TechIMPACT, a 16-18-week program at LaGuardia Community College that offers the at-risk and disadvantaged 17-29-year-olds in New York extensive training in web development software and computer tech language will graduate its first class on Thursday.
The program, an effort to build New York City's tech ecosystem by delivering a wider pool of skilled workers to tech companies is funded by a $3.9 million federal grant to the college under the Obama administration's $150 million TechHire Initiative.
In addition to serving struggling New Yorkers, TechIMPACT will likely help the tech industry diversify its workforce since the LaGuardia student population itself is traditionally diverse, according to a release, which noted that the training program is worth $18,000 to $20,000 per student.
Thursday's graduating class was trained intensively in handling full front and back-end staff support at at partner company, General Assembly.
“There are more than 600,000 IT jobs in the U.S. open today, and tech jobs pay one and a half times the average wages of a private-sector job,” said Jake Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of General Assembly, said in a June 2016 release when LaGuardia was awarded the grant for the program. “TechIMPACT is about creating pathways toward a high paying job for a population that has been boxed-out of the tech industry—we are excited for the opportunity help build a more diverse talent pipeline.”
The Herjavec Group predicts that – largely owing to increases in cybercrime – the number of cybersecurity job openings will hit 3.5 million by 2021.
TechImpact is one of 39 similar programs in the country and only one of two in New York.