Organizations Supporting Black Students, Academics, and Professionals in Tech

Now, more than ever, it’s critical for Black people to be actively engaged in the creation of digital systems. Already, in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, we’re seeing facial recognition systems failing to recognize us, recidivism algorithms labeling us as “riskier” in comparison to counterparts with similar backgrounds, being denied loans from banking institutions, and much more.

In this post, I’ll be highlighting organizations that are committed to educating, mentoring, and supporting the next generation of Black technologists.

Credit: WOCinTech Chat

Computer Science Education

• Black Girls Code: Black Girls Code (BGC) is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing technology education for African-American girls.
• Black Boys Code: Black Boys Code helps Black boys engage with culture and become tomorrow’s drivers, creators, and innovators of technology.
• Data 4 Black Lives: Data for Black Lives is a movement of activists, organizers, and mathematicians committed to the mission of using data science to create concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people.
• Strong TIES: Strong TIES’ STEAM programs mission is to introduce, engage, and broaden participation of middle and high school learners, particularly underrepresented and underserved, in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math (STEAM).

Academic/Professional Organizations

• blackcomputeHER.org: blackcomputeHER.org is dedicated to supporting computing+tech education and workforce development for black women and girls.
• Black in AI: a multi-institutional, transcontinental initiative designed to create a place for sharing ideas, fostering collaborations, and discussing initiatives to increase the presence of Black individuals in the field of AI.
• Blacks In Technology: Blacks In Technology is the largest community and media organization that focuses on black women and black men in the technology industry.
• Code2040: Code2040 is a nonprofit activating, connecting, and mobilizing the largest racial equity community in tech to dismantle the structural barriers that prevent Black and Latinx technologists from fully participating in tech.
• ColorStack: Increasing the entrance, retention, and success of Black and Latinx students pursuing technical careers.
• CodePath: CodePath provides college students with no-cost coding courses, mentorship, and career support to prepare them for careers in tech.
• CMD-IT: CMD-IT is the national Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in Information Technology that is focused on the following under-represented groups: African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and People with Disabilities.
• Data Science Africa: aims to create a hub in the network of data science researchers across Africa.
• Deep Learning Indaba: The Deep Learning Indaba is an organisation whose mission is to Strengthen Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Africa.
• /dev/color: Our mission is to empower Black software engineers to help one another grow into industry leaders.
• Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences: iAAMCS aims to significantly increase the number of Black/African Americans pursuing and completing the PhD in computing fields through a national mentoring model.
• The National GEM Consortium: The mission of The National GEM Consortium is to enhance the value of the nation’s human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups (African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans) at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science.
• The National Society of Black Engineers: The mission of the National Society of Black Engineers is to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.
• Tech Stack’d: Tech Stack’d is an online community for underrepresented adults who want to advance their careers in tech, whether that’s through starting a tech company or joining a technical career like software engineering.

A more complete list of resources (conferences, open letters, databases, etc.) can be found on this GitHub repository. I hope this will be useful as you start and progress throughout your career in technology!

Chinasa Okolo is a Computer Science PhD student at Cornell University. In her research, she develops computer vision models to improve infectious disease diagnosis in the Global South, with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa. Her other research interests include mobile health, fairness in machine learning, equitable healthcare systems, and privacy and security issues affecting these systems.

In her free time, Chinasa loves to travel, scroll down her Twitter feed, compose songs, learn about venture capital, and pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. You can find more about her on www.chinasaokolo.com.