Black Girls Code is an organization that seeks to bring technology education to young women of color. Only 3% of the computing workforce was made up of African-American women in 2013. Black Girls Code founder, Kimberly Brant, and others are trying to increase this percentage by mentoring young girls of color who are interesting in coding.
In late July, the NYC chapter hosted its second “hackathon” of the year. Girls in grades six through 12 had the opportunity to attend workshops on app design and coding, develop app prototypes of their own, and listen to inspiring black female programmers and engineers in the industry.
The event took on the theme of “project humanity,” allowing the girls to create apps focused on social justice. The top apps of the weekend included one that aimed to help kids who have been bullied.
Encouraging more young girls to code and be a part of the tech community is an ongoing, and growing, movement. As they become inspired to follow their computer science dreams, who knows what brilliant things these young girls will do next!
Cover image courtesy of Black Girls Code.
comments