Black Girls Code

Black Girls Code
Abbreviation BGC
Motto "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."[1]
Formation 2011
Founder Kimberly Bryant
Headquarters Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco
Region
United States, South Africa
Website www.blackgirlscode.com

Black Girls Code (BGC) is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing technology education for African-American girls. Kimberly Bryant, an electrical engineer who had worked in biotech for over 20 years, founded Black Girls Code in 2011 in hopes of rectifying the underrepresentation of the female and African-American demographic in the technology industry.[2][3] The organization offers programs in computer programming, coding, as well as website, robot, and mobile application-building, with the goal of providing 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.[4]

Founding

Bryant was inspired to start BGC after her gamer daughter, Kai, attended a computing summer camp and was disappointed in the experience.[3][5] 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.[3][6] 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."[7]

Organization

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 [2] operating in 7 States across the US, as well as in Johannesburg, South Africa.[8] BGC seeks to double their reach by adding chapters in the US and Africa over the next two years.[9] BGC also hosts bilingual workshops in partnership with Latino Startup Alliance.[3] BGC's ultimate goal is "to grow to train 1 million girls by 2050 and become the 'girl scouts' of technology." [9]

BGC depends on a vast body of volunteers to design and conduct workshop classes. Professionals from the IT sector 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.[1] After school activities are alternated with day-long workshops; an extended course is held during the summer.

BGC primarily relies on donations to fund its activities; 75% students are currently on scholarships.[2]

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".[1]

Awards and grants

Black Girls Code received a $50,000 grant from Microsoft's AzureDev community campaign in January 2014.[10] Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant also received a "Standing O-vation" presented by Oprah Winfrey and Toyota in November 2014.[6]

See also

References

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