The Knowledge House, a Bronx-based nonprofit working to diversify the tech industry, marked its 10-year anniversary with a festive gala in Washington Heights on Oct. 16. The organization, which has served over 2,500 people since its inception, has expanded significantly since it was established in the Bronx and now operates in Newark, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
Co-founder and CEO Jerelyn Rodriguez Williams is a former teacher and community organizer who grew up in the Bronx, graduated from Columbia University and was determined to help bring change to her borough. She noticed many Bronxites were not in school or working — and among those who were working, most had low-paying jobs.
Rodriguez Williams dreamed up The Knowledge House with co-founder Joe Carrano, who lives in Hunts Point and has a background in computer programming and coding. They realized there were great entry-level jobs in tech and developed the nonprofit to give more low-income people of color a pathway into that high-paying industry. People of color needed to learn to produce tech, not just consume it, said Rodriguez Williams.
Today, The Knowledge House has two free fellowship programs — one for high school students and one for adults with little or no formal postsecondary education — that provide training in web design, cybersecurity, coding and more.
The adult program, called The Innovation Fellowship, aims to prepare graduates for entry-level tech jobs. The youth program is named for the rapper French Montana (under his real name, the Karim Kharbouch Coding Fellowship) and prepares teens for internships, apprenticeships and college and career pathways in STEM.
Both programs come with wraparound services, including mentoring, assistance with housing and broadband access and other support to ensure that fellows are set up for success.
Rodriguez Williams said the organization has steadily grown over its 10 years, despite all odds. “I feel very accomplished but also humbled because most nonprofits don’t make it this far,” she said at the gala.
She pointed to some highlights over the years, including the first government contract in 2016, which allowed them to triple their team to 12 staff members; 2019, when French Montana worked with them to develop the youth fellowship; and in 2021, when The Knowledge House expanded nationally. But despite the nonprofit’s growing reach, it still maintains its South Bronx roots, with 75 total staff members headquartered in Mott Haven.
Rodriguez Williams said that recent layoffs and hiring freezes in the tech sector have impacted her organization’s work, but even so, many fellowship grads have landed steady, well-paying jobs. Most fellows enter the program making $20,000 per year or less and end up earning close to six figures in their first tech jobs. Around 400 people graduate from the fellowship programs each year.
“This is game-changing for them and their families,” said Rodriguez Williams.
‘A wider net’
The Knowledge House hasn’t stopped at fellowships. They saw many people interested in tech who perhaps didn’t have the skill level or couldn’t commit to an intensive experience, so they developed workshops to introduce more people to coding, using Excel or Google Suite and other specific skills.
Given the success of the fellowships, the nonprofit looked to “cast a wider net,” said Roosevelt Callahan, chief program officer for The Knowledge House.
Callahan, who is also originally from the Bronx, said that through one-off programming and weekly classes, the organization can reach more people who may become ready for a fellowship later.
Almost anyone can benefit from improving their computer skills, he said — but stereotypes about who works in tech can be tough to shake.
“When people think of New York, hotspots of tech, they don’t think of the Bronx,” said Callahan.
Everything The Knowledge House does is about changing that perception, said Assembly Member Amanda Septimo, who spoke at the gala and called the nonprofit “one of the crown jewels of our borough.”
“It is founded from a place of deep love,” she said.
As a Hunts Point native, Septimo said many fellows with The Knowledge House have turned struggles into triumph and broken the cycles of generational poverty — a classic Bronx story that represents a borough not held back by stereotypes from the past, she said.
“The Knowledge House stepped in to make sure the Bronx’s history has nothing to do with its future,” said Septimo.
One of those perhaps unlikely success stories was Remzi Gjikokaj, whose family moved to the Bronx fleeing violence in Kosovo in 1999 when he was 11 years old.
Gjikokaj never planned on a career in tech — he wanted to be a firefighter, he told the Bronx Times. But “you don’t get to choose your destiny,” he said.
Gjikokaj does feel his path was destined: he went through the fellowship program in 2021 and landed a job as an IT specialist for The Knowledge House. He cannot stop smiling when talking about his work.
“I love it,” he said. “It always keeps me on my feet — no stagnation.”
Gjikokaj said he brings his experience as an immigrant to his job. As someone who had to start over in an unfamiliar country and learn a new language, he empathizes with those struggling to learn the language of computers.
“I deal with not only systems but the people using them,” he said.
Two years into his role with the nonprofit, Gjikokaj said he hopes to grow within the organization and that its work will expand to even more audiences. Seniors like his parents — whom he often helps navigate everyday technology — are just one underserved group, he said.
“I think The Knowledge House should be in every city,” said Gjikokaj.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes