Facebook Launches Initiative To Encourage Minorities to Pursue Programming Careers

Social media industry leader Facebook recently partnered up to launch a new initiative that would provide educational resources in the hopes of encouraging minorities in the US to take up careers in computer programming. TechCrunch said that although TechPrep, the new initiative led by Facebook and McKinsey & Company, is a general resource, the project will be more focused on providing opportunities to African-American and Latino communities. 

The Market Business cited a recent study, which revealed that Half of African-Americans as well as 42 percent of Latinos said that they are fit to work with computers. Moreover, the study revealed that 77 percent of parents wanted to guide and expose their children to computer programming, but have no idea or grasp of the subject itself. 

Facebook Global Director of Diversity Maxine Williams wrote in a blog post, “Parents and guardians are influential figures in students’ lives. By exposing people to computer science and programming and guiding them to the resources they need to get started, we hope to reduce some of the barriers that block potential from meeting opportunity.”