Black Girls Code now has its own space within the confines of Google’s New York HQ – in a space worth $2.8m – with aims of connecting young girls directly with the tech industry.

by Colm Gorey, SiliconRepublic

NEW YORK —SiliconRepublic and CNet report Black Girls Code (BGC), an organization founded in 2011 by Inspirefest 2015 speaker Kimberley Bryant, has made strides in encouraging young black girls to pick up coding, given that they are one of the least represented groups in the wider tech sector.

Now, having previously stated that it hopes to introduce 1 million girls to coding by 2040, Black Girls Code has managed to acquire a direct line with the tech industry, having agreed a deal with Google to establish an office space in its New York HQ.

According to CNet, the office space, worth $2.8 million on the real estate market given its location in Manhattan, has been given to Black Girls Code as a gift to the organization.

‘We need a tech sector that looks like the society it serves’

The overall aim of giving the organization its own space next to Google is to shorten the time between a young black girl starting to learn to code, to them landing a job in the tech sector.

In a statement, Google’s head of external affairs, William Floyd, said of the creation of a permanent office space for the organization: “We need a tech sector that looks like the society it serves, and groups like Black Girls Code are ensuring that we can cultivate and access talent in communities of color.”

Photo: Renetta English (left), Past President BDPA-NY, Kimberly Bryant , Founder of Black Girls Code, and Judaea Y. Lane, Past President BDPA-NY participate in local BDPA Chapter workshops with other STEM organizations nationwide.

According to Google’s latest diversity report, only 19% of its workforce globally are women, and only 1% of its tech staff in the US is black, suggesting that black women are one of the least-represented groups in all of the tech industry.   Read more...

— Sources and photos: SiliconRepublic, CNet, bdpatoday, and BDPA-NY