PledgeLA STEM Initiative to Send 200 Students to World-Class Tech Camps

The iD Tech and Annenberg Foundation recently announced the "Coding Our Future LA," providing free, week-long STEM summer camps to 200 children from LA. 

Who are the Annenberg Foundation and PledgeLA?

'Convened by an alliance between LA’s venture capital community, Annenberg Foundation, and the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, PledgeLA is a collective call for change in the tech industry and a commitment to better reflect, support, and leverage the creativity and diversity that is Los Angeles. This coalition of tech industry leaders seeks to positively contribute to the prosperity of all Angelenos and lead the industry into a new dawn of equity and inclusion.'

The programme hopes to address the growing disparities within the lucrative tech world. Business Insider reports that 'Eighty percent of the region's future workforce is Latino and African American, yet only seven percent and eight percent of the national STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) workforce is African American and Latino, respectively.'

The week-long opportunity will teach children in a whole range of tech related subjects, from coding to video editing. This will give students a chance to engage in STEM based subjects to then discover what they're interested in. With the economy heading towards greater technological advancement, ensuring access to STEM subjects and skills at all income levels and backgrounds is crucial to creating greater equality within the tech world. 

This is just one of the recent groundbreaking projects run by PledgeLA. In May, they announced a paid internship programme in Venture Capital aimed for LA teens. The aim to diversify the tech industry at all levels is of great importance since they found that only 34% of investors are of colour in the first report of its kind - read about it here.

The Annenberg are making important steps to try and create the opportunity for all Angelenos to be rewarded by the fruitful tech world and offer great opportunities for employees too. Check out their careers page as well as DeepSweep's job board for any updates. 

What do you think of the project?