Tech Year NYC connects young adults from populations historically under-represented in tech with opportunities to broaden their exposure to the tech industry. There are three pillars to the program: Industry exposure (open houses, CS fair, hackathons, attending tech events) , job readiness (hiring panels, job shadowing, workplace challenge) , and storytelling & professional skill-building (resume workshops, interview prep) .

NYC high school juniors & seniors and college freshmen & sophomores (~16 - 26 years old) with a potential interest in working in tech (not exclusive to coding jobs) but with little prior exposure to the industry, targeting groups typically under-represented in tech industry jobs. Our goal is to support 1,000 students this summer through our pilot program, with 500 students continuing through the fall and spring programming.

Throughout the year, Tech:NYC invites employers to participate in a variety of opportunities to engage with youth in the NYC tech industry. Many of these programs draw upon successful partnerships with city organizations and nonprofits: Tech Year NYC acts as a bridge between the tech industry and the myriad of programming opportunities available to engage NYC’s youth.

Current opportunities for employer partners and individual volunteers to engage include:

Summer: Host an employer-led workplace challenge for students

Fall: Host an open house at your company to invite students to visit your office

Winter/Spring: Host a cohort of students for a one-day job shadowing program

Ongoing: Host or participate in a workshop or tech event for students, including:

Hosting a meetup at your company

Hiring panels

Mock interviews (technical and non-technical)

Resume workshops

With support from Tech Year NYC, each company will be responsible for designing a “workplace challenge” for students based on a real business need or problem. This challenge can be in one of four topical areas: product, engineering, marketing, or design and should have real relevance and substance. Each week, employer volunteers would meet with small groups for hour-long interactions, and ideally each volunteer would see 2-3 groups a week. The rest of the time is self-directed by teens and nonprofit facilitators, so the total time commitment asked of employer volunteers per week is 3-6 hours per adult. Companies will not be responsible for the day to day management of the participants.

Tech Year NYC is a rollup of a variety of public and private partnerships in the New York City Area. Our 2022 partners for the Summer Workplace challenge include the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) and New York City Department of Education’s Career and Technical Education division (CTE).

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) provides low-income NYC students between the ages of 14-24 with city and state funded professional workplace experiences in the tech industry and beyond. This program is the largest city-sponsored internship program nationwide and will serve 75,000 youth this summer.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs provide academic and technical instruction alongside work-based learning experiences to high school students in public school systems. CTE programs exist across the country in public schools, and NYC has one of the largest portfolios in America, with nearly 300 CTE programs across 135 high schools and over 60,000 participating students. CTE students take industry-specific courses, work-based learning opportunities and certifications in order to be better prepared for their next steps after high school. CTE student cohorts for the summer will be partnered with two specific programs: Summer Enrichment Program and Summer Select Program.

There are no academic requirements for students to participate in Tech Year NYC. The program will prioritize low-income, justice-involved, foster care, runaway and homeless, NYCHA residents and young adults from communities hit hardest by the pandemic throughout New York City. Employers should design workplace challenges for rising high school juniors and seniors (ages 16-18) and should not assume any prior experience or exposure to technical concepts.

Employer partners will:

Design a “workplace challenge” for students based on a real business need or problem in one of 4 areas: product, engineering, marketing, or design.

Recruit employee volunteers to meet virtually once a week for six weeks with one group of 12 students for two hour-long interactions. Ideally, each volunteer would break up this group into smaller groups and have 2-3 smaller group touch points per week.

Offer feedback and reflection to students at a virtual final workplace challenge presentation.

Employer partners are not responsible for the day to day management of the students.

It should take about 2-5 hours to design a workplace challenge. This process includes:

Creating the challenge

Preparing background materials on your company

Compiling any necessary tools or resources for students to use

Choosing people at each organization to participate in weekly sessions

Coming up with an evaluation criteria for the challenge project

The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) will match each employer participant with a school or non-profit provider. Each school or non-profit provider will create cohorts of students based on their indicated interest, geography, and age. The matching process will take place as soon as your application is processed.

Schools and non-profit partners will match students with companies, compensate students with a stipend ($500-1000 for the summer), and manage the day-to-day-student relationships. Each employer partner will have a point person at the school or non-profit who can help manage student schedules, work progress, and other issues.

Employers are not required to engage with students outside of the weekly, two-hour virtual check-ins. In between the weekly check-ins, students are expected to work on these projects on their own. Student cohorts will be mostly self-directed, but non-profit partners will work with students to check in, log hours, and evaluate progress.

Students will join cohorts of 10-15, led by school leaders or non-profit facilitators who organize synchronous and asynchronous career skill-building and exploration activities such as peer tutoring, beta-testing, and digital acquisition of industry credentials. Employer partners will sign up for at least 1 cohort (which equals 10-15 students), but these may be broken down into smaller groups. Employers can also sign up for multiple cohorts.

Students will receive a stipend between $500 - $1000 for their participation in the Summer Workplace Challenge & related workforce development activities. These will be provided by the SYEP and CTE organizers. Student cohorts that continue on through the fall and winter will receive a stipend of $500 for the continuation of the program.

All students, non-profit providers, and employer partners are required to adhere to the Tech Year NYC code of conduct. Employers should also feel free to include their own HR policies or additional guidelines when onboarding students.

If something goes wrong and the sessions aren’t working as expected or students are not acting appropriately, employers should reach out to their non-profit provider for guidance.

If one or more weekly check-ins conflict with the vacation schedule of an employee, we invite employer partners to either identify a substitute employee to lead that week’s session, or to skip a week and add a second check-in with students the following week.

Absolutely! Employer partners are welcome to stay in touch with students after the program’s conclusion and hire any students that might be a good fit.