Introducing the Dev Community Supports Black Girls Code Initiative
When I was 8 years old living in South LA, my 4th-grade teacher, Mrs Mead asked me if I could learn more about anything in the world, what would it be? I told her “computers.” That was a very odd selection in 1986 because, at that time, computers weren’t commonplace even for adults. Unknown to me, she then enrolled in a community college course on computing fundamentals. A few months later, I walked into the classroom and Mrs Mead was standing next to an Apple IIe. Mrs Mead bought a computer with her own money to bring into the classroom to teach me how to use it.
That moment changed my life forever and started my journey to where I am today. I can never pay her back for that. What I can do, however, is pay it forward. Which has become the mission of my life, help other people in the way that Mrs Mead helped me.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I was chatting with Kevin (@BFormations on Twitter) and we came up with the plan to hold a community drive to support Black Girls Code. We wanted to take action on this soon. My birthday is August 5th, and I thought what better time to do this than the first week of August. I would like to celebrate my birthday by helping pay forward the gift Mrs Mead gave me so long ago.
We have coordinated with Black Girls Code, and are asking community members to think about donating money, time, or equipment during August 1–7.
Dev Community Supports Black Girls Code. Donate August 1–7.
Give Money
If you choose to donate money, we have a special link for donations provided by BGC so all money raised by this initiative is organized in one place and we can see the impact of this community drive. If your organization supports it, you can also take advantage of employer donation matching. See: https://donorbox.org/developers-support-black-girls-code
Give Time
If you choose to donate time, Black Girls Code has many volunteering opportunities and perhaps at a location near you. See: https://www.blackgirlscode.com/volunteer-signup.html
To help track where volunteers come from, under “Additional Comments” add:
I was referred by the Dev Community Supports Black Girls Code initiative.
Give Equipment
If you chose to donate equipment, such as laptops, tablets, phones, and other equipment (2017 or later, please), contact Black Girls Code using their form to discuss with them.
Share
We created some images optimized for various social media sizes (including Twitter, Instagram posts and Instagram Stories) which you use to spread the word to your circle. See the Download button below.
When posting about it, you can use the following links on social media (and especially places like Instagram posts where links have to be typed manually by people who wish to visit).
Link to this blog: bit.ly/DevsPayItForward
Link to this donate money directly: bit.ly/DevsDonateBGC
Hashtag
You can use the hashtag #DevsPayItForward when mentioning the initiative on social media.
Also See
Also see Kevin’s post about it on his website.
