Diversity Tech Hub in Queens to help minority-led businesses
QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A new tech and innovation hub is set for Queens.
Queens Deputy Borough President Ebony Young said the borough’s new Diversity Tech Hub will support minority-led tech businesses that are in their early stages.
“Our Seed and Series A Black and brown individuals who are marginalized get left out. In pre-seed, they get all the money. People throw the money at them. And as soon as they start to scale, they can’t find it," Young said.
The borough president’s office is working in conjunction with nonprofit Pursuit, whose office at One Court Square in Long Island City will be home to the hub.
The initial $5 million for the center is being provided by the borough president’s office.
The office was inspired to create the hub after a 2022 report prepared by HR&A found there are racial disparities in the city’s tech ecosystem.
“It states that brown and Black people in certain areas, our most marginalized areas in New York City, weren’t getting the information they needed to understand that they could even be a part of this ecosystem,” said Young.
To combat that, over the course of several months, 25 to 50 emerging tech startups will be chosen by the office.
Then, each will be given a workspace at the hub and be paired with a case manager over a three to five-year period.
“Case managers that really give them the tools, knowledge and resources that they need in order to scale their business," Young said. "They come in, we access their business and say OK, in the next three years here are the benchmarks and key performing indicators.”
The office said the ultimate goal of the project is to help the businesses flourish and to close the wealth gap.
"We’ll help to raise the money. You meet the metrics and you don’t pay. That keeps you in this hub. Your payment is your delivery,” said Young.
The hub is set to open early next year.
The borough president’s office will start taking applications in the fall and early winter.