Snap is proud to be part of a new coalition of 30 other tech companies, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) experts, advocates and researchers in launching the Action to Catalyze Tech Report, a new blueprint that provides concrete actions that businesses of all sizes can take to try to meaningfully change their own DEI outcomes — and work together to create a collective paradigm shift across the industry.
One of the report’s key recommendations is to transform future pathways into tech for underrepresented talent. The report calls for a coalition to solve the acute lack of computer science (CS) teachers in part by funding endowed centers of excellence for CS teaching in colleges that will create the largest number of Black and Hispanic/Latinx CS teachers. As part of the launch of the report, the Catalyze Tech coalition announced that $20 million in new funding is being pledged to four teaching colleges — a commitment that we hope will grow to support more schools across the country.
Today, ahead of the first-ever virtual DEI Innovation Summit, we are sharing more details about the first four recipients of the initial $20 million funding:
- California State University, Dominguez Hills and Georgia State University will each receive $5 million from Snap Inc.
- University of Florida and University of Texas at El Paso and will each receive $5 million from philanthropist Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel Capital, and Hopper Dean Foundation, respectively.
These gifts, with support from CSforALL, a nation-wide non-profit that aims to strengthen computer science education, will support each institution’s School of Education and focus on the upskilling of faculty, future course development, and help fund local community partnerships with school districts supporting black and Hispanic/Latinx communities. Each of these commitments will help support over 1,000 new educators annually, who have a collective potential of impacting more than 1,000,000 students over the course of their teaching career.
We know this work is only the start and hope more companies and organizations will join us in following the ACT Report’s recommendations. Join us for the DEI Innovation Summit starting at 9:00 am PT, where CEOs, DEI experts and advocates are coming together to discuss cross-industry action and how to collectively drive DEI outcomes across our industry.
We know this work is only the start and hope more companies and organizations will join us in following the ACT Report’s recommendations. Join us for the DEI Innovation Summit starting at 9:00 am PT, where CEOs, DEI experts and advocates are coming together to discuss cross-industry action and how to collectively drive DEI outcomes across our industry.