Creating career pathways in tech for underrepresented communities.
What is the 1,000 Intern Initiative?
An ambitious program started by LA-Tech.org and LA’s tech community. It is designed to provide economic opportunities to communities of color and other groups who have been historically disconnected with equal opportunity in the tech sector.
Why is it important?
Firstly, it’s the right thing to do. We want to give back to the community and the city that has allowed tech companies to grow and be successful. Tech companies have a responsibility to ensure careers in the industry are truly accessible.
There is now an opportunity for tech to hire untapped talent ensuring more local employees, a diverse pipeline and creates opportunities for young people who have been disconnected from the sector. Also, by investing in local talent, we ensure the diverse and vibrant future of the growing tech sector.
Lastly, we want to give the many people in our local tech community who are looking for ways they can personally make an impact on our city a way to do so.
“Our team had phenomenal interns and we decided to offer full-time engineering positions to 2 out of our 3 Quality Assurance interns.”
— Wendy Kwong, Senior Manager, GOAT
Internship
Pathways
These opportunities are open to any student/ young person who would like to pursue a career in tech. We can generally accommodate all needs for tech companies. Our main career pathways are:
What sort of support is available?
For Tech companies, we provide:
Interviewed and vetted talented candidates from untapped communities
An Intern experience mapping session to map out the internship
Developing outlines of intern projects that you can leverage
Regular check-ins to course correct and troubleshoot
Access to exclusive events with LA’s tech community
For Students, we provide:
A plethora of job opportunities within LA’s tech sector, spanning industries such as FinTech, Fashion, E-commerce and more!
Professional development alongside your internship
Careers coaches to support you before, during and after your internship
Additional mentorship guidance
“We committed to two interns at the beginning of the summer, but these students were so talented and our team was so invigorated that we decided to onboard an additional 10 interns in project management, data science, and business operations to name a few.”
— Beatriz Acevedo, CEO & Co-Founder Suma Wealth
South LA Intern Initiative
We kicked off our 1,000 Intern Initiative in Summer of 2021 starting with young people from South LA. LA-Tech.org teamed up with LA County & Unite LA to get 100 young people and students from South LA their first internship in tech.
We have since surpassed that goal and are continuing to expand our reach in that district.