Diversity In Tech: Digital Youth Founders Is Building The Next Generation of Tech Entrepreneurs Now

08 Feb Diversity In Tech: Digital Youth Founders Is Building The Next Generation of Tech Entrepreneurs Now

Diversity in tech (or the lack thereof) has become a priority conversation in the halls of silicon valley and college campuses across the country. The fact that the boards and corporate staff of many tech organizations like Apple and Google lack true diverse representation is big issue, especially considering many of their products are purchased by multicultural consumers.

It’s clear that the lack of diversity in the tech field is a problem, but how do you fix it? Some organizations are attempting to overhaul their hiring practices to address and remove institutional biases from their screening process.

Others are partnering with colleges to establish internship programs and courses for multicultural students.

And some independent organizations are going a step further and working to get more multicultural youth interested in tech earlier and helping them set up their own ventures, which is pretty incredible.

I caught up with co-founders Carnellia Ajasin and Jakita Thomas of Digital Youth Founders to find how they are diversifying the tech industry and creating opportunities for multicultural youth.

DYF Co-founders Carnellia Ajasin and Jakita Thomas

So tell me a little bit about DYF?

Digital Youth Founders (DYF) is a free enrichment program designed to expose under-served youth – ages 10 – 18 – globally to technology-focused social entrepreneurship by guiding them as they work in small groups through the design and development of socially- and culturally-relevant technologies and develop and grow an entrepreneurial venture around those technologies. The goal of DYF is to increase the number of urban youth globally who launch technology-focused social entrepreneurial ventures.

I love it. What inspired you to start your organization? 

We are committed to being the change we want to see in the world.  As moms, black women in Computing and IT, and college faculty, we have the great pleasure and daily opportunity to see the innovative ideas of our own children, college students from around the world, and our colleagues.  As moms, we want to encourage other children to move forward with their innovative ideas and manifest those ideas into something meaningful that can change the world.  As professors, we see that many of our students have great ideas, but lack the business acumen to take their idea or prototype to the next level as an entrepreneurial venture or startup.  

Digital Youth Founders supports a global generation of young technology-focused social entrepreneurs, impacting the global economy as well as young people’s perspectives of their ability to create change in the world as youth.

So, how does DYF differ from other diversity-focused tech organizations? 

Digital Youth Founders’ mission is to increase the capability and number of sustainable young digital founders.

This is more than just teaching youth how to code or teaching them how to run a business.  Our work is much deeper than that.  We teach, mentor and support youth (called DYF Fellows) as they acquire and integrate hands-on, minds-on knowledge and experiences around computational algorithmic thinking, design thinking, and development towards the realization of a real product that addresses and/or meets a particular need within the entrepreneurs’ community.

We engage in the following activities over the course of each year:

Six (6) week summer design workshop – Fellows engage in design thinking, computational algorithmic thinking, research around an issue their venture will address, initial design of their technology (game, mobile app, or application of an emerging technology), establishment of their entrepreneurial venture, and development of a video pitch supported by our DYF Curriculum and a team of expert mentors and coaches.

Tuesday/Thursday Technology Talks – Fellows learn from the insights of successful technology-focused social entrepreneurs.

Monthly development workshops – Guided by our DYF Curriculum, Fellows continue developing their technology-focused venture supported by their coaches and mentors

DYF Summit – Fellows showcase their technologies and their ventures, and winners of the video pitch competition will have the opportunity to present their pitch to a team of venture capitalists and investors to take their venture to the next level.

So, you’re changing the world?  

We are absolutely changing the world!  We are painting a new portrait of what a socialpreneur, inventor, founder, and disrupter looks like.  Our program is not about teaching youth how to develop something in a theoretical sense and we are beyond the code.  We are supporting youth on a long term basis…in a very real and relevant way.   

Time warp 10 years into the future…what would you have accomplished in that time? 

DYF participants are throughout the United States, Canada, and Africa.  Graduates of DYF will have developed a number of successful ventures that are meaningful and relevant to societies around the world, not only addressing and impacting major issues around the world.  The program will continue to be a resource for youth globally who have an interest in technology.  Many of our former DYF Fellows will also be paying it forward and mentoring/coaching other youth, both inside and outside of DYF. 

If tech firms are wise they will partner with organizations like DYF to nurture and leverage the multicultural talent being created now or they may be kicking themselves one day (in the not too distant future) when these diverse pools of tech entrepreneurs decide to become their competition. Once thing is certain, ignoring the needs and desires of your customer base is a sure way to go from making history to being history.

-Charell Star| Not Just A Girl In A Dress