Embarc Collective and Bank of America Foundation Partner to Support Tech Talent

Tampa Bay is home to a thriving tech community, presenting a remarkable opportunity to strengthen support for our region’s tech talent. Acknowledging this potential, Embarc Collective and Bank of America have joined forces to expand technical programming and support local technical meetup groups—key resources for knowledge-sharing and networking in our community.

“Our goal is to strengthen the support for Tampa Bay’s tech talent by providing more tools and connections to accelerate their growth,” said Evan Erickson, Director of Partnerships and Events, Embarc Collective.

Expanding Technical Programming for Startup Success

At Embarc Collective, we’ve proven that quality support drives success—96% of our original members have surpassed the five-year mark, compared to just 50% of startups nationally. To further increase their success, we’re expanding our technical programming for member startups. This includes workshops on emerging topics like AI and spatial computing, as well as startup lightning talks from technical experts, all aimed at helping startups build stronger technical teams to enable long-term growth and scale.

Scholarships to Support Your Technical Meetup Group

In recent years, many technical meetup groups have faced limitations when organizing in-person gatherings—whether due to costs, logistics, or access to suitable spaces. To empower local technical communities that play a critical role in Tampa Bay’s startup ecosystem, Embarc Collective is offering scholarships to provide access to our collaboration spaces and cover costs for selected technical meetup groups.

Bank of America’s support of Embarc Collective will help promote economic opportunity for our local communities.

“Partnering with Embarc Collective demonstrates how Bank of America is taking action to provide the resources and support needed to help Tampa Bay thrive,” said Ann Shaler, market executive, Bank of America Tampa Bay. “This funding builds upon our longstanding efforts to help strengthen community vitality by addressing important issues like small business resiliency.”

What’s Included

• Financial Support: Scholarships to offset the costs of leading a meetup group.
• A Dedicated Space: Access to Embarc Collective’s world-class event spaces in downtown Tampa, designed to inspire collaboration and creativity.
• Community Connection: Opportunities to connect with Tampa Bay’s broader tech ecosystem, including Embarc Collective member startups.

Whether your group focuses on coding languages, data science, AI, or any other emerging technical field, this support aims to help you take your meetups to the next level.

Applications are now open and accepted on a rolling basis.

About Embarc Collective

Embarc Collective, a 501c3 non-profit, is a central landing zone for the most driven and focused startup builders in Florida, ranked as a top startup support program in the world by UBI Global. Embarc Collective offers vetted, curated live and on-demand coaching and programming, an ever-growing repository of resources and frameworks, and access to national customers and investors, all amongst a peer community of 125+ tech startups operating within an award-winning 32,000-square-foot startup hub in downtown Tampa, Florida.

About Bank of America Foundation

Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,700 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC).