The FAMCare Blog

A Creative Partnershp - Black Girls Code and Google

Posted by George Ritacco on Jul 6, 2016 12:00:00 PM

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This blog always seeks to celebrate exceptional contributions made by dedicated social workers and non-profit agencies. Non Profit Quarterly recently reported on a unique For-profit/Non-profit partnership that is tackling particularly thorny social problems in a creative way. 

Black Girls Code is a nonprofit founded in 2011 by Kimberly Bryant. BGC’s vision is to increase the number of women working in the digital space by empowering girls of color, ages 7 to 17, to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology. Studies show that girls’ interest in computers and technology drops sharply between 9th and 12th grades. “If you look specifically at students of color, and even more specifically at girls from African-American, Latina, and Native American communities, it’s important to reach them before they get to high school,” says Bryant. BGC is on a mission to catch young women of color while they are still showing interest in computers and technology and train them for possible STEM careers.

Google has joined the effort. At their NYC headquarters in Manhattan, Google has allocated 3000 square feet of office space to BGC to train and mentor more than 1,000 girls of color this year. Valued at $2.8 million, the office space affords BGC girls access to Google’s resources and community. For example, BGC holds Hackathons where the girls come together and learn how to brainstorm as a team, research their ideas, and design an app. “Imagine the impact that these curious, creative minds could have on the world with the guidance and encouragement others have taken for granted,” says Kimberly Bryant. 

The Black Girls Code mission, as stated on their website, is:

To provide 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. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.”

The partnership between Google and Black Girls Code tackles three of the hot topic social issues currently being debated in Washington.

  1. What’s to be done about a trillion dollars of college debt that has been incurred by students who cannot find a job after graduation?
  2. How can women be assured of equal pay in this evolving modern technological economy?
  3. How can we reduce the high unemployment rate in the African-American community?

The GVT team salutes both Google and BGC for their creativity, generosity, and dedication in tackling three particularly persistent problems.  For-profit/ Non-Profit partnerships are occurring more frequently in recent years and are proving to be effective at solving what has, heretofore, appeared to be otherwise unsolvable problems. People of good will, it seems, eventually find solutions.

Topics: Social Services Industry News

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