Diversity & Inclusion Archives - Page 40 of 94 - POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech.

Fearless Fund: VC Fund For WOC Responds To Racial Discrimination Lawsuit From Conservative Activists

Fearless Fund has responded to the lawsuit filed by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) after it accused them of racial discrimination. What happened? Conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, which supports women of color who own small businesses. The lawsuit accuses Fearless Fund of violating Section 1982 of the Civil Rights Act of 1886, which bars racial bias in private contracts, by opening its grant competition to Black women alone. Lawsuits brought by Blum and the conservative group led

RoadPitch And Blacks In Technology Foundation Collaborate To Empower Black Tech Founders

Nonprofit organization Blacks In Technology Foundation (BIT) has announced a strategic partnership with RoadPitch, the most extensive multi-city pitch tour to help Black tech founders to raise pre-seed and seed capital from investors. For over a decade, BIT has offered training, education, networking and mentorship opportunities to elevate Black professionals in the tech industry. The nonprofit aims to “stomp the divide,” influencing and effecting change in an industry that has historically not sought parity concerning Black workers. The Collaboration The collaboration will see RoadPitch become BIT’s official international pitch competition organizer. RoadPitch will

Black-Owned Group Travel Startup SquadTrip Secures $1.5M In Funding

Black-owned SquadTrip has announced it has successfully secured $1.5 million in funding to revolutionize group travel. Making group travel easy SquadTrip is an automated payment solution for large and small groups, making booking and payments easy for group trips. Their online platform allows users to save time managing group travel by creating trip sites, automating guest billing and keeping track of all traveller logistics from one place. It is the first travel platform targeting millennials with flexible payment instalments, Apple Pay checkout and promo codes. The company was founded by

Serial Entrepreneur Who Sold His Tech Firm For 11x Its Revenue Is Raising $50M To Back Founders Of Color

Black tech entrepreneur Luke Cooper aims to raise $50 million by November for his Baltimore-based venture capital firm, Latimer Ventures. Latimer Ventures Latimer Ventures, named in honor of Lewis Latimer, an African American inventor born to fugitive slaves, is a venture capital firm focused on helping the next generation of Black and Hispanic enterprise SaaS unicorns. They source the best seed deals from diverse managers and connect them with tech startups. Cooper founded Latimer Ventures in 2022 to address the lack of capital available to entrepreneurs of color. He plans to

Conservative Activists Behind Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision Sues VC Fund For WOC

Conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, has brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, which supports women of color who own small businesses. Reuters reports that the lawsuit accuses Fearless Fund of violating Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which bars racial bias in private contracts by opening its grant competition to Black women alone. Lawsuits brought by Blum and the conservative group led to the June Supreme Court’s ruling to shut down affirmative action, barring universities and colleges from considering race in their

Black Borrowers Most Impacted By Supreme Court Blocking Student Debt Relief Plan

Black borrowers have been disproportionately impacted by the Supreme Court’s decision to block President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan in June. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said the decision “is a clear disregard for what millions of Americans need – especially Black Americans.” The Forgiveness Plan Last year, President Biden announced a plan to deliver up to $20,000 in student debt relief to over 40 million borrowers. Borrowers who made less than $125,000 a year in 2020 and 2021 were eligible. It also would have wiped away $10,000 for eligible borrowers

Black-Owned Scholarship Search App Gets Acquired By Sallie Mae

Sallie Mae, a private student lending company, has acquired critical assets of the top scholarship search app, Scholly. Founding Scholly Scholly is a Black-founded industry-leading scholarship search app and platform created by Christopher Gray. During his last few months at high school, Gray was set on attending college, but due to price, he had to search for scholarships for hours in the library. He eventually received $1.3 million in scholarships from organization such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation to study finance and entrepreneurship at Drexel

Boeing Announces Scholarships To Diversify Pilot Training

Leading global aerospace company Boeing is investing in scholarships in pilot training to grow and diversify talent. Boeing develops, manufactures, and services commercial airplanes, defence products, and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. The company reports that since 2019, it has invested over $8.5 million to bring pilot training programs to underrepresented populations in communities across the United States. Investing Nearly $1M In Scholarships Boeing is investing $950,000 in scholarships for pilot training to grow and diversify the talent required to meet significant long-term demand for commercial

Elon Musk’s X Corp. Sues POC-Led Nonprofit Over Hate Speech Report

Elon Musk’s X Corp., formerly Twitter Inc.— has sued a nonprofit group, The Center for Countering Digital Hate, over its report describing the extent of hate speech on the social media platform. Led by Imran Ahmed, The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) aims to protect human rights and civil liberties online The company holds platforms accountable and responsible for their business choices by highlighting their failures, educating the public, and advocating change from media and governments to protect communities. What did the report find? The CCDH report said that Twitter failed to act

Black Tech Street Partners With Microsoft For Greenwood’s Digital Transformation

Black Tech Street has announced an alliance with Microsoft to transform the Oklahoma neighborhood of Greenwood, also known as “Black Wall Street,” into a national hub of Black talent and innovation. Greenwood and Black Tech Street Greenwood is a historic freedom colony in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and had one of the most prominent concentrations of African American businesses in the United States during the early 20th century. It was popularly known as America’s “Black Wall Street” but was burned to the ground in the Tulsa race massacre in 1921 by a white