Holistic Approach

As you know, there are so many girls out there who don't have a fantastic role models. Especially in STEM, the gender gap is so glaring. Women make up forty eight percent of the U.S. workforce, yet they only account for only about twenty four percent of STEM workers. So as a leader, what are you doing at tech rich girls to help close that gap?

Well, you know, what we're doing at Techbridge Girls is really about addressing the systemic issues that are preventing our girls to persist. One thing that we want to make sure that is very clear, our girls are not the problem. Every day I walk into one of our classrooms and I see the willingness, the excitement, the eagerness and the readiness that our girls are ready to walk into the STEM industry and be able to not only contirbute, but thrive in leadership. So there is no issue with our girls or access to their abilities to actually lift up and lead in this industry. But what we have seen at Techbridge Girls, because we explicitly serve girls from marginalized communities, often low income, often girls of color, African-American and Latin-x, what we see is the challenges around quality to access STEM education. So just having the opportunity to explore and experience STEM enrichment programing is literally a lack of many of our communities in which we serve.

We also know that support networks play a critical role. So we talk about role models. Absolutely role models play an important role in giving a girl a vision of aspiration. So when our girls have the ability to really take on new opportunities, new careers, new insights, they need to see folks that have done it. And we believe that engaging and connecting girls, with that ability really helps us along the way. And we also know that it does take more than just role models and just coding. It really is a holistic approach that we have to look at a girls social, emotional, her cultural experiences, the access and experience and opportunities that she has in her community. And then tell that story because oftentimes we don't really understand what it takes from a girl from East Oakland, California, or Washington, D.C. to actually persist and obtain a STEM career. And so we have to tell that story more explicitly so that we can influence policies and practices to support them.