Black Girls Code

Black Girls Code (BGC) is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing technology education to African-American girls ages 7–17. Kimberly Bryant, an electrical engineer working in biotech for over 20 years, founded Black Girls Code in 2011 in hopes of rectifying the underrepresented female and African demographic (25% [1] and 3% [2] respectively in 2012) within the technology industry.[3][4] Offering programs such as computer programming, coding, as well as website/robot/mobile application-building courses, she hopes to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. in 2020.[5]

Bryant was inspired to start BGC after her gamer daughter, Kai, attended a computing summer camp and was disappointed in the experience.[4][6] Her daughter was one in a handful of girls who were at the camp and was the only African American girl present. She also noted that the boys at the camp were given much more attention from the counselors than the few girls there.[4][7] In an interview with Ebony, Bryant stated, "I wanted to find a way to engage and interest my daughter in becoming a digital creative instead of just a consumer, and I did not find other programs that were targeted to girls like her from underrepresented communities."[8]

BGC has become a rapidly growing phenomenon, quickly expanding in the USA and abroad. Headquartered in Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco, the organization grew to 2,000 students by August 2013 within the 7 established institutions [3] operating in 7 States across the US, as well as in Johannesburg, South Africa.[9] BGC seeks to double their reach by adding chapters in the US and Africa over the next two years.[10] BGC's ultimate goal is "to grow to train 1 million girls by 2050 and become the 'girl scouts' of technology." [10] BGC depends on a vast body of volunteers to design and conduct workshop classes. Professionals from the IT sector are invited to share their expertise with the young students, helping them get acquainted with the fundamentals of software design in languages such as Scratch or Ruby on Rails.[11] Year round, after school activities are alternated with all-day-long workshops; an extended course is held during the summer. BGC also hosts bilingual workshops in partnership with Latino Startup Alliance.[4] BGC is reliant on donations to fund its activities. And while classes are offered in exchange of a modicum fee, 75% students are currently on scholarships.[3] The motto of the Black Girls Code is: "Imagine. Build. Create. – Imagine a world where everyone is given the tools to succeed, and then help us build ways for everyone to access information and create a new age of women of color in technology".[11]

Black Girls Code received a $50,000 grant from Microsoft's AzureDev community campaign in January 2014.[12] Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant also received a "Standing O-vation" presented by Oprah Winfrey and Toyota in November 2014.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2012.pdf
  2. ↑ Did You Know: Demographics on Technical Women | National Center for Women & Information Technology
  3. 1 2 3 Robehmed, Natalie (August 30, 2013). "Black Girls Code Tackles Tech Inclusion". Forbes. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Gilpin, Lyndsey (April 7, 2014). "Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant: Engineer. Entrepreneur. Mother.". TechRepublic. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/resources/btn_02272013web.pdf
  6. ↑ Lynn, Samara (December 9, 2013). "American Express, BlackGirlsCode, and Internet Backlash". PC Magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Shumaker, Laura (2014). "Oprah gives San Francisco’s Kimberly Bryant a Standing O-vation". SFGate.
  8. ↑ Phanor-Faury, Alexandra (March 19, 2014). "Black Girls Code’s Kim Bryant Talks Bits and Bytes". Ebony. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  9. ↑ Ntim, Lottie (December 12, 2013). "When Black Girls Code". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  10. 1 2 D'Ignazio, Catherine (November 18, 2013). "Kimberly Bryant and Black Girls Code". MIT Center for Civic Media.
  11. 1 2 What We Do - BlackGirlsCode.com
  12. ↑ Frank, Blair Hanley (January 15, 2014). "Black Girls Code, Code.org win Microsoft AzureDev grants". Geekwire. Retrieved April 16, 2014.

External links

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