Black Girls Code and General Motors Celebrate Launch of Detroit Chapter

(Press Release) – General Motors (GM) and Black Girls Code yesterday announced the launch of a Black Girls Code Detroit chapter with a series of hands-on and engaging activities at Detroit International Academy for Women (DIA), a Detroit Public Schools Community District school, and TechTown.

– DIA students in 2nd through 6th grades got to work with Black Girls Code (BGC) and GM employee volunteers to operate the BGC Robot Spiro to help build and race their own toy cars.
– DIA students in 7th through 12th grades got to hear perspectives from a founding BGC member and young STEM professionals from GM and DTE Energy.

According to the Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit outpaces the nation in information technology job growth and is expected to continue the pace through 2025. This partnership, announced alongside 4 other computer science partnerships in June, aims to increase interest in STEM career fields for girls of color.
Women of color are traditionally under-represented in STEM fields, especially in technology. Only 3 percent of African American women and less than 1 percent of Latinas receive degrees in computer science.

“We are 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,” said 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 under-represented groups.”

“Although we’ve hosted workshops in the area off and on since 2012, we are thrilled to officially launch a Black Girls Code chapter in Detroit with the support of GM and other corporate and community partners like Comcast and Wayne State University,” said Bryant. “Our regular programming, launching this fall, will lay a foundation to fully engage girls of color in Detroit and is designed to inspire them to continue their paths as future STEM professionals.”

In addition to the programs announced yesterday, GM will have committed more than US$10 million by the end of the year to advance and improve STEM education. GM employees have also volunteered more than 48,700 hours to STEM-related nonprofits this year.

About Black Girls Code: Founded in 2011 by Kimberly Bryant, Black Girls Code is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing technology education for African American girls. The organization aims to rectifying the under-representation of the female and African American demographic in the technology industry.
Black Girls Code offers programs like weekend workshops on topics like game development, HTML/CSS basics, robotics and other basic programming concepts. There are also summer camps offered as 5 full-day sessions to give girls the opportunity to learn deeper programming concepts and there are field trips to area IT tech companies to meet industry professionals.
For more information about upcoming student workshops and events, visit http://www.blackgirlscode.com/programsevents.html.
For more information about BGC volunteer opportunities, visit http://www.blackgirlscode.com/volunteer-signup.html.

About General Motors: General Motors (GM) its subsidiaries and joint venture entities produce and sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang and Wuling brands. GM has leadership positions in several of the world’s most significant automotive markets and is committed to lead the future of personal mobility. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.

Source: General Motors