What would you do if your colleagues continually shared offensive and stereotypical racial jokes? How would you respond if the same managers who continually made sexist comments also unfairly critiqued your work contributions, while you watched others being fast-tracked for promotions? Or if your co-workers questioned your legal status to work,your English skills, or your ability to do your job? …
Inequality in Tech: May I ask one more question?
The following post is by Mandela Schumacher-Hodge, Director ofStartup Education First, it started with Why aren’t more women in tech? Recently, it’s progressed to Why aren’t more people of color in tech? Slowly but surely, increasingly more people are questioning the current state of affairs in the tech industry, as it relates to gender and race inequality. Beginning with Googleand followed by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Yahoo, several …
White House Datapaloozas
The White House recently hosted two Datapaloozas on public safety and education and our very own Ana Diaz-Hernandez and Justin Davis attended. These events come on the heels of an executive order calling for increased data transparency from government agencies. Innovators from across sectors convened to promote the development of public resources using this data. For example, at the Safety …
Tech Waits for No One: Oaktown, Let’s Build!
Now what? Now that LiveWorkOakland.com is launched, showcasing the #OaktownTech Ecosystem map and directory (many thanks to the nearly 200 folks who attended the event on Wednesday the 20th), our hope is that this evolving tool will enable better, quicker, deeper connections between Oakland’s tech players, and be a springboard for a concerted drive forward of an (appropriately inclusive) innovation …
First-ever Latin@ Tech Conference to Precede SXSW Interactive
WHEN: March 6, 2014 WHERE: George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, Austin TX The Kapor Center for Social Impact, along with Kety Esquivel, Principal of Esquivel McCarson Consulting and Ana Flores, Principal of Latina Bloggers Connect announce the start of planning for the first ever Latino Technology Conference to precede SXSW. “We decided to hold this pre-SXSW Latino Technology Conference in …
CODING NATION: 300+ Programs Offer Coding & Comp Sci Education
We’re excited to announce the release of CODING NATION: The Kapor Center Coding Report & Database. What began as a landscape survey of coding and computer science programs – originally just intended for our internal use – soon grew into a comprehensive collection of such programs. We realized that rather than keep it to ourselves, in a spirit of sharing …
Trans*H4CK: Breaking Ground in Two Communities
The Kapor Center served as a proud sponsor of Trans*H4ck, (what we believe is) the first hackathon in the nation to focus leveraging tech to address trans-specific challenges. The founder and visionary, Kortney Ryan Zeigler (who was just selected as one of The Root 100’s 2013 Top Black Influencers), posted this summary piece on their homepage:
CodeNow Launches Bay Area Programming – 9/20 Application Deadline
The Kapor Center is proud to partner with CodeNow, a nonprofit that provides free, extracurricular training in computer programming and an opportunity to earn a free laptop to underserved high school students. Last Thursday, September 5, Kapor Center staff had the privilege of attending CodeNow’s Bay Area Launch event at HP offices in Palo Alto, CA, along with other partners and supporters. …
5 Ways for Tech to Look like Us (the U.S.)
Download the full list (jpg) here! Thanks to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Champions of Change for Tech Inclusion, and Citizen Engagement Labs for helping us make this happen!
Bias and Meritocracy Don’t Mix
It seems that the tech world is passionately grappling with issues of race, gender, inclusion, exclusion and meritocracy. We are thrilled that the conversation is surfacing frequently. The notion of “confirmation bias” is sliding into our awareness—i.e. that we seek information that confirms our previously held beliefs; we used the term in our recent piece and it showed up in …
Entrepreneurs Solve Problems They Have Experienced
Entrepreneurs solve problems. Entrepreneurs don’t quit. And while entrepreneurs come from all walks of life, not everyone has the same access to capital. And this is where the Kapor Center for Social Impact works to make a difference. Whether it’s partnering with BlackGirlsCode or providing venture round funding to non-traditional entrepreneurs, we’re looking to close the gap. So we’re thrilled …
Mitch Kapor & Freada Kapor Klein to Speak at SM4NP’s Nonprofit Boot Camp
I’m pleased to announce that our very own Mitchell Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein will be the keynote speakers at the ‘resurrected’ Nonprofit Boot Camp that was previously produced by Craigslist Foundation. On June 12, Nonprofit Boot Camp comes back to life in Silicon Valley. Boot Camp will cover the spectrum of nonprofit management issues facing established organizations and will …