Black Girls Code (BGC) launched on Sept. 7 “Delete the Divide,” a certified tech skills program for Black girls and youth of color at Ethos Society, a communal workspace located at 3435 Wilshire Blvd in the Equitable Life skyscraper in the Koreatown neighborhood of L.A. BGC offers a platform for students to learn about TECH career paths, foster meaningful connections, and build confidence.
About 23 middle and high school students with their parents filed into a spacious room on the 14th floor overlooking the busy Wilshire corridor to hear about how a computer programming education could nurture their careers in technology and build lifelong proficiency in problem-solving and abstract thinking.
“This workshop is for everyone,” stated Koby LeMoine, Program Manager of Black Girls Code for L.A. and Houston.
“It’s for every Black and Brown, female-identifying person interested in STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics], specifically computer science, and engineering to understand the roadmap into tech.”
Regarding “Belonging In This Room,” BGC Marketing and Project Manager Sarady Merghani stated, “It’s about purpose. Traditionally, people of color have been left out of these spaces and the BGC mission is to ensure that our students feel confident enough to go into these spaces and own them.
BGC enjoys partnerships with Coursera, Google, Verizon, GM, and others, including Delete The Divide, an initiative led by the County of Los Angeles to advance digital equity in underserved communities through partnerships, infrastructure investments, and technology resources that empower residents and small businesses.
“Delete the Divide came about during the height of COVID,” said Jamel Thomas, lead instructor of DeletetheDivide.org, and program administrator of the workshop.
“The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously that we have to do something about the gap between those with Internet access and those without it. [Director of the Internal Services for LA County] Selwyn Hollins was tasked with building a team to tackle the problem and I was fortunate to be on the ground floor of DeletetheDivide.org.
“These young women are interested in coding,” he continued, “and we want to help foster that interest and give them some of the tools necessary to have success in tech through these self-paced courses made available free of charge to our members, courtesy of our partners and the Internal Services Department of L.A. County. Google IT certificates lead to jobs that start at $50,000 to $100,000 per year.”
Black Girls Code CEO Cristina Mancini said, “Our partnership with Delete the Divide is a crucial step towards ensuring that Black girls in Los Angeles have access to the tech and computer science opportunities they need to succeed. We’re excited to take this partnership further by hosting this workshop to introduce participants to DTD’s certificate program.
“This initiative is not just about education; it’s about inspiring the next generation of Black girls and gender-expansive youth to shape the future of tech and, in turn, launch them into their tech futures. We look forward to seeing the incredible impact these young minds will have on the industry,” she added.