General Motors and Black Girls CODE (BGC) today announced the creation of a new, Detroit BGC chapter to help get girls of color interested in pursuing careers in information technology, computer science, and the like. The announcement was accompanied by a series of activities at the Detroit International Academy for Young Women (DIA) – a PK-through-12 public school – and research and technology business park TechTown. They included:
- A panel discussion for STEM students from local colleges and universities, featuring Black Girls CODE CEO Kimberly Bryant and GM Executive VP of Global Manufacturing Alicia Boler Davis, moderated by GM CEO Mary Barra.
- A hands-on activity for DIA students from grades 2 through 6, in which BGC and GM employee volunteers guided them through operating BGC Robot Spiro to help them build and race toy cars.
- A presentation from a founding BGC member and several young STEM professionals from GM and DTE Energy, for DIA students from grades 7 through 12.
Detroit outpaces the United States when it comes to information technology job growth, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber – a trajectory that’s expected to continue through 2025. But while there’s plenty of opportunity there, women of color tend to be egregiously underrepresented in STEM fields, with only three percent of Black women receiving degrees in computer science, and less than one percent of Latinas. General Motors, in partnership with Black Girls CODE, hope to change that in the Detroit region.
“We’re on the forefront of electric and self-driving cars and connectivity that allows our vehicles to communicate with each other — and, with all that innovation, today’s cars have millions of lines of code,” says General Motors CEO Mary Barra. “It’s one of the reasons that it’s our mission to help build the next generation of STEM leaders, with an emphasis on expanding opportunities to women and other underrepresented groups.”
Comments
Would (WGC) White Girls Code be acceptable or would that be considered racist?
White, Asian, Samoan, Inuit, Hispanic, etc.. Why is this only available to Black girls? Complete and utter foolishness…
Lol how’d I guess this would be the 1st comment! ?
Detroit is 80% black, good for the locals, just sayin…
Good point but metropolitan Detroit is 70 percent White and opportunities should be for all races. Until these race orientated groups are not allowed to exist diversity will have a hard time. Desegragtion is for all not a pick and choose situation. Sorry to see Sister Mary putting GM in a situation supporting such a group. What about the other 20 percent in Detroit?
Though they target African American youth they set out to promote STEM for youth of every color. Their scholarship doesn’t specify you have to be of color to apply.
Isn’t white a color?
I am no fan of overly and overtly racialized names for organizations, however there are many communities within the United States which have been marginalized and discriminated against both racially and economically. They have been suffering in de-funded segregated public school systems around the country while affluent and mostly white families flee to very well-funded suburban public schools or very expensive private schools. Women in general, and specifically women of color are often not encouraged or are even discouraged from entering fields of science and technology dominated mostly by white men. In its name “Black Girls Code” they are attempting to attract the attention of the specific group they are trying to help and NOT to discriminate against any other. There are many groups and social organizations with specific missions to help Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Italian or Irish Americans or Muslim Americans primarily because they have been the victims of overt or systemic discrimination in the past and want to help them to achieve better education or economic opportunity. Many of these groups have members and receive contributions from people of diverse backgrounds. The NAACP for example has many Non-black members just as the National Council of La Raza has many Non-Hispanic members and supporters as does the Jewish Anti-defamation league. There are certainly many Women’s organization which are also supported by Men. These Women’s organization are certainly not attempting to discriminate against men just like the Jewish anti-defamation League is not trying to discriminate against non-jewish people and “Black Girls code” is not discriminating against whites. They only seek to help those who have not had any other help from anyone else in this society. None of these groups wishes advancement at the expense of any other group but rather only to be able to join in and have the equal opportunities.