Cornell Tech, the New York City Mayor’s Office and the City University of New York launched a new winter internship program Oct. 11 as part of the Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY) initiative. The program, called a Winternship, will provide paid internships to up to 200 CUNY female students in their freshman or sophomore years who are studying computer science or related fields.

The Winternships will occur during CUNY’s winter break starting in January 2018. Short internships early in their college careers will give these young CUNY women exposure, experience and a set of credentials that make their resumes more competitive when it comes time to apply for 10-week summer internships and, ultimately, full-time jobs. Giving young women these mini-internship experiences will help launch the careers of a new generation of women in tech in New York.

A digital advertising campaign on social media and LinkNYC kiosks will show the diverse group of women who have participated in other WiTNY programs to encourage more young women to pursue careers in tech. Through the campaign, WiTNY will also generate interest from additional companies who want to join the WiTNY network.

Cornell Tech, CUNY and corporations including Verizon, Accenture, IBM, Citi and Xerox have partnered to create WiTNY to facilitate, encourage and enable a significant increase in the participation of women in higher education and entrepreneurship in fields related to technology in New York.

To expand access to computer science at CUNY, Cornell Tech and CUNY partnered to develop a curriculum that is being implemented at more than a dozen campuses.