FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2026
NEW YORK, NY
Pursuit, a Long Island City-based workforce development organization, and LaGuardia Community College today announced a partnership to bring hands-on AI education to LaGuardia students, faculty, and staff, with a longer-term goal of building AI career pathways for New Yorkers who have historically been shut out of the tech economy.
“New York City is home to some of the best talent in the country, and too few of them have a clear path into the jobs that AI is creating,” said Pursuit CEO Nick Simmons. “LaGuardia, which serves more than 26,000 students a year from across the five boroughs, is exactly where that work needs to happen. This partnership is a step toward making sure the city’s AI economy is built by and for all New Yorkers.”
The partnership kicks off in July 2026 with a free AI Fundamentals course delivered by Pursuit on the LaGuardia campus, open to all LaGuardia students. The 42-hour course covers how AI works, practical skills with AI tools, and hands-on experience building AI-powered applications, with no prior technical background required. Responsible and ethical AI use is a throughline. The course ends with a demo day where participants present original projects to peers, LaGuardia staff, and local employers.
Pursuit and LaGuardia plan to explore deeper program integration. In close coordination with LaGuardia faculty and academic leadership, that work will include evaluating a Workforce Pell-aligned AI training program and co-curricular pathways leading to high-paying jobs for students. Pursuit’s work to develop the first intensive AI-Native Training Program for low-income New Yorkers alongside its deep employer partnerships will serve as the foundation for those conversations.
“Our students come to LaGuardia to build better futures for themselves and their families,” said Kenneth Adams, President of LaGuardia Community College. “Partnering with Pursuit gives our students access to serious, applied AI training that connects to real careers on our campus and at no cost. We look forward to seeing what we can build together.”
LaGuardia also provides other innovative programs that prepare students for careers in emerging technology fields. LaGuardia’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Certification Program helps students, professionals, and career changers develop further practical AI knowledge, understand ethical and workplace applications of AI, and gain the skills needed to succeed in an increasingly technology-driven economy. LaGuardia also offers an Associate degree in Cybersecurity that equips students with hands-on skills in network administration, information security, digital forensics, and systems security, and is recognized by the National Security Agency as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.
About Pursuit Pursuit is a New York City-based nonprofit that creates pathways to economic mobility by training adults with the greatest need and potential for AI-enabled careers. Since 2012, Pursuit has invested in individuals from low-income communities—70% Black or Latine, 50% receiving public assistance, 60% without four-year degrees, and 40% immigrants—to prepare them for the jobs of the future. To date, Pursuit has generated more than $1 billion in lifetime wage gains for program participants by partnering with employers, community organizations, and public leaders to deliver AI-native training that leads directly to real jobs and sustained wage growth.
About LaGuardia Community College LaGuardia Community College, located in Long Island City, Queens, serves over 26,000 students in pre-college, associate degree, certificate, and continuing education programs each year across more than sixty degree and certificate programs, as well as over sixty Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) programs. Founded in 1971, the college has offered access and opportunity for New Yorkers to earn credentials and training to transfer to four-year colleges and find rewarding, sustainable-wage jobs and careers. LaGuardia is accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education and is proudly a Minority Serving Institution holding designations as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution, and a Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program.
