Issuu

2022-2023

First Tech Fund Impact Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT US

OVERALL IMPACT

EX EC U T I V E SU MMA RY

WINS

OUR V I SI O N & MI SSI O N

PA RTN E RSH IP S

TEAM

F IN A N C I A L S

PROGRAMMING

CONTINUED IMPACT

F EL LOWSHI P OV E R V I E W

J O IN U S

F EL LOWSHI P ST R U C T U R E

O U R CO M M U N I TY

F EAT URE D SP E A K E R S

PILOT P R O G R A MMI N G

OUR FE LLOWS

F EL LOW SP OT L I G HT S

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

First Tech Fund was founded in 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic that amplified the existing inequalities students faced in the education system. What started as a way to support students via technology and mentorship has evolved into a full ecosystem of support, with the goal of breaking generational cycles of poverty at the heart of everything that we do. Together with a group of dedicated volunteers and staff, First Tech Fund is creating pathways and access to greater economic mobility for all our students.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

THEORY OF CHANGE Low-income students of color face enormous systemic barriers in their academic and professional journeys, from historic inequities to structural racism. To empower low-income high school students in identifying, navigating, and attaining academic and professional opportunities, First Tech Fund (FTF) provides a supportive, adaptive ecosystem where students get access to free tech, free broadband, skills training, social capital, mentorship, and more.

THE PROBLEMS WE FACE

income students excluded from trajectory-defining development experiences.

For many low-income students of color, secondary education and the workforce present a number of barriers that can limit the opportunities they have access to and narrows their ability to break cycles of poverty that have often existed for generations in their families and communities. From the digital divide to the lack of guidance counselors (455 students per advisor nationwide, according to American School Counselor Association), our students often face information gaps, a lack of individualized support, and a lack of access to early skills development opportunities as they seek to pursue and attain both their academic and professional goals. This contributes to the status quo, where we see low-

Without the right support, the path out of poverty through education feels and becomes untenable. Unfortunately, these barriers only continue when our students try to break into the workforce – the soft skills like knowing how to write a formal email, how to write a thank you note or format a resume combined with the lack of early workforce experience can leave students behind without comprehension of how to chart a path forward. First Tech Fund provides a beacon of light for students by aiding their development of post-secondary goals, introducing them to career exploration opportunities, and ultimately providing skills and access that transforms their ability to pursue their goals and dreams.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

DEAR FRIENDS & SUPPORTERS, It’s been three years since we launched First Tech Fund and we’ve made huge strides in helping our students realize their dreams – from college acceptances to scholarship offers to first internships, our students are taking full advantage of the resources, support, and skills training that we have provided. This year brought about an evolution for our organization. We hired our first full-time employee and partnered with incredible companies across NYC, all while having our biggest cohort to date of 100 students. Our students set new standards for excellence and we proudly cheer them on along their journey towards economic independence. This report represents the year’s worth of impact at First Tech Fund and a selection of the wins acros the board from our student community, partnerships that we’ve fostered, and our vision for what First Tech Fund can be. Our organization has been lucky enough to be selected for leadership programs that have helped us refine our scope, evolve our programs, and leverage our students’ voices in our decision making. Through this process we are evolving our initiatives to consider how we can be even more impactful and outcomes driven. Programs like the Obama Foundations Scholars and the Arbor Rising Leaders of Color Initiative have opened our eyes to how we can continue to build initiatives that tackle systemic challenges and inequities, without sacrificing the tight knit community we have worked so hard to build.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

We are at a pivotal point in our journey – we are seeing increased pressure on our students not only with the recent Supreme Court ruling, but also cuts to school budgets, rising inflation, and increased job insecurity. It is more important than ever that we make the necessary investments in our students who represent the future of our society and we need your support in order to meet the moment. We have been operating as a lean, early stage organization but now we need to invest in organizational capacity and bandwidth in order to have the team we need to bring our vision to life. We feel like we are only scratching the surface of what we can accomplish, especially with the launch of our workforce development programming this summer, which we are excited to scale up, with your support. Whether you join our team as a volunteer, sign up to be a monthly donor, or support our in-person events with in-kind or monetary donations, know that your contribution makes a huge difference and can be the only reason that a student experiences a transformational, trajectory-defining change in their lives. This work would not be possible without you and we hope you will join us in our movement to supercharge economic mobility in our communities.

WITH IMMENSE GRATITUDE,

Josue De Paz

Hana Seligman

CEO & Co-Founder First Tech Fund

Co-Founder & Board Secretary First Tech Fund 4

OUR VISION First Tech Fund hopes to uplift the next generation of young leaders across the US through seed investments and exposure to pathways that allow them to discover, pursue, and succeed in attaining their educational, personal, and professional development goals.

OUR MISSION First Tech Fund is dedicated to empowering lowincome high school students in NYC in identifying, navigating, and attaining academic and professional opportunities through a supportive, adaptive ecosystem where students get access to free tech, free broadband, skills training, social capital, mentorship, and more.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

Team BOARD

Jerome J. Sanders

Jamal Adams

Rodney Cruz Pizarro

Jamie Cunningham

Senior Product Marketing Manager, Cisco Emerging Tech

Principal, Loyola High School of LA

Lead Counsel, Marketing, Comms and IP at Airbnb

Operations Director, Foundation for Community Psychoanalysis

Nakia Alston-Hendrickson

Nicole Chin-Lyn

Alicia Baksh-Ousman

Hana Seligman

Managing Director of Development, Bottom Line

Senior Director of Communications & Marketing, NYC Kids RISE

Associate, Credit Controllers Group, Apollo Global Management

Senior Product Marketing Manager, NBA

FIRST TECH FUND STAFF

Kerianne Baylor Program Manager

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

Aury Diaz Program Coordinator

PROGRAMMING FE LLOWSHIP OV E R V I E W Our year-long fellowship puts low-income, NYC students on a trajectory for success in college and careers, provides them with free access to technology, and creates a community of support. The program runs from September to June on weekday evenings where students receive career exploration and networking opportunities, personalized mentorship, and digital skills training. Fellows have the opportunity to attend networking and professional development events with our corporate partners, speak to professionals from a wide range of industries in career panels, and learn about the options available to them. We hold workshops on various topics including navigating the college admissions process, resume writing, brand building, and more.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

Fellows meet with their mentors on a monthly basis and receive support ranging from college essay reviews, job interview prep, and guidance in building technical skills.

S E L ECTIO N P R O CE S S Our goal in the admissions process is to create a complementary and balanced cohort of individuals who will work together to lift each other up. In order to accomplish this, we evaluate applicants based on their aspirations, involvement in their communities, and willingness to learn. We work with a volunteer selection committee that reviews applicants through a double-blinded process to combat unconscious bias. Applicants are selected based on a rubric that puts emphasis on the need for the program, effort, and thoughtfulness of their responses to our application prompts.

FELLOWSHIP STRUCTURE Our fellowship meets 3-4x a month on Zoom to provide students with skills, career exposure, individualized support, and connections to future opportunities. Fellows can opt-in to participate in a variety of additional programming and community-building activities based on their individual interests.

KE Y COM M ITME N T S

Career Workshops MONTHLY FROM SEPT - JUNE • •

Candid structured dialogues Wide variety of careers and experiences

OPT IN

Community Opportunities to build a strong network of support through 1:1s and personal introductions

Programming Optional workshops led by expert speakers on topics like writing a college essay and financial wellness

Skills Training Workshops MONTHLY Targeted skills training around financial literacy, loans, public speaking & more

Mentor Check-Ins MONTHLY Focused on helping you achieve your top priorities

& More... • • •

Office hours Corporate & networking events Social gatherings

Thanks to a generous in-kind donation of Mets tickets from Citi, we were able to take a group of 20 students and FTF volunteers to their first-ever baseball game, where students built community with each other!

Opportunity Emails MONTHLY We search for and send scholarships, jobs, internships & more

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

Featured Speakers In order to show our students the number of possible pathways that exist and to ensure they feel seen, heard, and represented, we highlight speakers who are working in industries of interest for our students, as well as professionals that they have limited exposure to. We create a safe space and ask speakers to share concrete examples of how they achieved success in their respective careers, so students know the journey that speakers went through, and not just the end result.

Arpan Somani Technology Partnerships The Obama Foundation

Joyce Tijani Software Engineer Bloomberg

Carlos Irwin A. Oronce Member Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Katrina Heyrana Staff Physician Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Chavonne Hodges Operations Partner Tech Company Giselle Cordero Program Manager Centre for Public Impact Erica Rodriguez Associate Research Scientist Zuckerman Mind Brain & Behavior Institute at Columbia University Ian Straughter Principal Karp Strategies First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

Karina Sumano Marketing Manager American Montessori Society Karrington Hendrix Health Policy Student California State University, East Bay Lamar Shambley Executive Director Teens of Color Abroad (ToCA) Noelle Miranda Technical Recruiter - Hardware & Specialized Technology Snap

Nicole Chin-Lyn Senior Director of Communications + Marketing NYC Kids RISE Noelle Acosta Co-Founder & CEO Noula Raquel Cosme Freshman - FTF Alum ‘21 Carnegie Mellon Tiffany Green Founder & CEO Uprooted Academy Diana Gomez Deputy District Director Office of Congressman Greg Casar DJ Lumbard Product Manager Mastercard

Aaron Francois Founder Black Visionaries Ayodele Aruleba J.D. Candidate Harvard Law School Cesar Ruiz Product Marketing Discord Jenna Agatep Associate Spivak Lipton Lydia Ku CPA / Global Revenue Forecasting Manager VMware

Sebba Alqetrani Director, Package Development Sustainability MAC Cosmetics Austin Marshall Artist Marketing Director UnitedMasters Hamid Cruz Sophomore - FTF Alum ‘20 Columbia University Jerry Chen Freshman - FTF Alum ‘21 Boston University Taiwo Akande Consultant

Juan Cisneros Enterprise Solutions Engineer monday.com

Luisa Lopez President Latino Social Work Coalition & Scholarship Fund, Inc

Jacqueline Burgette Fellow White House, Office of the National Cyber Director

Keyonne Session Recruiting Enablement Program Manager Datadog

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

Emma Hong Product & Marketing Teachers Pay Teachers Christina Egwim Student UC San Francisco School of Medicine Nzau Mutisya Sr. Director, Finance & Strategic Initiatives Qualia Brian Chou Specialist, Seafood Supply Chains World Wildlife Fund Emily Lee Product Support Manager Google Eddy Albarran Postdoctoral Research Fellow Zuckerman Institute

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

NEW PROGRAMMING We receive hundreds of applications every year from students in NYC and beyond. Unfortunately, given our current funding and staffing, we cannot accept everyone into the year-long fellowship as we want to make sure that we invest in each student and have the ability to meet their needs. We know however, that we can support students by thinking about how we can plug them into the ecosystem and our community partners, to help them find other opportunities for them to learn - which is why we created our One Time Tech Program, Program where we prioritize high school students in NYC who are applying for a laptop for a specific program or purpose.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

Whether they were focused on accessing college classes, the college application process, or program applications, we leveraged our technology partners to ensure that we could meet the needs of as many students as possible throughout the year. We distributed 17 laptops through our One Time Tech program, 10 laptops through a partnership with ImmSchools, and an additional 32 laptops through our partnership with Univision to get technology to students during the back to school and college application seasons, providing over $8,850 worth of technology to the community, which we hope to grow in the coming year.

OUR FELLOWS

100

Staten Island

Fellows

BOROUGH

25% Bronx

25%

41%

Brooklyn

Queens

Middle Eastern

Manhattan

Arab, South West Asian, or North African

Multiracial or Biracial

White or Caucasian or European American

American Indian or Alaska Native or Indigenous or First Nations

37%

E T HN I C I TY

African American or Black

22%

Hispanic or Latina or Latino

33%

Asian-American or Asian

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

12%

9th Grade

Non-Binary / 3rd Gender

19%

10th Grade

28% Male

G E N DE R

GRADE

43%

12th Grade

26%

11th Grade

71%

Female

42%

will be first-generation college students

100%

are from low-income households

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

FELLOW SPOTLIGHTS

Alima Yahia BRO N X

University Heights High School Class of 2024 Alima is a rising senior at University Heights High School. She is passionate about learning about careers in finance and STEM. During her time as a FTF fellow she took advantage of and applied to many of the opportunities we share with our students. This year she was accepted to the competitive Alexander Hamilton Scholars program, which provides academic scholarships, leadership development, and professional opportunities to students. “FTF is an incredible community for high achieving scholars and students willing to push themselves for the sake of their education and learning. For students who are looking for opportunities or an extra, valuable perspective for anything they work on, FTF is the right place to be :).”

Rasul Mohammad B ROOKLY N

Midwood High School Class of 2024 Rasul is a rising senior at Midwood High School. He is passionate about computer science and entrepreneurship. This summer he will be joining All Star Code as a teaching fellow. He is also a Questbridge College Prep Scholar. “First Tech Fund was a program like no other. The resources they provided and the positive culture helped me in many aspects of my life, both academically and career-wise. I’m very happy I joined when I did.”

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

Meiling Zhang M A N H AT TA N

Millennium High School Class of 2025 Meiling is a rising junior at Millennium High School. She is passionate about technology and social impact. “The most supportive, welcoming and special community! You will find yourself filled with ambitious, smart and interesting people.”

Sarah Mashiat Q UEENS

Hillcrest High School Class of 2023 Sarah is an incoming freshman at Princeton University. She is interested in computer science and engineering. While at FTF she received support in navigating her senior year of high school and applying to scholarships. This fall she will be attending university with a full-ride scholarship and the support of the Greenhouse Scholars program. “The First Tech Fund fellowship program was the best support system for me as I navigated my senior year of high school. It opened so many opportunities for me to explore my passions. I’m incredibly fortunate that I had the support of the First Tech Fund community to help me successfully transition from high school to college.”

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

Impact 76

Laptops Distributed

Wifi Hotspots Distributed

Hours of Digital Skills Workshops

380+

Hours of 1:1 Mentorship

Career Panels

92%

of students stated that access to technology allowed them to better participate in school, complete assignments, and access applications to other programs and college

87%

of students stated FTF made it easier to apply to internships and/or college

42%

of students at the beginning of the program stated they had a community of support

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

100%

of students surveyed stated that FTF made them more aware of the opportunities and career paths available to them

95%

of students after the program stated they found a community and support at FTF

88%

of students are more confident in using technology to reach their goals

86%

of students stated they felt more prepared to pursue careers in their field of interest due to their participation in FTF

SUMMER PLANS

50%

of our fellows will be working at a job or internship this summer in industries including tech, healthcare, engineering, education, and more

50%+

of our fellows are participating in extracurricular programs this summer including volunteering, coding bootcamps, pre-first year college programs, and science education

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

WALL OF WINS S T U D ENT W INS

Michelle O. Received a full-ride scholarship to the University of Chicago

Erick S. Accepted to his top choice school, Baruch College

Regina M. Accepted to Stony Brook University for Mechanical Engineering

Sarah M. Received a full-ride scholarship to Princeton University

Fatima G. Attended a 2-week pre-med program in Costa Rica

Tahya M. Accepted to 2 coding bootcamps and a summer internship

Maddox B. Received a full-ride scholarship to Vanderbilt University

Adesola O. Accepted to 3 tech fellowships and an internship

Angela D. Accepted to Barnard

Amy S. Accepted to NYU

Zoe G. Received a full-ride scholarship to Rice University

Rukaiya R. Completed a pre-med program at Weill Cornell Medical School

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

PARTNERSHIPS F O U NDATION & COMMUN ITY PARTN E R S , C O R PO R AT E PA R T N E R S & IN - K IN D PA R T N E RS

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP CASE STUDIES Forter Forter is a cybersecurity company based in New York that partnered with First Tech Fund via their signature event called the Impact Conference, where they brought together digital e-commerce leaders to connect and share best practices to create unmatched customer experiences and grow business in 2022 and beyond. In an effort to create local impact in the NYC ecosystem, Forter donated half of the ticket proceeds to First Tech Fund’s program, Co-Founder and CEO spoke as the keynote speaker to wrap up a full day of great speakers, sharing the stage with Yohanna Andom, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Forter about the inception of FTF, our impact to date, and our vision for the future, as well as how ecommerce leaders could prepare for the next generation of talent.

Vimeo Vimeo is a video hosting and sharing platform based in New York City who was looking to engage employees through volunteerism at their new offices. We partnered with Vimeo on our first-ever speed networking event where our Fellows were able to build connections with employees across all functions and backgrounds and learn about opportunities in the tech and media industries. Students left with an understanding of new technology careers, how to attain them, and new connections that will help them once they’re ready to break into the industry. It’s the first of many engagements with the Vimeo team.

Weil Office Visit & Panel In collaboration with our partners at Citizens Committee for NYC, we hosted an office tour and career panel with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, a preeminent provider of legal services for more than 80 years. We heard from employees from all over the company, from DEI to attorneys working on key cases and students got a better understanding of how to approach a wide variety of careers within the legal sector.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Legally Blk Fund Lunch & Learn Community partnerships are at the heart of what First Tech Fund is all about – bringing together resources and partners to create an ecosystem of support for our youth. We partnered with the Legally Blk Fund to host a lunch and learn session for female identifying students from all over NYC – and surprised each student who came with a free laptop! Students had the privilege of hearing from law professionals who shared wisdom from their respective journeys into the legal field, the law school process, and more.

Univsion Back to School Campaign We were fortunate to be part of the Back to School campaign with our Univision, where we were able to raffle off 32 laptops and tell hundreds of students and families about First Tech Fund and our programming. We were grateful to be able to be part of the Univsion community of partners and continue to work with them as a strategic partner to get the word out about our programs and other resoures.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

FINANCIALS $303,712 300K Foundations

240K

In-Kind

47.4%

$181,782 180K

Corporations Individual Donations Corporate Matching

21.5%

120K

92%

13.6% 60K 1.8%

9.8%

Programs

5.9%

Operations

Revenue

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

Program Revenue

Expenses

CONTINUED IMPACT First Tech Fund is proud of the work that we’ve been able to do and the impact that we’ve brought to life over the last three years – our students have built confidence, entered new pipelines, and thrived in achieving their respective goals. Witnessing their growth motivates us to continue to build and scale our work. We’ve been fortunate to recruit advisors, volunteers, and funders who help guide our programs to be oriented toward trajectory defining change and impact. We continue to make yearly changes to programming and grow our team to guarantee that our students thrive and are able to achieve everything they set out to do. Moving forward, we’ve heard the feedback from our community and realized that we need to scale our alumni resources to not only help them as they enter the college landscape but also as they start solving the next systemic challenge they face – the workforce. One of the changes we are implementing, thanks to a recent consulting project we did as part of the Leaders of Color Initiative with Arbor Rising, a new funder of ours, will be to shift our entire nonprofit’s model to be more outcomes-led. Our high school fellowship program will shift to a two-year model, where FTF will have a new north star by holding ourselves accountable to two key outcomes – ensuring that 80%+ of Fellows enroll in well-matched selective

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

4-year colleges with an expected debt burden <$10k and 80%+ of Fellows complete a high-quality, paid internship before their sophomore year of college. This expansion of our initial pilot will inform and guide the shift of our model and will help us scale to the point where we can offer an internship to every single student who comes through our program, getting them all to the point where they have enough agency and experience that they can navigate the last 3 years of college, and we can commit capital to new students. We are excited to test and learn with this new model, which has been battle-tested by our industry leading experts as we continue to demonstrate our theory of change. We will continue to build best in class partnerships with companies like Snapchat and Mastercard to ensure our students have access to opportunities even after they’ve graduated from our formal program and continue building community partnerships with nonprofits so our students continue to enter pipelines for jobs. With this new model in place, we hope to scale beyond NYC in the coming years to drive even greater growth and impact for students and their families across the US. We feel like we’re just now starting to scratch the surface of the impact that we know we can have and hope that you’ll join us in bringing our vision to life to ensure we create the conditions that lead our students to liveable wages as soon as they graduate college, uplifting tomorrow’s future leaders.

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2020-2022

Join Us Partner with us on our mission to support students by donating new or used technology, sponsoring our work, partnering with us, volunteering as a mentor, or donating office space for fellowship events.

FirstTechFund.com instagram.com/firsttechfund twitter.com/firsttechfund facebook.com/firsttechfund

DONATE TO OUR MISSION

linkedin.com/company/first-tech-fund

DONATE LAPTOPS

SPONSOR AN EVENT

BECOME A WORKFORCE PARTNER

VOLUNTEER & MENTOR

DONATE SPACE

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

OUR COMMUNITY The work we do would not be possible without the support of our community who donate their time, talents, and resources to helping our fellows succeed.

JUNIOR B OA R D ME MB E RS Key Session Kayla Berrios Emily Lee Gabby Nguyen Joseph McCormick Tahjai Conkerite Sarah Gurbach Gregorio Labrado Emma Hong Lauren Gurbach Max Nguyen Victoria Alvizurez

Cassandra Garita Caroline Heins Lisa McMonagle Joshua McKie Zehra Mirza Gloria Lin Benjamin Marinelli Jamie Redman Debbie Li Khayriyyah Muhammad Smith Christian Rodriguez Sara Azoulay

Dani Siansky Tristan Paguio William Chiu Caitlin Kawaguchi Mark Toubman Kiku Shinfuku Nayah Harper Andrea Wright-Macedo Sharon Lu Stacy Magallon

Alex Henson Amalia Oliva Rojas Andres Gonzalez Andrew Gu Angela Tran Bethany Wong Brian Yan Chloé Gingrich-Howling Cinthia Veloz Baez Donald (DJ) Lumbard Emmanuel Bamgbade Gabrielle Nguyen

Hana Seligman Hannah Chong Heather Farley Heita Miki James Helbling Janice Fu Jefferson Teng Jenna Pluchino Kerianne Baylor Kimberly Hayes Manasi Patel Max Chu

Melissa Chen Nicole Schenk Nikki Stein Olivia Fowora Ollie Hsieh RaeChelle English Samantha Speroni Sean Hamilton Shivani Amin Stella Okure Steven Yeung Tiffany Chan

VOLU N T E E R S

I N DI V ID UA L S (G IF TS $ 1 K & A B OV E )

Sarah Weiss Gina Liu Andie Villanueva Amanda DeRosa

Jamie Cunningham Jason Davis Veronica Aksu Drs. Mark & Kimberly Family Fund

ME NTORS

First Tech Fund Impact Report 2022-2023

First Tech Fund 2022-2023