Last week, Minority-Serving Institutions received over $175 million to improve access to affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet. The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently announced it awarded more than $175 million to 61 colleges and universities as part of the Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program. The funding comes from the Internet for All initiative which aims to ensure all Americans can access affordable, reliable, high-speed internet. The initiative includes funds for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), Minority Serving Institutions, and
Brooklyn-based climate tech company BlocPower has raised $150 million to drive its mission of making America’s buildings greener. The round included over $24 million of Series B corporate equity led by VoLo Earth Ventures and $130 million of debt financing led by Goldman Sachs. Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Credit Suisse, Builders Vision, and New York State Ventures were among the investors. Making buildings greener 10% of all US greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels in homes and buildings for heating and cooking. Traditional heating and cooking appliances that run
Particles for Justice, a diverse group of physicists, are calling on their colleagues to support Black Studies and LGBTQ+ visibility. The group, who also organized the 2020 Strike For Black Lives, is now calling on academics and professional societies to take a visible and active stand against the “authoritarian” attacks on Black and queer studies. The group includes participle physicist and feminist scholar Chanda Prescod-Weinstein as well as physicists Tim M.P. Tait (University of California, Irvine) and Nausheen Shah (Wayne State University). In a statement, the group criticized the “manufactured moral
To offer an in-depth, data-backed look into the unique Black experience in the tech industry, the Info-Tech Research Group has published The State of Black Professionals in Tech report. “Diversity in tech is not a new topic, and it’s not a secret that technology organizations struggle to attract and retain Black employees,” Allison Straker and Ugbad Farah, Info-Tech research directors and leads on the report, said in a statement. “Current events have once again brought diversity to the forefront for many organizations. The pandemic, along with preparations for a recession and
Google for Startups is accepting applications for its Black Founders Funds in the US, Europe, Africa, and Brazil, and its Latino Founders Fund in the US. This year also marks the first time Google for Startups has opened the US funds to the public. In previous years, Google reportedly selected US businesses solely through referrals. Less than 0.5% of funding goes to Black-led startups, even though 77% of them are revenue-generating and create an average of 5.4 jobs each. First announced in June 2020, the Black Founders Fund was launched as
Black-owned startup Robin AI has raised $10.5 million to transform the legal industry with its AI-driven contract editor. What is Robin AI? Robin AI is the brainchild of former Clifford Chance lawyer Richard Robinson and former machine learning research scientist James Clough. The startup trained its machine learning model on data from 4.5 million legal documents with input from in-house lawyers to create a ‘lawyer bot’ that can draft and edit legal contracts. On average, users can draft and negotiate contracts up to 80% faster, saving up to 75% on
If you’ve been considering switching jobs, experts say now might be the best time to take the leap. Despite the cooling labor market, a new survey from ZipRecruiter has found that job seekers remain in the driver’s seat. New hires managed to secure better benefits and higher salaries than those hired earlier in 2022, thanks to a competitive hiring market and pay transparency laws in places like New York, Colorado, and California. The survey found that two-thirds of people who switched jobs received a pay increase of 11% or more,
Internships are one of the best ways for students and recent graduates to get a glimpse into professional life. The opportunities available are as diverse and far-reaching as the tech industry, ranging from systems engineering to sales and marketing. As well as developing real-world tech skills and professional experience, internships help newbie techies make industry connections to land jobs in the future. And thankfully, many tech companies have continued to prioritize internships, despite, well, everything. So here are some of the tech internships you should apply for on POCIT! Engineering
TikTok is celebrating US Black History Month with its first-ever Visionary Voices list, as well as a range of in-app content and IRL events. #BlackTikTok This month, TikTok will be hosting a range of LIVE in-app events featuring inspiring Black creatives and innovators across several industries. The in-app #BlackTikTok hub will also feature stories from Black creators, Black-owned businesses, and non-profit organizations and the sounds page will feature special guests and album playlists showcasing Black talent across music genres. TikTok is also taking its celebrations offline with the third instalment
Miiriya has been flooded with messages of support after the online marketplace for Black-owned businesses announced its upcoming closure. The brainchild of Lamine Loco, Miiriya is a platform connecting Black-owned businesses with consumers – kind of like an Etsy or Amazon for Black businesses. The name comes from Loco’s native language, Bambara/Dioula, and means “thoughts” or “ideas.” Committed to the circulation of the Black dollar, Miiriya lets vendors sign up without transaction or listing fees. They also pay credit card and PayPal fees out of pocket, so vendors receive 100% of
