A Google Technical Program Manager, Terysa Ridgeway, is launching Alilo the Explorer, an educational toy robot that teaches children how to code. Meet Terysa Ridgeway Ridgeway has been a Tech Program Manager at Google for almost two years. She is also the author of The Terysa Solves It book series that introduces young girls to Computer Science. The child of two teachers, Ridgeway’s fascination with technology began early. One day, her mother brought home a computer, and Ridgeway was intrigued by the data processor that allowed the keyboard’s letters to
Workers of color face several barriers to expanding or developing new career skills, a survey conducted by Reputation Leaders, a global thought leadership consultancy sponsored by DeVry University, has revealed. Closing the Activation Gap Report The Closing the Activation Gap report defines upskilling as expanding or developing new skills to perform better in a current job or improve career prospects. To support professional development, meet business needs, and drive economic growth and national competitiveness, it is vital to develop and advance workers’ skills continuously, the report read. The report revealed,
The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One (F1) team, fronted by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, is expanding its Accelerate 25 program. The mentorship program launched in 2020 in partnership with the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK) and other organizations and is preparing to welcome its second cohort of students. Accelerate 25 Accelerate 25 is a five-year program that marked the formalization of Mercedes’ vision to become a more diverse and inclusive team. To begin the new Accelerate 25 program, they aimed to raise their entry standards and, until
Black tech entrepreneur Dedren Snead has soft-launched Subsume Studios in an Atlanta downtown hub, Underground Atlanta. According to Black Enterprise, Snead’s vision is to build a ‘Black Pixar’, revitalizing tourist attraction to promote art, culture, and technological advancement within the city. Naming the studio as “the world’s first Afrofuturism lab,” his mission with this space is to build “a template for the solutions of tomorrow.” Dedren Snead Snead is a writer, artist, game developer, creative consultant, emerging technologist and futurist from Atlanta, Georgia. He uses graphic novels, animation, gaming and
ELSA, the tech company that teaches English through speech recognition and machine learning, has raised $23 million in a Series C fund. ELSA ELSA – English Language Speech Assistant – is an engaging app to help users improve their English pronunciation. It started when Vu Van, CEO and co-founder of ELSA, left Vietnam to pursue an MBA and Master’s in Education at Stanford University. According to ELSA’s website, Vu was confident in her English vocabulary but knew she had a strong Vietnamese accent. Her professors and classmates could not always
Black-owned ed-tech company Nomadd Group has launched Project CASPER, an accelerated program implementing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs in underrepresented schools and communities. Nomadd Group Nomadd is a community development and STEM-accredited EdTech company that provides programs and services to uplift disinvested communities. Founded by Kevin Horton, Nomadd’s vision is to create economic mobility for communities that lack access to information, technology and resources. It focuses on re-skilling workers, developing the workforce, and promoting entrepreneurship while reforming the education system. They aim to help implement STEM programs to
Maelstrom Fund, Jackie Robinson Foundation, and World of Money have partnered to create the Our Wallet program, providing teenagers from BIPOC backgrounds with financial literacy education. Our Wallet Our Wallet is a financial literacy program providing tools and resources for BIPOC youth and future leaders. AfroTech reported that the program was birthed from a partnership between the Maelstrom Fund, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and World of Money. The Maelstrom Fund is an early-stage investment fund run by the family office of Black entrepreneur Arthur Hayes, the founder of the cryptocurrency
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
