An interview with Jerelyn Rodriguez, Co-Founder / CEO oF The Knowledge House

Bronx native Jerelyn Rodriguez is a graduate from Columbia University and developed a career in city politics and education. In 2016 she was named on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Education list and is currently on the leadership council for South Bronx Rising Together, a board member at New York City Employment & Training Coalition.

Ms. Rodriguez co-founded The Knowledge House (TKH), which was founded in 2014 to close the gaps in the education­-to-­employment pipeline by leading digital skills training in coding and design for underserved young people in the Bronx. TKH combines technology training, career support, and a comprehensive network of partners to help disconnected job seekers secure rewarding careers in the tech economy and become financially independent.TKH aims to lift entire communities out of poverty by creating a pipeline of talented and capable workers equipped with the technology and skills that provide economic opportunity, living wages, and career mobility.

Previously, she coordinated STEM after-school programs at Braven and was the Bronx Field Director for Reshma Saujani's 2013 campaign for New York City Public Advocate. In 2011, Jerelyn joined Students for Education Reform (SFER) as the National Program Director, organizing and coaching college students in 35 states to advocate for education

reform. Prior to SFER, Jerelyn worked in the public school system, teaching and designing programs.

Ms. Rodriguez has received numerous awards and recognitions including:

92 Y Extraordinary Women “Rising Star,” NYC Celebrates Women “22 Women of Color Entrepreneurs for 2022,” 2022 Crain’s Notable Black Leaders & Executives, 2021 Ghetto Film School Honoree, TED 2020 Emerging Innovator, 2016 Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 and a founding Datanaut at NASA, an Aspen Institute Fellow. A proud native of New York City, she formerly served on Mayor De Blasio’s NY Workforce Recovery Strategy Group and contributed to elaborating a blueprint, Recovery For All A Vision for New York City's Equitable Economic Recovery, to lift the city out of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. 

Ms. Rodriguez and her fiancé proudly reside in the Bronx, NY.

About The Knowledge House (TKH)

The Knowledge House (TKH), founded by Joe Carrano and Jerelyn Rodriguez, is committed to taking low-income youth and young adults from unemployment and underemployment to financial independence and stability by providing them with free technical training and professional development services that put them on a direct path to employment in the tech sector. Companies that hire our graduates include Bloomberg LP, McKinsey and Company, DStillery, Citibank, Facebook, and Goldman Sachs.

Since its founding in 2014, TKH has grown to serve nearly 3,000 young people. Since 2021, TKH has expanded its programming from New York City to serve young people in Westchester, Newark, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.

The Knowledge House has received generous funding from the NBA Foundation, American Heart Association, Robin Hood Foundation, Microsoft, Bloomberg, New Profit, French Montana, Goldman Sachs, the 1954 Project, Citi Foundation, and more.

To learn more, visit theknowledgehouse.org/

RAINE: Why did you pursue a career in education?

JERELYN RODRIGUEZ: There are a number of things that have brought me to this work. As a Bronx-native and daughter of Dominican immigrants, my mother is my biggest influence. After launching a teaching career in the Dominican Republic, she started over when she arrived in New York, earning her Bachelor’s and working in the public school system. She taught me the important role education has in preparing underserved people for employment. I worked in education after college, coordinating STEM after-school programming, joining Students for Education Reform, and working in the public school system leading family engagement. After working a few years in education, I grew frustrated with the focus stakeholders had on college pathways for poor kids. Although college worked for me, it didn’t work for many of my peers and I wanted to expose low-income young people to alternative pathways to sustainable careers. The tech sector presented many economic opportunities to folks without college degrees, so I began exposing my community members to pathways into tech through The Knowledge House (TKH), which I co-founded in 2014.

RAINE: What spark inspired the creation of The Knowledge House?

RODRIGUEZ: In 2012, I met Joe Carrano. Joe is a self-taught programmer; before he learned to code, he struggled in grueling minimum-wage positions and gentrification forced him out of his hometown in Brooklyn, displacing him to the Bronx. After learning to code, he went from making minimum wage to six figures, and I felt that if this worked for him, it could work for others as well. We decided that tech-based workforce training could give their communities the resources to thrive and achieve economic mobility, and jointly created The Knowledge House. By equipping young people with the tools to secure stable employment, they would be able to invest in the long-term resilience of these communities, as well as the diversity of the tech economy. Since then, TKH has been growing steadily.

RAINE: How did it feel to expand The Knowledge House to other cities? Which cities do you hope to expand to next?

RODRIGUEZ: There is a critical need for job training and workforce development programming to ensure low-income young people are not left behind in the growing tech economy. We now proudly serve young people across New York City, Newark, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Across all four cities, TKH meets the intersecting challenges of high poverty levels combined with deep racial inequity. Each city also has a strong tech sector that offers economic opportunity. It has been exciting to expand beyond New York City and offer life-changing programming to young people across the nation. The experience has instilled renewed hope in me that we can break the cycle of poverty with the right resources and support.

Instead of expanding to new cities, we have set our sights on deepening our relationships and impact in each site. The expansion has been a learning experience for myself and the rest of my team. We have realized that some communities, like Newark, are very tight-knit, and it takes time to build meaningful relationships with them. We address this by having Community Engagement Specialists based in each city who are dedicated to strengthening our partnerships and spreading the word about our innovative programs. Our focus for the next few years is to be more involved in each community and increase the number of young people we reach.

RAINE: How did your background shape The Knowledge House’s values?

RODRIGUEZ: As a Bronx native and Afro-Latina daughter of Dominican immigrants raised in a low-income single-parent household, my perspective and experience puts me in a unique position to create an organization that would serve as a conduit for economic mobility for young people in the South Bronx and beyond. TKH is the only tech-training organization in New York City founded and led by a Black woman and 80% of our staff identify as Black, Latinx, or Asian, and share participants' lived experiences. This makes TKH uniquely well-positioned among our peer group to serve the needs of our community, students, and Fellows. Our similar backgrounds to our students have informed our program design and the holistic support we offer our students because we have an understanding of what they need to succeed.

RAINE: What was the biggest surprise you have experienced in building your business or career?

RODRIGUEZ: The biggest surprise I have experienced in building my career was Covid 19. Operating during a pandemic presented a new challenge as a leader. TKH had a hiring freeze and let go of many consultants, which affected our capacity and program operations. This was overwhelming, especially by the end of 2020, as we prepared for a year of growth.

RAINE: What has been one of the proudest moments in your career?

RODRIGUEZ: Though the pandemic was my biggest surprise, it was also a moment that I was extremely proud of. I quickly pivoted the organization from operating in-person to 100% remote and without a Director of Programs. We recruited students virtually, held pre-recorded info sessions, and promoted via social media. Applications for our programs doubled. The transition to virtual created the unique opportunity to expand our proven education and job placement to new students and partners in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Newark. To sustain operations after the pandemic reduced the organizational budget, I led an annual campaign without the support of a Development Director. While Black female founders typically receive the least philanthropy, 2020 was a banner year for TKH. We secured $1M in new funding – the most in our history. We received a $450,000 grant from the Robin Hood Power Fund and a grant from the NBA Foundation. There was also an increase in online giving, and we secured over ten corporate sponsorships. Our organizational budget doubled to $2.9M for 2021.

RAINE: What words of wisdom can you share with others on a similar journey?

RODRIGUEZ: My advice to others is to be an authentic advocate for yourself, as well as the participants you serve. I am very proud of myself for improving my fundraising skills throughout the years. I remember in one of my first fundraising meetings ever with a program officer at a prospective foundation who was white and male, he questioned TKH’s theory of change because “coding is too hard for people in the Bronx.” This funder had low expectations for the people I serve and suggested TKH provide IT training because it was “easier.” At the time, I simply responded by providing labor market data on how coding jobs are the highest paid with the most growth. Looking back, I wish I had shared with this funder that Bronx talent can in fact achieve anything if they are set up for success with equitable access to training. I should have advocated for myself by confidently pitching that with adequate investment in our programs, I could meet our workforce goals in the Bronx. Experiences like this discouraged me during the early years of TKH but over time, I gathered enough student success stories, data, and backing from other funders to confidently demonstrate that our model works. Today, I feel empowered to pitch TKH programs and our students, using success stories, quantitative data, and asset-based framing, while talking to anyone, despite their gender, age, and wealth. And in the long run, that program officer who didn’t believe in our model left that foundation, and for the last four years, the foundation has been a top funder of TKH.

All images courtesy of The Knowledge House