The National Black Caucus of State Legislators last week at its annual conference in Dallas ratified a resolution entitled “Supporting the Diversification of Tech Industry’s Empowerment” which calls on companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter to diversify their workforces through more robust outreach to minority communities.
At the same time, a finding by the Michelson 20 Million Minds Foundation—which recently spearheaded a mobile technology introductory program called Project #CodeTruck at three inner city and urban local charter schools including Teach Academy of Technologies—noted that 70 percent of computer jobs will go unfilled by the year 2020, if the current employment situation continues.
Additionally, according to Dean Florez, president and CEO of the 20 Million Minds Foundation, there will be a need for almost one million coders in America in the future.
Recently released data shows that tech companies are “very male, White and Asian.” And this is because claim companies in the industry that not enough qualified minorities and women are available for the job pool.
An October USA Today analysis found something different; that Blacks and Hispanics are graduating with computer degrees at twice the rate they are being hired.
“What do dominant groups say? ‘We tried, we searched but there was nobody qualified.’ If you look at the empirical evidence, that is just not the case.” said Darrick Hamilton, professor of economics and Urban Policy at The New School in New York in a USA Today article.
The paper went on to report that, on average, only 2 percent of Silicon Valley employees are Black; 3 percent are Latinos.
“They’re reporting 2 percent and 3 percent, and we’re looking at graduation numbers [for Blacks and Latinos] that are maybe twice that,” said Stuart Zweben, professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Ohio State University.
Locally, as part of its Project #CodeTruck, which were two-hour coding workshops held at Teach Academy of Technologies (in South L.A.), Camino Nuevo Charter Academy – Sandra Cisneros (near downtown), and Valley International Prep (in Pacoima), the 20 Million Foundation found that 60 percent of participants were female, 75 percent identified as Latino and nearly 20 percent were African Americans.
These numbers demonstrate that there is definitely an interest but the problem is lack of access and exposure, Florez explained.
What may make this situation particularly troubling is that tech jobs are among the highest paying and fastest growing positions today.
In Southern California, tech is a booming job sector. According to a report authored and released by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) Institute for Applied Economics “High Tech in L.A.,” Los Angeles County has more high-tech sector jobs (368,600) than Boston-Cambridge (361,400), Santa Clara County (313,300), and all five boroughs of New York City, (234,400).
And with the proximity of so-called “Silicon Beach” in the Playa del Rey/Santa Monica region, if the situation does not change, minorities and women may be left out of this burgeoning job market.
The 20 Million Minds Foundation is partnering with nonprofit organizations like The Last Mile, Hack Reactor as well as schools like Teach Tech and the company General Assembly, the latter founded in 2011 to train people to work for 21st century entrepreneurs and startup companies.
Florez said his foundation is also working with The Last Mile to train inmates in San Quentin and soon Central Valley State Prison (in January) in a six-month basic code training program. The idea is to give them rudimentary back-end coding skills, connect them with interested employers, and provide them with the life skills and resources needed to walk out of the warehousing mindset of prison and into a self-sustaining life of employment.
“There is such a hunger in these institutions for education,” said Florez adding we’ve just got to teach them the new language.
Coding is the new typing, added the CEO, referring to a time when many people were advised to learn to type as a fallback skill that would always enable them to get a job.
So rather than wait for the people to come to the industry, the 20 Million Minds Foundation is taking the concept of coding into the neighborhoods and barrios.
The organization has also compiled a list of resources that allow people to continue learning coding on their own.
MORE FUN WITH CODING!
Coding? What’s coding?
Coding is a special language used to tell computers what to do. They don’t speak our language,so we have to give them instructions in a way they can understand.
Things you use everyday, like Instagram, Facebook, and apps on your phone are made with code. Coding is everywhere when it comes to technology!
Still interested in code?
Teach yourself more using these cool resources.
Learn how to make a website from the founder of Facebook! code.org/learn
What are all these coding languages about? codeconquest.com
Does dancing have anything to do with code? madewithcode.com
Like cartoons? Make your own! scratch.mit.edu
Use Lego’s free download to build your own robot. mindstorms.lego.com
Even monsters love coding! crunchzilla.com
Coding basics with Hackety Hack. hackety.com
Computer programming in 3D! alice.org
Nearby Coding Opportunities and Organizations
Find a computer clubhouse near you. computerclubhouse.org
Girls only: Fun tech workshops. diygirls.org
Boys only: Start your own tech business! urbantxt.com
Learn from pros, like Google and Sony. coderdojola.com
Questions?
The Michelson Twenty Million Minds Foundation
info@20mm.org
(626) 396-7071
