Center for Employment Opportunities, KindWork (an initiative of Brooklyn Workforce Innovations), The Marcy Lab School, Tech Kids Unlimited, and Youth Action YouthBuild—each of which is forging new models to close opportunity gaps and spark economic mobility for communities too often left behind in the innovation economy.
“New York City’s tech economy cannot thrive if it continues to leave entire communities behind. Through the Tech Bridge initiative, we’re showing that when local organizations are empowered with the right resources, they can break down barriers and accelerate access to real opportunity. We’re proud to stand alongside them, and grateful for Google’s support in helping us accelerate this critical work,” said Gregory J. Morris, CEO of NYCETC. “This moment demands action, and our grantees are proving that change is not only possible, it’s already underway.”
Despite tech sector growth, now representing more than 330,000 jobs and 7% of New York City’s workforce, racial, gender, and socioeconomic disparities persist. Only 24% of tech workers in the City are women, and just 20% are Black or Latino, despite these groups making up more than half of New York City’s population.
Through the Tech Bridge grants, grantees are addressing these entrenched gaps head-on by:
- Launching customized training programs tailored to justice-involved New Yorkers, neurodiverse learners, and young adults from overlooked communities.
- Piloting new curriculum models for high-growth subsectors like fintech and healthcare tech, broadening access to opportunity beyond traditional coding roles.
- Directly partnering with employers to ensure training is aligned with hiring needs and to create tangible pipelines to careers.
- Providing critical supports—including stipends, wraparound services, and college credits—that remove financial and systemic barriers to completion and employment.
Grantees’ early achievements, from an adapted digital marketing curriculum for neurodiverse students at Tech Kids Unlimited to Marcy Lab School’s teaching apprenticeship placements to expanded network technician training in East Harlem and the South Bronx with Youth Action YouthBuild, are already reshaping the local workforce landscape.
As momentum builds, NYCETC is designing future convenings that will unite workforce and tech leaders to examine how community-rooted innovation, AI, and emerging technologies are reshaping what equitable access looks like in practice. These forums will serve as a launchpad for scaling what works, forging new cross-sector partnerships, and shaping a bold, equity-driven vision for the future of New York City’s tech workforce.
Read Early Learnings from NYCETC Tech Bridge Grantees.
About the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC)
As the largest city-based workforce development association in the country, the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) supports the workforce and economic development community to ensure that every New Yorker has access to the skills, training and education needed to thrive in the local economy; and that every business can maintain a highly skilled workforce. Throughout its 25-year history, NYCETC has sought to increase the availability of and access to investments and supports that position underserved New Yorkers — primarily New Yorkers of color, New Yorkers with low- or moderate incomes, New Yorkers with multiple barriers to employment, and New Yorkers who have been left out of the growing economy due to systemic and historic marginalization – for success in the workforce. Currently, 224 organizations are members of the NYCETC. These organizations are responsible for serving the needs of 200,000+ New Yorkers seeking access to education and employment opportunities each year. The primary recipients of services are women, young adults (18-24 years of age), public housing residents, justice-impacted individuals, and immigrants.
Press Contact
For more information, please contact Emily Kaufold at emily@hayesinitiative.com or (203) 295-5783.