Google is pushing forward in its pledge to help boost diversity in the tech workforce with its recent contribution to a nonprofit called Code2040 that aims to provide opportunities for minorities interested in the tech field. Google donated $775,000 in grant money to Code2040 that will allow the nonprofit expand its outreach and launch training programs in the tech field for African-American and Hispanic college students.
Code2040 is a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded in 2012, whose name is derived from the idea that by year 2040, Blacks and Hispanics are expected to become a majority in the United States.
Not so long ago, Google as well as other Silicon Valley tech giants were urged by Black lawmakers of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators to diversify its workforce in 2015. Google by then had released its diversity report which revealed that there was a lack of inclusion among its employees. The report showed that only about 2 percent of its employees were Black and 3 percent were Hispanic. Overall, Google’s diversity data indicated that men, especially White and Asian men, dominated its workforce, with women unfortunately making up only about 30 percent.
Code2040 is hoping to transform these figures by launching a program geared towards training African-American and Hispanic students how to apply and do interviews for tech jobs and internships.
“One of the reasons that there is this opportunity gap for Black and Latino engineers is that they have a smaller relevant network and fewer resources and insight around what’s required to get jobs in tech,” said co-founder and chief executive of Code2040, Laura Weidman Powers to the Wall Street Journal.
Another grant from Google will have an even greater impact on the group’s reach to more students in Chicago, Austin, and Durham. The group will give one Black or Latino aspiring entrepreneur in each city a one-year stipend in addition to the workspace he or she will need to build their own startup. The Journal reports that student will be expected to come up with ways in which CODE2040 and Google can connect their city’s minority populations and its tech industries.
“The progress around transparency and willingness to talk about this issue of diversity in tech has been huge over the last year,” Powers continued. “What I’m hoping will be the next step is a willingness to be honest about what’s working and what isn’t.”
