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Rainbow
PUSH
Hosts
Detroit
Forum on
Diversity
in Tech
Industry
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
The tech
companies
of
Silicon
Valley
are
being
challenged
to have
their
workplaces
reflect
the
diversity
of
America.
The
wake-up
call to
change
the face
of
technology
is being
delivered
by the
Rainbow
PUSH
Coalition
and many
leading
tech
companies
are
starting
to
respond.
The Rev.
Jesse
Jackson
brought
this
message
of
diversity
and
inclusion
in
technology
to a
forum in
Detroit
titled
“Dream
Makers,
Risk
Takers
and
Money
Makers”
in
partnership
with
Google.
The
event,
held
Monday
evening
at the
Madison
Building,
featured
a panel
of
minority
CEO’s
and
leaders
who
shared
their
experiences
and
perspectives
on
diversity
in the
tech
industry
of
Silicon
Valley
and
beyond.
Haji
Flemings,
CEO of
Brand
Camp
University,
moderated
the
panel,
asking a
range
questions
on the
access
to
opportunities,
the
value of
diversity
and
capital
for
business
start-ups.
Chris
Genteel,
Google
Head of
Diversity
Markets
and
Supplier
Diversity,
said his
company
wants to
expand
their
pool of
technologists,
“We know
there is
a huge
gap
between
the jobs
that are
available
in
Silicon
Valley
and
throughout
the
United
States
and
those
who are
available
to take
those
jobs
today”.
Closing
the gap
is a
long
term
initiative
for
Google
and
includes
recruiting
at
historically
black
colleges.
“Google
wants to
influence
kids to
see that
tech is
“cool”
and a
viable
career
option
for
them”
said
Genteel
who is
based
out Ann
Arbor.
The
question
of
diversity
being an
advantage
to
companies
was
asked
and
answered
with
this
observation:
Many
firms
have
come to
recognize
that
diversity
in the
workplace
is a
necessity
and not
just a
policy
given
the
global
war on
talent.
However,
the
conversation
needs to
shift,
“Diversity
should
not be
an
objective
but who
we are”
said
Angel
Gambino,
CEO of
The
Alchemists
Collective.
She said
her
company,
located
in
Corktown,
employs
women
African
Americans,
a
Palestinian
and an
Indian
working.
“We
should
be the
thing we
are
trying
to
create”.
The
challenge
of
getting
minority
access
to
capital
to fund
an
innovative
business
idea was
discussed
by the
panel
with a
sobering
dose of
reality.
“A lot
of our
friends
have
ideas,
but
conducting
business
is where
we are
lacking.
We don’t
know how
to take
an idea
and turn
it into
a
company
so that
we can
be at
the
table to
get some
of the
funding”
said
Matt
Woodford,
President
and CEO
of
Victory
Mobile,
LLC.
Ideas
that get
funded
are
companies,
they
actually
have a
model
for
their
idea to
enter
the
market,
they
have
registered
as LLC’s,
and they
have
business
plans
that put
them in
the
position
to get
funding
said
Woodford.
So is
Detroit,
given
its
demographics,
a
blueprint
for what
an
inclusive
entrepreneurial
ecosystem
looks
like?
Jill
Ford, a
former
Silicon
Valley
angel
investor
and
relative
new
comer to
Detroit
did her
own
research
on the
city’s
bankruptcy
and saw
in
Detroit
“An
inspiring
set of
assets”
that if
put
together
the
right
way
could
“generate
substantial
revenue
and
social
impact.”
Ford
left San
Francisco
where
also
worked
for
Disney
and
Microsoft,
to take
a
position
as a
Special
Advisor
to Mayor
Mike
Duggan
and as
Head of
Innovation
and
Entrepreneurship.
Gambino,
another
west
coast
transplant
said “I
think we
could
potentially
have a
bigger
impact
than
even
Silicon
Valley,
I know
that’s
bold to
say” but
she
added
that
Detroit
can
succeed
it
incorporates
inclusivity
into
social
enterprises,
through
the
triple
bottom
line
(financial,
social
and
environmental)
approach
to
technology
advancements.
The
facts on
minority
employment
by
technology
companies
came to
light in
2014
when
Rainbow
PUSH
succeeded
in
getting
over two
dozen
leading
tech
firm to
release
their
EEO-1
reports
on
workforce.
The
findings
revealed
that
“African
Americans,
Latinos,
and
women
are
woefully
underrepresented
in the
boardrooms,
tope
leadership
and
general
workforce,
tech and
non-tech.”
The Rev,
Jesse
Jackson,
Rainbow
PUSH
Coalition
President,
also
participated
in a
fireside
chat at
the
event.
“Revealing
the data
and
being
transparent
is just
a first
step,
and
there is
much
more
work to
be done
to meet
the
challenge
of
transforming
the tech
industry
to
resemble
the
America
it
depends
upon for
talent
and
customers.”
A
growing
list of
companies
have
answered
the
clarion
call of
Rev.
Jackson
for
diverse
and
inclusive
work
spaces
including,
Intel,
HP,
Yahoo!,
LinkedIn,
Microsoft,
Facebook,
and
Cisco.
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