Black Girls Code

Black Girls Code (BGC) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on engaging African-American girls and other youth of color with computer programming education to nurture their careers in tech. The organization offers computer programming and coding, as well as website, robot, and mobile application-building, with the goal of placing one million girls in tech by 2040. 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 African-American girls and women in tech careers.[1][2] In October 2023, Cristina Jones became CEO. Jones previously held positions as Chief Engagement Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Salesforce.org, as well as Senior Vice President of Salesforce Studios.

Black Girls CODE
AbbreviationBGC
Formation2011
FounderKimberly Bryant
Purposeintroducing Black and brown girls ages 7-17 to computer programming to ignite their interest in technology and change the face of STEM.
HeadquartersOakland, California
Region
United States, South Africa
Websitewww.blackgirlscode.com
A Black Girls Code booth at the 2015 GEM-TECH awards organized by ITU.

Founding

Bryant was inspired to start BGC after her gamer daughter, Kai, attended a computing summer camp and was disappointed in the experience.[2][3] 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.[2][4] 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."[5]

In 2011, Bryant convinced her colleagues from Genentech to create a six-week coding curriculum for Girls of Color. Her first educational series started in the basement of a college prep institution, and attended by a dozen girls, including her daughter. In January 2012, a tech consultancy company called ThoughtWorks invested in Bryant's initiative, providing her access to space and resources, and allowing the organization to prosper into an internationally recognized nonprofit. BGC is active in over 15 cities in the US and South Africa.

Organization

BGC has become a rapidly growing phenomenon, quickly expanding in the US and abroad. Headquartered in Oakland, California,[6] the organization grew to 2,000 participants by August 2013 within the seven established institutions,[1] operating in seven States across the US, as well as in Johannesburg, South Africa.[7]

BGC depends on a vast volunteer network to design and conduct workshop classes. These IT professionals acquaint participants with skills around web, app, and game development; AI; art and music coding; coding languages (i.e., HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python); block-based coding; and Integrated Development Environments (IDES) (i.e., Scratch, p5.js, MIT App Inventor, Repl.it, EarSketch).

In 2023, BGC, in partnership with GoldieBlox, launched CODE Along, a video series of coding tutorials.

Awards and grants

BGC received a $50,000 grant from Microsoft's Azure development (AzureDev) community campaign in January 2014.[8] Bryant also received a "Standing O-vation" presented by Oprah Winfrey and Toyota in November 2014.[4]

In August 2015, Bryant turned down a $125,000 grant from ride-sharing app Uber, calling the offer disingenuous and "PR-driven". She also criticized Uber for offering Girls Who Code $1.2 million, an amount nearly ten times larger.[9]

We were not happy with some of the things that were occurring in the organization around the treatment of women as well as the treatment of underrepresented minorities... We also wanted to make sure that we were supported in a way that we felt we deserved.

In February 2018, BGC announced a partnership with Uber's competitor, Lyft, as part of their Round Up & Donate program.[10]

See also

References
  1. Robehmed, Natalie (August 30, 2013). "Black Girls Code Tackles Tech Inclusion". Forbes. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  2. Gilpin, Lyndsey (April 7, 2014). "Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant: Engineer. Entrepreneur. Mother". TechRepublic. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  3. Lynn, Samara (December 9, 2013). "American Express, BlackGirlsCode, and Internet Backlash". PC Magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  4. Shumaker, Laura (2014). "Oprah gives San Francisco's Kimberly Bryant a Standing O-vation". SFGate.
  5. Phanor-Faury, Alexandra (March 19, 2014). "Black Girls Code's Kim Bryant Talks Bits and Bytes". Ebony. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  6. "Small-Business Success Story: Black Girls Code". www.kiplinger.com. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
  7. Ntim, Lottie (December 12, 2013). "When Black Girls Code". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  8. Frank, Blair Hanley (January 15, 2014). "Black Girls Code, Code.org win Microsoft AzureDev grants". Geekwire. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  9. "Black Girls Code Teams Up With Lyft After Rejecting Offer From Uber". Black Enterprise. 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  10. Guynn, Jessica (February 9, 2018). "Lyft riders can now add to fares and donate to Black Girls Code". USA Today. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
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