If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Portland is a great R&D shop. Especially for ideas that involve community and collaboration. Test it here. Iterate. And then look for opportunities to repeat what you’ve learned. That’s why I’m super happy to hear that Portland’s ChickTech—a tech program designed to encourage high school girls and career level women to pursue technology careers—is looking to take its programming to a much larger stage.
But they could use your help to do it. Why should you help? Well, rather than me telling you, let me let ChickTech tell you.
Without diversity, technology will never reach its full potential.
ChickTech is a Portland non-profit creating a movement to increase interest and retention of girls and women in technology. We’re currently in Portland, the Bay Area, and Corvallis, with chapters opening in 2015 in Seattle, Chicago, New York, and two yet-to-be-chosen cities.
To help fund this expansion, we just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. If you’re ready, willing, and able to help us reach our goal of gender equality in technology, please donate now! As usual, all donations are tax-deductible. Our goal is to raise $15,000 for each new chapter to bring awareness of STEM careers to girls in high school, college, and beyond. Help us put Portland on the map as a progressive city in the technology industry!
Our high school program is the focus of our initial expansion. And it’s pretty comprehensive: we provide a free, year-long series of opportunities to a cohort of 100 high school girls in each city. Each participant is selected for having the aptitude but not yet having opted in to the STEM opportunities that are available to them. Through our high quality workshops and mentoring programs, girls are exposed to successful role models that help to counter negative stereotypes about women in STEM. In the 35 events we’ve held in the past two years, we’ve served over 1500 girls and women with the help of hundreds of volunteers (both men and women).
Sound interesting? You can get more information on the programs by visiting ChickTech. Interested in donating to the cause? Visit ChickTech on Indiegogo.
