2017 has been a great year for Silicon Harlem. We set out to achieve 3 specific goals.

First, we wanted to maintain our commitment to increase access and exposure to technology, and we are proud to report that we spent the year training teachers from public schools a methodology for deploying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), we created a semester course in web development for college students, co-produced a hackathon for middle and high school age students, hosted 10 girls and 10 boys in our summer STEM camp and among many other activities we did in education, we also were able to co-host a workshop for Senior Citizens titled “Demystifying Technology”.  In all, our educational outreach touched over 400 people in 2017.

Our second goal was to attract top tier companies and stakeholders to consider upper Manhattan as a destination for advanced communication research that would help the community leap-frog in the technological evolution in the 21st century.  Silicon Harlem has been able to collaborate with great partners that have already secured over 2 million dollars for test-bedding and experimentation and is poised to attract over $100 million moving forward.

The third goal was to develop a strategy to close the connectivity gap in upper Manhattan. We have worked diligently to put all the pieces in place to create an affordable option for those who need it most.  This is arguably are biggest challenge but we are confident that our approach will achieve the goal the Mayor announced to have everyone connected by 2025.  We believe we can do our part by 2020.

Thank you to the entire NYC community for believing in us and supporting our vision.  Your collective effort is producing real results and improving the quality of life for our fellow citizens.  Stay connected!