Guetto Institute, a Rio de Janeiro-based non-profit organization is enabling access to cutting-edge technology and a brighter future for Black Brazilians while tackling systemic racism. It’s focused on equipping its target audiences with skills for the new economy and fostering black entrepreneurship. How did the organization begin? It started from a Facebook group created in 2016 by sociologist Vítor Del Rey. At the time, Del Rey was studying at the prestigious business school Fundação Getúlio Vargas with a scholarship provided by Educafro, an organization focused on education inclusion for black
Black Girls CODE board member Heather Hiles is breaking their silence regarding allegations made against them from Black Girls CODE founder Kimberly Bryant. Hiles’ comments are the latest in a still developing fight between Black Girls CODE’s board and the nonprofit’s recently ousted founder Kimberly Bryant. Earlier this month, Black Girls CODE announced that they have officially removed Bryant from the organization. The announcement follows Bryant’s own move to take ownership of the narrative. The Business Insider reports that Bryant has filed a suit in federal court against Black Girls CODE, alleging that she was
As a Black woman who loves anime, Bee Law knows these spaces can often be unwelcoming to people like her. To combat this issue, she created a solution to give Black women more representation in the community. Bee Law’s life has been guided by a desire to help communities. At 16, she started a nonprofit for students with autism after witnessing one of her friends get bullied. Later on, Law pursued a full-time career in cytogenetics, which she saw as a way of helping communities from a scientific perspective. Now,
LA-based tech non-profit, Minor-IT has expanded its I.T. training services to help African American and minority youths hoping to succeed in the I.T. industry. Minor-IT, founded in 2019 by Stephen Jones, works to enable minority youth to help them pursue I.T. careers through educational experience, peer-to-peer learning, and networking. They offer guidance and mentoring to help students with the tools needed to achieve unlimited career success. They also sponsor counsel and network with children and teens to help facilitate change in an underrepresented industry. “For me, breaking into I.T., getting
Non-profit tech platform, CodeHouse, has received a $1 million grant from Google.org to commence its second year of the CodeHouse Scholars Initiative (CHSI). The program provides opportunities for Black and Latinx students aspiring to enter the STEM industry. It is committed to building a diverse tech workforce in the US and offers four years of mentorship to underrepresented students attending HBCUs to help them kickstart a career in STEM. CodeHouse, co-founded in 2019 by Morehouse alumni Ernest Holmes, Jaycee Holmes, and Tavis Thompson, focuses on tackling the diversity gap in the tech industry. Their initiative program provides mentorship
Black Ambition, owned by world-renowned singer and producer Pharrell Williams, recently announced its $3 million investment in content curator platform Trend. The pre-seed funding round was led by venture capital firm Flybridge and included a range of investors, including Techstars Ventures, live-streaming service Twitch, famous anime brand Crunchyroll, and reviewer platform Rotten Tomatoes. The investment firm, Black Ambition, which was founded by Pharrell in 2020, is dedicated to supporting Black and Latinx business owners. The non-profit organization aims to bridge the gap to success for entrepreneurs of color working in
Some 60 organizations have signed up for what is thought to be the biggest ever worldwide pilot of a four-day working week. The trial will run for six months from June and see more than 3,000 workers participate. There will be no loss in pay for employees working one fewer day a week – instead, they will be asked to maintain 100% productivity for 80% of their time. It comes as new research last month found some 72% of office workers in the UK said they would prefer a four-day working week. Countdown
Briana Marbury, executive director of the Interledger Foundation has spoken candidly with POCIT for an in-depth interview. As one of the only Black women leading the major tech philanthropy, she is overseeing a $100 million foundation and the Grant for the Web fund that has already committed more than $10 million to projects around the world. Growing up in Detroit, she witnessed the lack of financial access that many people who were living below the poverty line endured, forcing them to use predatory check-cashing services and now she’s working directly
Yesterday, we learned that Kimberly Bryant, the founder of Black Girls Code, had been removed from leading the nonprofit. In fact, she allegedly learned that she had been pushed out of her company after she lost access to her computer and email account. In a statement, its board said it’s currently investigating allegations of “workplace impropriety,” but Bryant remains a staff member. Not many news outlets were covering the situation, and we came to this shocking revelation from a series of tweets that Bryant tweeted out herself. She wrote: “Press
Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant has been removed from leading the nonprofit. In a statement, its board said it’s currently investigating allegations of “workplace impropriety,” but Bryant still remains a staff member. In a tweet published on Tuesday, the tech leader said: “Press release: so it’s 3 days before Christmas and you wake up to discover the organization YOU created and built from the ground up has been taken away by a rogue board with no notification.” Many have rushed to her support with some people asking how they
