The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) have announced $50,000 in scholarships for 14 first-generation Latino students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). According to research by the Pew Centre, Hispanic and Latino workers make up 17% of the workforce but only 8% of people working in STEM. TELACU and SoCalGas’ collaboration couldn’t have come at a better time. The companies have partnered on initiatives to address social inequality and help students navigate the education system over the last three decades.
A Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA) report has revealed a lack of Latinx representation on giant company boards. Lack of representation on company boards According to the LCDA, Latino directors are missing from 47% of Fortune 100, 59% of Fortune 500, and 65% of Fortune 1000 boards. This means companies seriously lack Latino/Hispanic representatives on a higher level. Despite Latinx people making up the second largest US population, with a total of 62.1 million, there has been no change in Fortune 100 companies adopting more diverse practices by having Hispanic/Latino representation on their
Are Black and Latinx neighborhoods more prone to experiencing slower internet services? According to a recent study by The Markup, the households that suffered from slower internet service were based in prominently lower-income areas with fewer white residents. Despite the service being a lot slower than the other household, both are paying the exact same price for their internet services – meaning the slower internet speed doesn’t come at a cheaper price. Racial Digital Divide In the study, The Markup gathered and analysed more than 800,000 internet services from AT&T,
The Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund is a $5 million fund that provides promising U.S. Latinx-led startups non-equity cash awards to help fuel their businesses. Google announced the fund last year as part of its $15 million commitment to economic equity for Latinx people in the U.S. Across the country, 50 founders will each receive $100,000 in cash to help grow their business. They’ll also receive hands-on support from Google employees across the company, $100,000 in Google Cloud credits, and access to therapy to support founders emotionally and professionally.
Diana Vicezar is a Paraguayan entrepreneur studying Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and Data Science at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. Originally born in a small country called Paraguay, home to roughly seven million people, the technologist is set to work for Meta this summer as a project designer intern. Apart from her UX designer experience – she is also the founder of Mapis, a platform designed specifically for international students on a mission to help them access the career guidance they need during internship and job hunting in the United
Google and Visible Hands, a two-year-old venture capital (VC) firm dedicated to helping underrepresented founders, announced on Tuesday they would jointly conduct a program to help Latino entrepreneurs build new businesses. The program will make a considerable impact given that Latino founders accounted for only 3.9 percent of the venture capital invested in Boston between 2015 and August of 2020, according to a report by Crunchbase. While this percentage is higher than in California (1.2 percent) and New York (2.2 percent), it is still a long way from being representative. Yasmin Cruz
You may have stumbled upon memes on Twitter where users are snubbing the American streaming platform – Netflix. Well – it’s because it’s just been announced that the tech giant is laying off approximately 150 employees across the company, according to an internal memo sent Tuesday. The layoffs represent 2 percent of the streamer’s total workforce, with most of the cuts happening in the United States. Netflix is also making changes to its animation division, resulting in 70 roles being cut off in that unit and reducing contractor roles in
Despite growing conversations about gender equality in tech, the numbers show that women are still undervalued, underrepresented, and discriminated against. There’s no doubt that all women face challenges in the office – not just in tech or media but across the board in almost every field. Whether it’s sexual advances, belittling, lack of promotion, or microaggressions. But – there’s been a growing number of research studies being published that fail to highlight the additional barriers faced by minority women and the other factors that may come into play such as
After securing $32 million in a Series A funding round back in February, Canela Media became one of the largest funded Latino-owned companies. The New York-based digital media technology company was launched in 2019 in an effort to cater to Latino and Spanish-speaking communities and it claims to currently reach more than 50 million unique Hispanic viewers across its over 180 premium Spanish-language websites. Canela’s streaming-video app, Canela.TV, is entirely free and supported by ads. Its app, which was launched in 2020, offers on-demand licensed and original shows, as well as
Melissa Pegus has been chosen as the Managing Director for Techstars Atlanta Powered by J.P. Morgan, the latest accelerator to open up in the city. The new program, backed by an $80 million investment by J.P. Morgan, will support diverse entrepreneurs across the country. While the program is open to founders of all backgrounds, it is designed to provide equitable access to funding and support for Black, Hispanic and Latino, Indigenous American, and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs. In the first half of 2021, Black entrepreneurs received just 1.2 percent of U.S. venture capital funding. Additional data show
