"The Brooklyn Way"-LevelUp Day 2025: Future Forward
- Rashida Ashley
- Jun 22
- 4 min read
On Saturday June 21, 2025, JuneteenthTech/JuneteenthTech NYC held its 7th annual celebration in partnership with Brooklyn Public Library's LevelUp program. The event not only celebrates Juneteenth, a day of freedom for everyone, it celebrates the innovation, talent, and impact Black professionals have made, and continue shape the future of, in the tech industry and more.
The event was held in the Dweck Center of the Brooklyn Public Library. Lead by LevelUp, Program Coordinator, Lauren Dorvil and Juneteenth Tech, Creator/Executive Producer, Etophia Lane, the agenda's purpose of spotlighting the racial gap within the field of technology and the recognition of Black tech achievements could be felt across the stage and the audience.
"The Oak Tree sits in such a quiet area, but it also sits on the opposite side of I64. When I look at the Oak Tree today, it's actually dying. And they were talking about how the Oak Tree was dying today because of the fumes and immissions. And it's very, to me it's very symbolic. About how the fumes and the immissions come into Black Culture, and We are destoryed. But that's just the leaves that are destroyed. But the root, is what? Makes it stronger. And so when I look at Hampton University and see that Oak Tree, I also see the strenghth of our people. Yeah, it may have taken a couple of years for them to find out, but we didn't care. We knew that we were already free. Why? Because no one can take our mind. No one can take our soul. And that is where we must continue to be in our selves," Creator/Executive Producer, Etophia Lane stated as she opened the event.
JuneteenthTech/Juneteenth Tech NYC is guided by the mission to pay tribute to the freedom of Black innovation, intelligence, and perserverance in technology. Offering programming comprised of the technology racial gap and driving the recognition of Black tech during Juneteenth attests to its impact. Juneteenth Tech has secured its notable position as one of New York's robust Juneteenth celebrations at its 2024 inaugural summit at Medgar Evers College.
NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, CTO, Matthew Fraser was honored at the podium. Calling for the celebration of breaking the mental bonds of enslavement and looking at what the future looks like, Fraser discussed his impact of disrupting violence in our communities in order to save lives.
"It's not enough to pull somebody out of the street. It's important to figure out why they're there in the first place...When we look at violence patterns between 2022 and 2023, and look at how they grew. They grew in areas where people have limited access to connectivity and also where people didn't have full access to other recreational centers during the winter and other places where they were being locked in," NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, CTO, Matthew Fraser explained.
To solve this issue, NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, CTO, Matthew Fraswer described using his authority to approach cable companies in order to give people access to media outlets and an opportunity to be connected. Thus a program called Big Apple Connected was launched. Within a year, every unit in public housing is now able to have access to free basic TV and high speed internet as a basic human right.
Union Theological Seminary, CIO, Donald Joshua approached the podium, responding to a question initially posed to him. How can Black churches and Faith based organizations harness technologies to serve underserved communities?
"We have this conversation about tradition. I think a lot of times in Black church, we hold onto tradition, which is great. But in our current AI society, we have to start thinking about, what does this look like?"
Programs such as LevelUp can position the Brooklyn Community to address the issues articulated by Juneteenth Tech, Creator/Executive Producer, Etophia Lane, NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, CTO, Matthew Fraser, Union Theological Seminary, CIO, Donald Joshua and the experts who shared their expertise during the inaugural 2025 event.
The LevelUp program has made significant strides within its first year at Brooklyn Public Library. The program has graduated 110 Leaders and served over 400 women across Brooklyn through its career advancement and wellness programming. Some of its graduates shared their expertise within the panels of the LevelUp Day 2025 Future Forward: Celebrating New York Black Techmakers event. LevelUp has served its Brooklyn Leaders with $55,000 in grant support for professional development and certification trainings. A national PBS documentary also featured the program as the modern day take on Civil Rights for Black women. These are just a few of its highlighted impacts on the Brooklyn community.
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