How We Started
Queens is home to a creative, risk-tolerant, diverse, and entrepreneurial community that has always been a source of talent and success. Coalition for Queens was formed to promote, harness, and leverage the creative and entrepreneurial capacity of the borough in order to realize the potential of Queens and New York.
In May 2011, Jukay returned to his home borough of Queens to start a tech company that would empower communities and change government. As he researched the NY tech industry, he learned of Mayor Bloomberg’s bold Applied Sciences NYC initiative to build a new tech campus to spur innovation and economic growth. Jukay discovered however that the initiative did not consider Queens as a potential site.
Soon afterwards, Jukay and Stacy met for coffee in downtown Flushing to talk about their experiences and the tremendous change in Queens since they last met in high school. They quickly became excited by the potential of Queens to be the center of a new tech community. Though they had both lived away from Queens for some time, they decided there and then to share their vision with others.
Jukay and Stacy’s outreach quickly generated enthusiastic support. Community residents and leaders were surprised to learn of Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative and encouraged us to advocate for the borough. We were energized by the outpouring of encouragement and decided to form Coalition for Queens to build support for a Queens Tech Campus and tech startup community in the borough.
