Kimberly Bryant founded Black Girls Code in 2011 as a way to introduce programming and technology to young and preteen girls of color. The initiative was born out of Bryant’s experience of being one of the few women of color in engineering, as well as having a young daughter be one of the only girls in a gaming camp.
The program has made tremendous gains since launching and is evolving beyond just teaching the ins and outs of coding. In addition to technical skills, Black Girls Code is also working with children to teach leadership and entrepreneurial skills. According to an interview with Complex, Bryant intends for the organization to reach 1 million children by 2020. Workshops, panels and expos are planned across the country in December and January, including sessions for robotics, IoT and app building, as well as career education.
Noted Bryant at a Bryant at Glamour’s 2016 Women of the Year Summit last month: “I don’t even know if you get to the [glass] ceiling in many cases,” she said. “I think some things are starting to change, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
