Articles Listing

03/20/2023

For all the talk of the need for more women in tech, data suggests that meaningfully moving the needle requires better innovation. Thirty-five years ago, women earned roughly a third of computer science degrees. By 2016, that share had fallen to less than 20 percent. Although that number appears to have marked the bottom—in 2021 women were earning 22 percent of computing degrees—closing the gender gap in tech, especially for women of color, still has a long way to go.

03/16/2023

Tomi Babalola could have been your dentist (and would not have been happy about it). But thanks to some experimentation with computer science, Tomi found a career path that represented an unexpected calling.

03/10/2023

Break Through Tech’s AI program —which spans NYC, LA, Boston, and which is available virtually for students outside those regions — helps college women and nonbinary students gain the skills and build the portfolios they need to better prepare them to secure jobs in the fastest-growing areas of tech: data science, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI). Particularly for Black, Latina, Indigenous, low-income, first-generation, and other marginalized communities, the barriers to entering AI loom large. We are here to change that.

02/27/2023

Sprinternships™ are paid micro internships that represent an innovative approach to the persistent lack of gender diversity in the tech sector. The program bridges the gap between college and careers for a racially and economically diverse group of undergraduate women and non-binary students, who face unique barriers to entry into this fast-growing field.

02/24/2023

Break Through Tech’s Sprinternships offer women and minority groups short-term opportunities for professional experience in tech.

02/14/2023

Two dominant narratives are circulating about the tech industry. One is that massive layoffs are affecting the entire industry, and the other is that the people getting laid off are disproportionately women and people of color. The first is overstated; the second is a serious problem that requires long overdue action.

02/13/2023

During winter break, fifty-three George Mason students participated in three-week micro-internships via Break Through Tech DC’s Sprinternship program. 

02/03/2023

The best way to understand the shape and power of Break Through Tech’s work is to hear from the people who are part of it — from the young women participating in our innovative programs, to the leaders who host those programs inside their organizations and the team members who run our programs in cities around the country and online.

In this first edition of Break Through Voices, we turn the spotlight on Donna White, director of Break Through Tech DC. Break Through Tech DC supports the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and is anchored by partnerships with the University of Maryland at College Park and George Mason University.

02/02/2023

Break Through Tech DC at the University of Maryland organized two career development programs for 111 undergrads in January.

01/13/2023

2022 was a very productive year for Break Through Tech. Both for our students and the organizations that partnered with us to bring our computing and AI programs to life.