Online resource business Hello Alice is the latest company to be named in a lawsuit for allegedly discriminating against business owners based on race. A class action lawsuit alleges the company’s partnership with Progressive Insurance Company, which offered $25,000 grants to 10 Black-owned small businesses, violates civil rights. Hello Alice and Progressive Partnership Hello Alice, founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore in 2017, is a digital platform helping small businesses launch and grow through access to capital. They partner with corporations looking to reach and support new entrepreneurs through
The California Senate Bill 54 (SB 54) has been signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, requiring venture capital firms in the state to report the diversity of the founders they back annually. This is the first piece of legislation in the US that aims to address racial disparities in the venture capital (VC) landscape. There is currently no official data on how VC firms invest their money founder and tech activist who helped ideate and draft SB 54, Allison Byers said. She added that California is responsible for 36%
Every year, on the second Monday in October, the US commemorates Indigenous Peoples’ Day to honor and celebrate Indigenous communities’ rich cultures, traditions, and contributions. Here, we shine a spotlight on some remarkable Indigenous leaders who are pushing the boundaries of tech and inspiring the next generation. 1. Robin Máxkii: Tech Creative And Storyteller Robin Máxkii is a tech creative, filmmaker, writer, and student advocate renowned for her efforts to broaden Indigenous participation in tech and education. Máxkii was raised in Houston, Texas, after living in the Stockbridge-Munsee community in
Wicked Saints, a Black woman-led video game studio, has secured $3.5 million in seed funding. The funding round, co-led by Riot Games and Oregon Venture Fund, brings the studio’s total funding to $4.6 million Jessica Murrey, Wicked Saints’ founder and CEO, also joins the small group of Black women founders who have raised over $1 million. Learning Real-World Skills Through Gaming World Reborn is Gen Z’s take on Pokémon Go, offering a unique blend of storytelling, real-world activism, and location-based play. The studio’s flagship game, “World Reborn,” merges the digital
Ghanaian fintech startup Dash is reportedly closing its doors following a tumultuous journey filled with accusations of financial misconduct. According to WeeTracker, Dash held a company-wide meeting on October 3, during which the news of impending layoffs and the closure of the company was delivered to its employees. The innovative startup, which offered an alternative payment network, had raised over $85 million in under five years from major investors. Early success Founded in 2019 by Prince Boakye Boampong, Dash initially made significant strides in the fintech sector. Boampong was a
Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturing company, SpaceX, is facing a class action lawsuit for alleged wage discrimination based on gender and race. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that SpaceX systematically pays its women and minority employees less than their white male counterparts for equivalent job roles. Same work, different pay Ashley Foltz, a propulsion engineer at SpaceX, joined the company in September 2022. She was hired at a salary of $92,000, while her white male counterparts with similar or less experience were offered as much
A recent panel discussion hosted by the Institute of Economic Affairs and the TaxPayers’ Alliance in the UK shed light on a stark lack of diversity in the industry. The panel, consisting of six white men, four of whom were named Matthew, ignited online conversations about the whiteness and maleness of journalism. Tech journalist Dominic-Madori Davis remarked, “If it is easier to find four men named Matthew than at least one woman in your network, you gotta diversify asap.” This sentiment was echoed by Theo Priestley, an author and technology
Student surveillance technologies disproportionately harm Black, Latine, and Indigenous students, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has revealed. The findings come from the ACLU’s “Digital Dystopia” report examining the EdTech Surveillance (educational technologies used for surveillance) industry in US K-12 schools. Increased surveillance tech in schools Over the last two decades, the EdTech sector that markets student surveillance products to schools has grown into a $3.1 billion-a-year economic market, with a projected 8% annual growth rate. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, almost 80% of elementary schools have
A recent analysis by Bloomberg News has revealed that people of color accounted for 94% of new hires at the US’ largest public companies in the year after the Black Lives Matter protests. The proportion of managerial and executive roles held by people of color increased by about two percentage points – more than double the average increases in previous years. However, white people remained overrepresented in the top, highly-paid positions. A major shift The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires companies with 100 or more employees to report
A Latina-founded nonprofit, AIandYou, has launched a campaign to prepare young people of color and women against possible AI-generated misinformation leading up to the 2024 presidential election. AIandYou AIandYou was founded in 2019 to educate marginalized communities about artificial intelligence (AI) to help end users understand how AI impacts their daily lives. The nonprofit encourages communities to understand AI’s potential and pitfalls, providing online resources in easy-to-understand languages. Founder and CEO Susan Gonzales has years of experience in tech and policy and serves on the National AI Advisory Committee, advising
