Justin Washington, who grew up in Detroit, graduated from the University of Michigan in 2010, and has been an engineer at Apple and Twitter and is now at SnapChat, said he was often the only African American in his EE classes of 70 or 80. He spoke at last year's Black Tech Week and will return this year. / Photo by Nancy Dahlberg
With African-Americans making up just 2 percent of tech workforce, the second annual Black Tech Week aims to deliver solutions for stronger partnerships for startups, training and information for students of color and a strong platform to expand the technology blueprint in the black community.
The week of events will be held during Black History Month, Feb, 15-20, at Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus. Black Tech Week includes interactive workshops for idea exchange, the PowerMoves Early Stage and Series A Startup Bootcamps, a three-day Technology and Startup Conference, Women’s Innovation Brunch, Walker Legacy’s Women in Tech events, Pitch Competitions and VC Mentor Sessions. Attendees can register at http://blacktechweek.com/.
The roster of speakers include; Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Priceline.com, Kathryn Finney, founder of Digital Undivided; Justin Washington, QA engineer at SnapChat; Frederick Hutson, founder/CEO of Pigeonly; Chris Powell, CEO of BlackbookHR; Eunice Cofie, founder, CEO and Chief Chemist of Nuekie; William Crowder, managing director of DreamIt Ventures; and George E. Curry, founder of Emerge Magazine and previous Editor-in-Chief of National Newspaper Publishers Association, just to name a few.
Key highlights of the conference include the Knight Foundation Angel Pitch competition with Power Moves, a Women Innovators in Tech panel, Tech HAHA Hackathon and Comedy Show, and a Patent and Trade Market workshop for Women Innovators. The summit will culminate with the Women Innovation Brunch that spotlights women tech achievers sponsored by Baptist Health.
The visionaries behind the conference are Derick Pearson and Felecia Hatcher, who are also the founders of Miami-based Code Fever. Code Fever is committed to closing the technology education gap among-low-income and underserved youth in South Florida. During Black Tech week, a series of hour-long Black Tech Hour workshops will be conducted at area schools and community organizations. Designed to empower and encourage minority youth to learn and consider careers in technology at a young age.
See all the speakers and find more information at blacktechweek.com
See last year's Herald coverage of Black Tech Week here and how it got started here.