Galvanize, a leading provider of software engineering and data science training in America, announced this past week the first four winners of their We Stand Together Scholarship. As part of their $1.8 million “Opportunity Fund” dedicated to increasing racial equity in the field of technology, the scholarship awards Black students the full cost of prep and tuition to an immersive part-time or full-time bootcamp in either software engineering or data science.
Because Black people are an underrepresented minority in America’s STEM workforce, 11% of the general U.S. workforce versus 9% of STEM workers according to Pew Research Center, Galvanize is committed to making tech a more inclusive field through their training programs.
The company’s wide array of coding and data science programs run from the basics to the advanced on their eight campuses. Individuals can gain advanced technology skills and change their career in just a matter of months. For those in underrepresented groups who had no opportunity to pursue technology earlier in their careers, Galvanizes levels the playing field through their scholarship program.
Sam Kline, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Galvanize, said, “This scholarship is a key part of Galvanize’s commitment to ensure that tech, the fastest growing industry in the country, is representative of the U.S. population.”
The first four scholarship winners are from four very different backgrounds, but all shared the goal of changing their careers. Charnelle Evens teaches kindergarten and is passionate about tech and how it can be used in the classroom, while Makeda Davis recently re-joined her community after serving time in prison where she learned how to code. Ann Speed studied computational linguistics, a field heavily involving software engineering, but now wants to teach English as a Second Language for a range of laudable community focused goals. Jeremy Ketema always had the ambition to be a software engineer and his experiences during the pandemic prompted to pursue his dream.
Applications for the We Stand Together Scholarship opened on April 19, 2021.
