Eight percent. That’s the share of U.S. tech workers who are Hispanic. African-Americans make up roughly seven percent. In Massachusetts, the numbers are even lower, according to the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. For an industry that prides itself on shaping the future, the present still looks stubbornly narrow.
A new program in Boston is trying to change that—by going straight to the places the tech industry has long ignored.
A pipeline problem hiding in plain sight
Ask most tech companies why their teams lack diversity and you’ll hear the same answer: “We can’t find the talent.” What Hack.Diversity is challenging is the assumption baked into that excuse.
The nonprofit’s premise is simple. The talent already exists. It’s just not coming from the usual places.
Instead of elite universities, Hack.Diversity recruits Black and Latino students from community colleges and urban universities, pairing them with paid internships at fast-growing Boston-area tech companies. The goal isn’t a résumé line. It’s conversion—turning internships into full-time jobs.
That’s exactly what Rizel Bobb-Semple is hoping for.
Lunch breaks and long commutes at HubSpot
On a weekday afternoon at HubSpot’s Cambridge headquarters, the scene feels familiar: lines forming for lunch, coworkers chatting, interns comparing notes. It’s “sushi burrito day,” and for a moment, nothing about the space feels exceptional.
Outside on the lawn, a few interns laugh over how the Hack.Diversity placement process works.
“It’s like Tinder,” Bobb-Semple explains.
Mutual interest. Both sides swipe right.
Bobb-Semple is studying computer information systems at Bunker Hill Community College and interns at HubSpot analyzing spreadsheets and data. Getting there isn’t easy—she takes a bus and two trains from Mattapan, spending more than an hour commuting each way.
But she says it’s worth it.
“My favorite part has been shadowing people and just seeing what they’re doing,” she says. “Everybody’s really willing to share and help you.”
That openness is the difference between exposure and experience—and it’s exactly what Hack.Diversity is trying to scale.
Keeping talent local instead of exporting it
The idea for Hack.Diversity crystallized when venture capitalist Jeff Bussgang read about Google’s struggles to hire Black coders. To him, the problem wasn’t geography. It was imagination.
“We’ve got the companies right here,” Bussgang said. “We don’t have to send our students to Silicon Valley. They’re in our community colleges and urban universities.”
He partnered with two Black women deeply rooted in tech: Jody Rose and Melissa James. James, the first in her family to attend college, never expected a career in technology. After working as a recruiter at Google, she went on to found Tech Connection, a firm focused on recruiting underrepresented talent.
“I’ve stayed in tech because I love it,” James said. “The question is how we make sure everyone who comes into this industry feels the same way.”
How Hack.Diversity works
Hack.Diversity is deliberately small—at least for now. In its first year, the program placed just 16 interns across a handful of companies. But the structure is intentional.
Interns are recruited from overlooked talent pools. Companies commit to paid placements. And both sides receive support.
Here’s the core model:
| Element | What Hack.Diversity does |
|---|---|
| Talent sourcing | Recruits Black and Latino students from community colleges and urban universities |
| Employer partners | Works with companies like HubSpot, Wayfair, Carbonite, Vertex, and DataXu |
| Intern support | Mentorship, professional development, and exposure to real projects |
| Company support | Diversity and inclusion consulting to improve retention and culture |
At HubSpot, Becky McCullough, who oversees North American recruiting, says the program expands how the company thinks about hiring.
“Like any tech company, we can always be doing better,” she said. “Hack.Diversity helps us broaden our pool of potential hires.”
Internships are often a pipeline to full-time roles. Hack.Diversity’s bet is that widening the top of that funnel will change who ends up on payroll years later.
Is it enough?
Not everyone is convinced the model goes far enough.
David Delmar of Resilient Coders, a nonprofit that teaches coding to at-risk youth—many without college degrees—argues the industry still needs to keep doors open even wider.
“We’re at the chest-pounding phase where everyone says diversity is important,” Delmar said. “That’s necessary. But the real test is whether companies actually do something.”
Hack.Diversity doesn’t claim to be the whole solution. Melissa James calls it a first step—and one that requires more buy-in from executives.
“If you want to stay competitive, this is an imperative,” she said. “It should be on your priority list just like sales goals are.”
Why companies can’t ignore this anymore
The economic argument is becoming harder to dismiss. Research consistently shows that diverse teams perform better and deliver stronger financial results. At the same time, demand for tech talent continues to grow faster than the overall labor market, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov).
In other words, companies need people—and the old pipelines aren’t cutting it.
Organizations like Hack.Diversity are testing whether local, community-based approaches can fill that gap while also addressing equity. It’s slower than mass recruiting from elite schools. It’s messier. And it requires companies to confront uncomfortable truths about who they’ve been overlooking.
A small cohort, a long runway
For now, Hack.Diversity is modest in scale. Sixteen interns won’t transform Boston’s tech sector overnight. But pipelines don’t change all at once. They shift over time, cohort by cohort.
For students like Rizel Bobb-Semple, the impact is immediate. She’s already inside the industry, learning how it works, building relationships, and imagining herself staying.
That’s the real metric Hack.Diversity is watching: not how many press releases get written, but how many interns don’t have to leave tech—or Boston—to build a career.
FAQs
1 What problem is Hack.Diversity trying to solve?
The underrepresentation of Black and Latino workers in the tech industry, particularly in Boston.
2 Where does Hack.Diversity recruit interns from?
Community colleges and urban universities, not elite or traditional tech pipelines.
3 Which companies participate in the program?
Partners include HubSpot, Wayfair, Carbonite, Vertex, and others.
4 Is this program only for students with college degrees?
Currently, the focus is on students in higher education, though critics argue for broader access.
5 Does research support the business case for diversity?
Yes. Studies show diverse companies perform better and achieve stronger financial results.
