CREATECoding Bootcamps and Conferences for Women in Tech
Girls in Tech (GIT) is a global non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women who are passionate about technology by providing innovative programs and partnerships
Are any other organizations collaborating on this proposal?
For Girls in Tech to achieve its objectivesensure that more women get access and opportunities in the tech industry, we need partners. As we are currently based in 60 cities around the world we have a strong relationship with government officials, corporations and startups and have a successful track record of working with partners, sponsors and collaborators. Previous sponsors include Facebook and Jim McCarthy for bootcamps; for the Catalyst Conference, partners include Intel and GoDaddy.
Please describe your project proposal.
GIT aims to eradicate gender disparities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields by educating, preparing and empowering women to pursue technology careers and persevere within technology fields. We achieve this through the creation of proprietary, innovative programming and strategic global partnerships. We provide mentorship and boot camp programs as well as the Catalyst Conference, an annual conference for women in tech.
Which of the CREATE metrics will your proposal impact?
Jobs per capita
Measures of cultural and global economic influence (“soft power”)
Minority- and women-owned firms
High growth startups
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
City of Los Angeles
Describe in greater detail how your proposal will make LA the best place to CREATE?
Girls in Tech has a chapter in LA which already focuses on bringing innovation and entrepreneurship to the area as well as encouraging diversity within the local community. We plan to expand on this and make LA the best place to Create by providing women at every stage in their career the tools and confidence to find roles within the tech industry. We understand that this is an epidemic challenge, with more than half the workforce being women, yet only 15% holding technical positions, despite a growing demand for technical roles in LA.
To funnel more women into tech careers and eradicate gender disparities in STEM fields, Girls in Tech seeks to provide training and education to women who are entering, or have an interest in, careers within STEM. To accomplish this, Girls in Tech would launch a Success Factors Boot Camp, a three-day course that teaches female entrepreneurs all the basic tools they need to succeed, from ideation to product development to pivoting. In this 3-part series, the participants of this GIT program will develop skills that they will hone and leverage session over session, using best-in-class methods and current research for maximum engagement and retention. All participants leave with actionable skills, rich interactions with fellow participants, and critical knowledge that they will use and apply for a long time to come. We are also bringing an e-mentorship platform that can further support participants both in person and online so that progress can be effectively reached and measured. We want to ensure that we can bring our bootcamps to LA with the aim to educate aspiring entrepreneurs and women with technical backgrounds on how to build and launch a company; increase the number of women launching startups and secure seed funding; connect seasoned entrepreneurs and professionals with aspiring entrepreneurs for long-term, ongoing mentoring and sponsoring purposes.
In addition to this, we would expand the Catalyst Conference to become a semi-annual event allowing GIT to host the conference in additional locations every year. The conference has been lauded for its ability to bring women in tech from around the world to one location to explore opportunities, learn and network with some of the lead thinkers and innovators. GIT will bring this tech community to LA and ensure that we increase LA's visibility in the tech scene, and help it attract a diverse community of thinkers, leaders, investors and entrepreneurs whilst working with local communities to create a sustainable tech workforce with gender parity as the key focus.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
To maintain quality as we grow, we’d like to increase our focus on program reporting. This would include eSurveys, a program analytics platform, a program out comes report that covers KPIs (submitted by mentors to report on entrepreneurs’ progress), as well as a post-program review with our board, including a detailed budget review. We would also offer participants access to quarterly, free webinars. These webinars will focus on topics related to the entrepreneurship journey, such as pitching, negotiation, business model development and more. We’ll be able to measure the engagement and participation of each attendee at these webinars, as well as the progress each entrepreneur is making with their startup.
To capture a comprehensive analysis of the impact the Catalyst Conference has on attendees, Girls in Tech will be asking each attendee to make a pledge. Their pledge must relate to entrepreneurship, a problem they wish to solve, and we will follow up with attendees monthly.
These programs all provide tremendous access and support to women in tech, at all levels of their careers. Not only do they gain access to our proprietary curriculum, they also gain access to possible board member introductions, high-quality speakers and a global support system. This puts them in the position to gain access to an all-inclusive tech “ecosystem” - other women, partners, intrapreneurs, technorati, and more. For women in tech, a support system such as this can be career changing.
How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed?
Money
Volunteers
Publicity/awareness
Network/relationship support