AnitaB.org announced that it provided scholarships to 145 students, alumnae, and faculty from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities, to attend its annual Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) held in October in Orlando, Fla., as a part of its MSI Community Cohorts Challenge. The Challenge is part of a larger commitment by AnitaB.org to provide inclusive pathways that will propel underrepresented students toward a future in tech.
Through the GHC 19 scholarships, participants were able to attend pre-GHC training sessions and a diverse array of panels and sessions, keynotes, presentations, and the world’s largest career fair for women in tech while in Orlando. As a result of attending GHC, 90% of the students said that their interest in exploring a potential career opportunity in computer science has increased. Attending GHC provided participants from MSIs direct access to futures in tech through the GHC Career Fair where 96% of the participants said they made new connections with companies, 58% of those seeking internships or jobs interviewed for an internship or job, and 19% of those seeking internships or jobs secured one while at GHC.
“A key component of our strategy to achieve 50/50 intersectional gender equity in tech by 2025 is engaging with Minority Serving Institutions to elevate the brilliance of their alumnae, students, and faculty in computing and technology, while creating relationships and opportunity where they didn’t previously exist,” said AnitaB.org President and CEO Brenda Darden Wilkerson. “The feedback from participants who attended GHC through this cohort model was extremely encouraging. We look forward to expanding this program and continuing to provide opportunities for students of all backgrounds to find careers in tech.”
Read more about the MSI Community Cohorts Challenge here.
About AnitaB.org
AnitaB.org is a nonprofit social enterprise committed to increasing the representation of women technologists in the global workforce. AnitaB.org engages with tens of thousands of women and leading organizations around the world to build diverse and inclusive workplace cultures. Founded in 1997 by our namesake, computer science visionary Anita Borg, our organization works toward a future where the teams that create technology mirror the people and societies for whom they build it.
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