Black Girls Code strong contender to win Microsoft Azure Developers Competition

Breanna Collins was one of 14 girls who built a video game at the Black Girls Code session in the fall of 2011. PHOTO/Black Girls Code

Black Girls Code, a San Francisco-based startup that aims to redress the on-going lack of participation of minority women in tech careers, is in the running to win a US$50,000 grant from Microsoft’s Azure developer community.

Black Girls Code is currently in the lead of the international public vote competition, with technology education nonprofits Code.org, which is focused on getting more children interested in computer science, in second place and CoderDojo, which aims to teach today’s youth how to code, in third.

Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant and her team have worked tirelessly to get the word out about their most recent campaign and greatly appreciate Microsoft’s recognition given the nonprofit’s passion to repairing the pipeline problem of getting more minority women involved in tech careers.

“It is a great honor to be selected by Microsoft among one of the greatest tech education nonprofits. While there are several other organizations doing great work in this space, we are the only one with a focused outreach to girls of color,” says Bryant via email. “We believe this sets us apart from the pack and the work we are doing to create opportunities for these bright young ladies is crucial and relevant.”

Black Girls Code has garnered massive support from its social media following. Take a glimpse of the Black Girls Code Twitter page, which boasts over 9,000 followers, and you’ll see the outpouring of support, including tweets from tech entrepreneurs like former business development VP for Foursquare Tristan Walker and Tiffani Bell of Pencil You In, as well as fellow tech organizations such as Black Celebrity Giving, Black Girl Nerds and BlerdNation.

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