Black Girls Code (BGC) is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing technology education for African-American girls. Kimberly Bryant, an electrical engineer who had worked in biotech for over 20 years, founded Black Girls Code in 2011 to rectify the underrepresentation of female African-Americans in the technology industry. The organization offers programs in computer programming, coding, as well as website, robot, and mobile application-building, with the goal of providing African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. in 2020.
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Founding
Bryant was inspired to start BGC after her gamer daughter, Kai, attended a computing summer camp and was disappointed in the experience. Her daughter was one in a handful of girls who were at the camp and was the only African American girl present. She also noted that the boys at the camp were given much more attention from the counselors than the few girls there. In an interview with Ebony, Bryant stated, "I wanted to find a way to engage and interest my daughter in becoming a digital creative instead of just a consumer, and I did not find other programs that were targeted to girls like her from underrepresented communities."
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Organization
BGC has become a rapidly growing phenomenon, quickly expanding in the USA and abroad. Headquartered in Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco, the organization grew to 2,000 students by August 2013 within the 7 established institutions operating in 7 States across the US, as well as in Johannesburg, South Africa. BGC seeks to double their reach by adding chapters in the US and Africa over the next two years. BGC also hosts bilingual workshops in partnership with Latino Startup Alliance. BGC's ultimate goal is "to grow to train 1 million girls by 2050 and become the 'girl scouts' of technology."
BGC depends on a vast body of volunteers to design and conduct workshop classes. Professionals from the IT sector share their expertise with the young students, helping them get acquainted with the fundamentals of software design in languages such as Scratch or Ruby on Rails. After school activities are alternated with day-long workshops; an extended course is held during the summer.
BGC primarily relies on donations to fund its activities; 75% students are currently on scholarships.
The motto of the Black Girls Code is: "Imagine. Build. Create. - Imagine a world where everyone is given the tools to succeed, and then help us build ways for everyone to access information and create a new age of women of color in technology".
Awards and grants
Black Girls Code received a $50,000 grant from Microsoft's Azure development (AzureDev) community campaign in January 2014. Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant also received a "Standing O-vation" presented by Oprah Winfrey and Toyota in November 2014.
See also
- Girls Who Code
- Native Girls Code
- I Look Like an Engineer
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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