HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) — New York City has outpaced Silicon Valley for new startups for the first time, Chief Technology Officer Matt Fraser said on Tuesday at the 10th annual Silicon Harlem Next-Gen Tech Conference.
PIX11’s Monica Morales hosted the event.
The prestigious Harlem School of the Arts is the meeting place for dozens of the top minds and business leaders in technology. The focus was empowering youth in tech.
Calli Belgrave-Samms, 15, from Harlem, is a sophomore in high school, but she is a rockstar in her coding class. Belgrave-Samms is one of several students who were part of a powerful panel at the 2023 Next Gen Tech Conference in Harlem.
For a decade, Clayton Banks, the CEO of Silicon Harlem, has organized the event, bringing together the next generation of leaders, innovators, and disruptors all in one place on St Nicholas Ave.
In attendance are tech giants, next to community advocates. Fraser was a keynote speaker. Banks said Harlem is the perfect place for tech businesses to flourish.
Silicon Harlem has provided over 5,000 computers to the community, free technology programs and just opened new learning labs at their headquarters at Fredrick Douglass Blvd., helping provide access to technology in the neighborhood.
This year’s Conference’s theme. It is empowering youth through tech.
The co-founder and executive director of Emerging Leaders in Technology and Engineering Inc., Chelsey Roebuck, said the most valuable resource is NYC Children. His nonprofit has helped hundreds of black and brown students in the city get coaching and support to enter top engineering and computer science colleges. Banks said Harlem is already the center of arts and culture. Now, it’s a new and exciting technology hub.
