Our newsletters highlight a variety of people, organizations, and resources that are doing work to broaden participation and expand equitable and engaging computer science and STEM opportunities. We are honored to work in this space along with so many talented and passionate individuals and want to help bring attention to their work.
This Week’s Spotlight and Project-Inspiration Theme: Black History Month
Black History! This week’s focus is “Future Change Makers”
For the next several weeks, we will shine our spotlight specifically on Black History. We recognize that history is a topic that is largely whitewashed and only told from the perspective of people in power to further certain ideas. Black History Month is an important reminder that there are large parts of history that generally go untold in schools and society, and that should be shared all year long. This will be the last week focusing on Black History but we will continue to revisit these ideas throughout the year.
This week, we want to highlight all the future Change Makers getting ready to leave their own mark on history. Currently, there is a racial, gender, and socio-economic gap within the field of computer science both on the education side as well as within the professional industry. We need to be sure to take intentional steps to grow computer science participation among black students to ensure they have chances to be change makers so their voices are not left out.
There are great organizations aimed at increasing black voices and participation within technology. Blacks in Technology is an organization dedicated to “Stomping the Divide” through resources and guidance to help open more paths of access to the computer science industry. Black Girls Code provides young girls of color with important skills in computer science and technology.
Code Savvy is doing our part as well! Technovation[MN] inspires and empowers girls to build and leverage technology to make an impact on their communities. Our MNCodes Educator Training Program focuses on connecting with schools that have high percentages of students of color and places a large emphasis on equipping educators with equitable teaching practices to encourage broader participation in computer science education opportunities.
We all have a role to play in encouraging the next generation of computer scientists, whether it is supporting or getting involved in one of these great organizations, or simply encouraging family and friends to try their hand at exploring computer science. Let’s make sure Black History continues to grow and be written in powerful ways!
This week, try to encourage a friend or family member to try out computer science. Maybe you could make and share a multiplayer game on Scratch, or try sharing some of your favorite tutorials! Be sure to share whatever you come up with!
Share Your CS to Go Projects!
How to Share: We invite CS to Go with Code Savvy participants to consider sharing your projects publicly with the Code Savvy and greater #MNCodes community via video with Flipgrid. We can’t wait to see what you create! Please be sure to follow online safety guidelines and get adult permission before sharing. You can find our Privacy Policy here.
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