One of Google’s newest efforts to train the next generation of technologists is partnering with community organizations to bring coding education to Harlem. The tech giant made a multi-year investment in Code Next Harlem Alliance this past summer.
The program operates in partnership with Emerging Leaders in Technology and Engineering (ELiTE) Education, and New York Urban League out of a lab at the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem and hosts a cohort of 23 ninth grade students who commit every Saturday, and some weeknights, to coding.
“Increased confidence, positive motivation, and hard technical skills, coupled with the access to the people and spaces that can help these students grow, are ultimately what will help diversify the tech ecosystem,” said Chelsey Roebuck, founder and executive director of ELiTE Education in Google’s Keyword blog post.
Google’s most recent diversity report is consistent with the diversity problem in the tech community. Only 2.5 percent of Googlers are Black and 3.6 percent identify as Latinx.
The company launched the Code Next program in 2016 in Oakland and Chelsea aimed at providing high school students free computer science education.
