Black Girls Code

February, as you know, is Black History Month.  So in honor of some of the great African Americans that have helped to shape the U.S., this month I want to highlight a few excellent charities that serve Black Americans.  First up is Black Girls Code.  This really cool organization recognizes the underrepresentation of women of color in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) and tries to begin fixing the problem by providing pre-teen and teenaged girls of color with highly marketable, technological skills - particularly computer programming.

Founded by Kimberly Bryant, a professional computer programmer, Black Girls Code originally concentrated its efforts in San Francisco, Bryant's home town.  But in the past year, their efforts have allowed for workshops all over the country and at least one bilingual effort to provide young Latino American girls with an equal opportunity to learn some of these skills.  With programs like Build a Game in a Day Memphis, and Build a Webpage in a Day NYC, and Build a Mobile App, Black Girls Code provides workshop participants with more than the theoretical knowledge to work in computer programming.  These girls are given the practical knowledge to create products that serve their communities and their own needs.  Tapping into these underrepresented communities is also good for the technology industry - diversity in programmers directly leads to diversity in technology and increased creativity and problem-solving ability that can translate to new, lucrative technologies.

I think Black Girls Code is a great idea, and I am happy to support it as this week's Charity of the Week.  If you are interested in also supporting this great org, you can find a direct link to their donation page here.  Let me know in the comments below if you decide to donate!

Happy Sunday, everyone!  -grant