Hack.Diversity to cease operations after final cohort
Story Highlights The tech diversity nonprofit will shut down Aug. 30.
Declining partnerships and internships led to financial challenges for Hack.Diversity.
Over 600 fellows graduated, with 80% securing high-paying tech jobs.
After almost 10 years of working to diversify the Boston tech startup workforce, Hack.Diversity plans to shut down this summer.
The nonprofit dedicated to boosting diversity in tech startups said its current cohort would continue as planned, but that it would not be enrolling any additional cohorts afterward and will cease operations on Aug. 30.
The closure of Hack.Diversity marks the loss of another pivotal resource for the Boston tech ecosystem, coming a week after Innovation Studios, the nonprofit co-working space provider with studios in Boston and Roxbury, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
The Roxbury location of Innovation Studios specifically catered to programs for entrepreneurs and founders of color. Now, with the loss of Hack.Diversity, diverse startup founders will have fewer opportunities and resources available, making it harder to break into a crowded tech ecosystem.
The closure is coming during a time when diversity initiatives across the United States, including those in Boston, are facing scrutiny and criticism from the federal government. According to co-founder and board member Jeff Bussgang, the nonprofit began preparing for the potential attack on diversity last year, changing the language around DEI and emphasizing overall excellence instead.
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Fellowships provided by Hack.Diversity were primarily funded through partnerships with companies, as well as grants and contributions. As AI tools continue to advance, Bussgang says there's a decreasing need for entry-level coding positions. Coding AI tools have improved so significantly in helping engineers write and adjust code, to the point where 95% of the code in one quarter of Y Combinator startups was written by AI, according to Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan.
Bussgang and the board at Hack.Diversity decided that there was no clear path forward for Hack.Diversity into 2026.
'The best junior engineers are going to be those that figure out how to leverage the tools to self-teach, which potentially exacerbates the access problem and the diversity problem in the industry,' Bussgang said. 'Because people who are going to have those tools might be the ones that have the resources and the influences around them because they're raised in the ecosystem.'
The nonprofit dropped from 30 partner companies to 18 within the last couple of years, as more companies dropped internship positions altogether, Michelle De La Isla, the current CEO of Hack.Diversity told The Business Journal. According to De La Isla, fewer partnerships result in fewer internships, and fewer internships have a direct impact on funding.
"That was what really impacted us. Our philanthropic partners are incredible, but HACC doesn't work without internships, host companies or jobs for the fellows," De La Isla said.
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Michelle De La Isla, new CEO of Hack.Diversity.
Gary Higgins / Boston Business Journal
The nonprofit faced financial challenges last year after it announced that it would cut eight jobs as part of a restructuring due to budgetary restraints. According to its 2024 impact report, the nonprofit operated at a loss of $440,000 in 2024, compared to a net income of $200,000 the previous year, as reported by Pro Publica.
Hack.Diversity has undergone a series of changes since it spun out of the New England Venture Capital Association. Jody Rose, who served as NEVCA's president and co-founder of Hack.Diversity stepped down from her role within a year, and Michell De La Isla, the former Mayor of Topeka, Kansas, stepped into the role as CEO in 2023.
The nonprofit was originally founded in 2016 with the mission to connect talented STEM students of color with strong companies in Greater Boston in the hope of dismantling the barriers between the local innovation economy and the Black and Latino communities. Hack.Diversity also conducts racial equity, diversity and inclusion training at partner companies.
In pursuit of helping Black and Latino communities, Hack.Diversity conducted a fellowship program to help underrepresented tech workers secure internships at companies seeking to diversify their workforce.
During its 10 years in operation, the nonprofit graduated over 600 fellows who have been placed at more than 30 companies. Despite the closure of Hack.Diversity, Bussgang said the New England Venture Capital Association will maintain the alumni network and Slack channels for Hack.Diversity alumni to continue to network and share resources.
According to De La Isla, over 80% of Hack.Diversity alumni who were not returning to school after the fellowship ended up getting hired at the end of their fellowship. The average salary for the program's alumni averaged between $115,000 and $150,000.
"At this point in time, the organization of Hack.Diversity may be ceasing operations after this cohort, but the spirit of Hack lives in every single one of the fellows that we've been able to serve," De La Isla said "To keep Hack alive and to pay for all the goodness that they received, it is their opportunity to now open doors for others. And if they carry that on, Hack will live on, because Hack lives through them."
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