Nonprofit BITE-CON Foundation and 4Geeks Academy, the national technology bootcamp, are collaborating to provide Black and brown people with training for tech jobs. BITE-CON Foundation and 4Geeks Academy The BITE-CON Foundation is committed to bridging the technological divide for Black and Brown communities. They engage and inspire through technology through their Annual Web3 Technology Conference, nationwide pop-up events, and community-based STEAM and sports activities. They aim to impact a pipeline of one million BIPOC and women technologists over the next five years through strategic partnerships, workforce development and thought leadership.
Seattle-based Young Women Empowered (Y-WE) hosts programmes for diverse young women, including their Y-WE Tech program. Young Women Empowered Y-WE is a youth development organization founded ten years ago in Seattle. Their mission is to cultivate the power of diverse young women, non-binary and gender-expansive youth ages 13-26 to be creative leaders and changemakers through their community programs. They held their first program in 2010, a seven-month pilot leadership program, which led to the organization offering year-round programs for girls and women. They are an intersectional feminist organization for all racial identities,
The conservative group, American Alliance for Equal Rights, led by Edward Blum, has filed a lawsuit against law firms Perkins Coie and Morrison Foerster, challenging their diversity fellowships. The lawsuits allege these fellowships unlawfully discriminate against white candidates and request that racial considerations be eliminated from fellowship selections. The Law-Firms Law firm Perkins Coie has diversity fellowships for first-year and second-year students from underrepresented backgrounds. Their 1L – first fellowship offers students a $15,000 academic scholarship on top of a paid summer role, and their 2L- second-year- fellowship gives students $25,000. They
Preston Mutanga is the 14-year-old animator that created the Lego Spider-Man segment from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 14-year-old animator Minnesota native Mutanga created his first video at the age of nine after he was introduced to Blender, a computer graphics 3D software, by his father. Minnesota native Mutanga would make stop-motion Lego videos on his YouTube page for fun. However, they were that good they caught the attention of Sony Pictures Animation’s team. The 14-year-old in Milton was asked to animate a scene in the 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse sequel,
Minnesota-based non-profit organization 30,000 Feet (30K) is providing young people of color with the opportunity to earn while they learn through its Tech Geeks program. 30,000 Feet Kevin Robinson and Vanessa Young founded 30K to empower African American students in Saint Paul, Minnesota, through technology, culture, art and social justice. Their project-based experiences are intended to reach students in ways traditional learning may not. They aim to inspire African American youth by giving them the confidence to believe in themselves and their endless potential. What do Tech Geeks Offer? 30K’s Tech Geeks program provides practical
A new state report has advised New York schools to be cautious when using facial recognition and other identifying technology. Some risks outlined in the report include biometric data breaches, mistaken identification through facial recognition flaws, and students being turned away from school because of technological errors. The report was based on a survey sent to every school administrator in the state and other interested parties. It was also open to the public, teachers, parents and students. The use of facial recognition in schools In January 2020, Lockport City School District
Tech entrepreneur Holly Rachel has been named the first executive director of an Innovation Center at Fisk University, a Nashville HBCU. Fisk University Fisk University is a private Historically Black College & University (HBCU) and is the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee. Their mission is to produce graduates from diverse backgrounds with the integrity and intellect required for substantive contributions to society. They have now announced the opening of the Darrell S. Freeman Sr. Incubation and Innovation Center, which is set to open at the beginning of 2024. The center will
A new report from the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and Shorelight Education has found that students from African nations and the Global South are more likely to have visas rejected. What did the report find? The data from the report was collected through public records requests and found that visa denials to study in the U.S. rose significantly from 2015-2022, especially for Global South countries. African students faced a visa rejection rate of over 50% in 2022, up nearly 10% since 2015. The report stated that in 2015,
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
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
