Ameila Spittal of City Limits came and visited our offices to write this great piece on us. Check it out.

“

Harlem is known for its rich culture, music and diversity. Now, certain organizations and entrepreneurs are trying to make it known for something else: technology.

Through education initiatives, the creation of tech centers, and community engagement in STEM, numerous businesses and local politicians have been teaming up to turn Uptown into the city’s go-to tech area.

Upper Manhattan has a vastly higher percentage of people of color than the rest of the borough—and it’s well known that compared to the private sector overall, the tech sector is disproportionately white. Black and Latino people make up about 31 percent of the nation’s population, 28 percent of private sector workers, 15 percent of tech employees and 5 percent of tech executives, according to federal statistics.

Some fear that the creation of a tech-focused economy in these neighborhoods could exacerbate gentrification, akin to the effect that the development of Silicon Valley had on San Francisco. However, the organizations involved have made it clear that their aim is to strengthen and benefit the lives of the existing residents, not push them out.

Growing small businesses and creating jobs

The for-profit social venture Silicon Harlem is one of the organizations leading the charge in making Upper Manhattan into a center” continued here