Tech Entrepreneurialism As a Tool for Addressing the Needs of NYC’s Vulnerable Populations & Fostering Positive Social Impact
by Maya Mundell
The Challenge
Imaginaries of tech entrepreneurship and startup culture typically conjure up images of tech giants, Silicon Valley, and Ivy League drop-outs climbing their way to billionaire status. Rarely, if ever, do discussions of tech and start-up culture render thoughts about the realities, the aspirations of vulnerable populations. The Robinhood Foundation, a New York-centered philanthropic organization geared towards alleviating poverty, is working to change this. Through their programing with Blue Ridge Labs, they deploy two programs to systematize the creation of technologies, start-ups, and founders dedicated to creating a positive social impact in New York City. Those two programs working in unison to create an ecosystem of social impact tech startups are: the Blue Ridge Labs Catalyst and the Blue Ridge Labs Fellowship programs. While the Catalyst program centers on supporting early-stage social tech ventures, the Fellowship program assists tech professionals transition and transforming into social entrepreneurs. This summer, as a Siegel Family Endowment PiTech PhD Impact Fellow, I was fortunate enough to work with aspiring social tech entrepreneurs selected for the Blue Ridge Labs Fellowship program.
Supporting the Blue Ridge Labs Fellowship
During my tenure as a PiTech Impact Fellow, I was able to leverage my research and developing expertise at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) for Marginalized Populations, Designing Technology for Social Impact, and Tech Entrepreneurship & Startup Culture in order to support the Blue Ridge Labs fellows on their entrepreneurial journeys. In preparation for the fellows’ arrival and for the fellowship’s launch week, I spent the first weeks designing, writing, and developing a digital equity curriculum and course materials. I also used my access to specialized academic resources and directories to help fellows obtain relevant scholarships on technology and entrepreneurship to which they would normally lack access. Upon the fellows’ arrival, I conducted introductory, team-building, and research-centered workshops to assist the fellows to identify their startup teams and pin down the types of problems they will solve with their budding ventures.
Additionally, I worked to assist fellows to identify appropriate resources and navigate the range of problems to solve via their proposed start-ups along with assisting them in analyzing the potential large-scale impacts and implications of their ventures. In order to facilitate this work, I organized and planned guest lectures and talks featuring technologists and tech startup founders who were kind enough to provide their time and expertise. The following people gave guest lectures:
Matt Stempeck - Technologist in Residence at Cornell University
Isaiah Murray - Urban Technologist & Cornell Tech Alumn
Annie Brown - Start-Up Founder & Feminist Technologist
Speakers supported fellows by sharing their insights, initiatives, and research on topics ranging from digital inclusion, civic tech, urban tech, and virtual reality as means to empower marginalized communities, social media, the creator economy, and participatory AI in the form of more inclusive content moderation systems.
Path Forward
Although my tenure as a Cornell Tech PiTech Impact Fellow has ended, I continue to collaborate with Blue Ridge Labs. I present research, conduct workshops, and continue to meet with current fellows to provide support with their projects. Additionally, as I’ve taken on student leadership roles at Cornell Tech, more specifically as this year’s co-president of the Black Cornell Tech Student Association (BCTSA), I organize for members of the Blue Ridge Labs community to speak and collaborate with us here on campus, for example, Technology Consultant and Curriculum Developer, Kyla Massey has been kind enough to be a guest speaker for BCTSA’s upcoming speaker’s series and be a guest presenter for the course, INFO 5910: Revolutionary Technologies.