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Google has given $775,000 in grants to a non-profit group dedicated to improving diversity in the tech sector and innovation economy, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Over the next two years the grants will help CODE2040 spearhead free training programs for more than 5,000 black and Latino college engineering students. The funding from the tech giant will also enable the San Francisco-based organization to expand into three new cities.
CODE2040 — whose name is derived from the year when minorities will become the majority in the United States — already has a fellows program, thanks to nearly $4 million in grants from the Knight Foundation, Marc Andreessen and Airbnb.
The program has already graduated 50 fellows who have gone to work at prominent tech companies, such as Facebook LinkedIn and Jawbone. One of Google’s grants will allow Code2040 to develop an initiative that trains black and Latino students how to successfully apply and interview for internships and more technical jobs.
“One of the reasons that there is this opportunity gap for black and Latino engineers is that they have a smaller relevant network and fewer resources and insight around what’s required to get jobs in tech,” Laura Weidman Powers, CODE2040 co-founder and CEO said to the Journal.
“The progress around transparency and willingness to talk about this issue of diversity in tech has been huge over the last year. What I’m hoping will be the next step is a willingness to be honest about what’s working and what isn’t.”
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