Policymaker Newsletter 1/21

Tech:NYC Policy Newsletter

January 29, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Greetings and welcome to the inaugural Tech:NYC policy newsletter! Tech:NYC is a nonprofit coalition of more than 800 technology companies and start-ups in New York that collectively employ over 350,000 people. We work with our members, governments, and community partners to foster a dynamic ecosystem so that New York remains the best place in the country to learn technology skills, work in tech, and start and grow a business.This newsletter is designed to share with you the diverse ways our organization and member companies are contributing to New York's economy and culture. During these difficult times, tech companies have been doing their part to help bridge the gap between government and the public, and to help New Yorkers everywhere.We welcome a dialogue on what we’re doing and what you’re doing, and look forward to the day when we can all meet and talk again in-person. Until that time comes, please reach out to me via email with any questions or ideas.  Ryan NaplesDeputy Director

What We've Been Up To 

  • Exposure Notification App: In October 2020, Tech:NYC partnered with the New York State Department of Health, along with Google, Apple, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and a coalition of technology and research partners, to launch COVID Alert NY, the state’s official exposure notification app. By November, over 1 million people had downloaded the app. Click here to sign-up and learn more.

  • Tech:NYC’s Annual NYC Computer Science Fair: In November 2020, together with CSNYC and Microsoft TEALS, we hosted the seventh annual (but first-ever virtual) Computer Science Opportunity Fair for public high school students all across NYC. Over 900 students attended and over 40 companies, colleges, and extra-curricular programs participated.

  • Surveying NYC’s Tech Training & Education Options: Tech:NYC, together with the Center for an Urban Future, published the first-ever comprehensive analysis of 500+ tech training and education programs citywide aimed at expanding access to careers in the tech sector. The report draws from more than 130 interviews with tech executives, skills-building program directors, educators, city officials, nonprofit leaders, researchers, and philanthropic funders. The report was supported by Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund, Google, Bloomberg, and Verizon. In the report, we also launched techskills.nyc, an interactive mapping tool of those programs across all five boroughs.

  • Annual Report: For more detailed information about all of the work Tech:NYC and our members did in 2020, please see here.

Our Community Supporting NY

  • COVID-19 Tech SWAT Team: At the height of the pandemic, Tech:NYC, alongside more than 20 member companies, helped New York State stand up a Technology SWAT Team to accelerate statewide response plans. At the same time, many members gave back on several initiatives, helping to secure PPE, providing meals to those in need, and helping source tech devices for students and others. Here’s our directory of many of the ways our members helped.

  • Summer Bridge 2020: NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program, Summer Bridge 2020, went remote last year, and Tech:NYC quickly mobilized 100 NYC tech companies to provide project-based learning opportunities to young people in NYC. Additionally, Tech:NYC and other donors provided funding to ensure the program’s 35,000 participants had reliable access to technology so there was no interruption in their career development experience while working remotely.

  • Paid Time Off to Help Seniors Sign-Up for Vaccines: When vaccines were first available in New York, one of our members, adafruit, gave paid time off to their employees to provide people 75 and older with computer assistance to make vaccine appointments. Adafruit employees also helped get seniors to their vaccination appointments and made other efforts to assist with this process.

  • Health Pass: Recently, the secure identity company CLEAR developed a new mobile app called Health Pass, which securely connects a person’s digital identity to multiple layers of COVID-related insights to help reduce public health risk and restore peace of mind. The company is partnering with a number of businesses and organizations, such as Union Square Hospitality Group and 9/11 Memorial and Museum, to confirm employees are COVID symptom-free before starting a shift. In the fall, CLEAR announced a pilot program through the Partnership for NYC in which they will be offering 1 million Health Pass enrollments for free to companies across NYC, with a specific percentage reserved for small businesses and restaurants, women-and minority-owned business, hospitals, and cultural and civic institutions across each of the boroughs. Once a vaccine is available, individuals will be able to link their vaccination record to their Health Pass profile.

  • Rooms for First Responders: Airbnb partnered with New York State, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and New York State Nurses Association to provide more than 2,000 free hotel rooms for medical first responders in need of safe and isolated accommodations. Union members received direct access to bookings through the Frontline stays program.

  • PPE: Etsy worked with NYC based nonprofit Nest to donate over 100,000 masks to essential workers and vulnerable communities, including Brooklyn Public Housing residents.

  • PPP Loan Assistance: Online lenders OnDeck and Cross River, and Justworks, a provider of online HR tools, have helped small businesses obtain over $1 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans at no cost to the small businesses applying.

  • Cash Grants to Small Businesses and Community Organizations: Facebook awarded $6.5 million in cash grants and ad credits for New York small businesses. Google has provided grants to hard-hit businesses and nonprofits as well, especially in the Chelsea community where its NYC headquarters is located.

  • Business Mentoring: Accenture provides financial support and built the digital platform for Sky’s the Limit, a non-profit that connects small business owners from underrepresented communities with no-cost mentorship, training, specialized advice, and start-up grant funding. Meanwhile Google has created a pilot program that will help build e-commerce websites for hundreds of small businesses in New York City.

  • No Cost Technical Tools: Google recently released a differential privacy library on GitHub. This technology helps power some of Google’s core products, and it is freely available to any organization or developer that wants to use it. Click here to learn more and please feel free to share this with your constituents.

  • For more examples of how the tech industry has helped New Yorkers over the past year, please click here.

Who We Are

Our membership, like New York, is always growing and diversifying.

Who's Hiring

The tech industry has been the only industry in New York actively hiring a significant number of people throughout the pandemic, including right now. Please share with your constituents this talent and job opportunities board from Tech:NYC and AlleyCorp which compiles NYC tech workers looking for new roles and NYC-based tech companies hiring open positions. To contribute to the board, click here.