The diversity problem in the tech industry has been well documented both on screen with shows like Silicon Valley, focusing on the Valley’s woman problem, and off screen, like Google’s revelation last year that blacks and Hispanics combined made up a pitiful five percent of their workforce. Apple is taking measures to diversify tech and possibly Apple itself by donating more than $50 million to non-profits supporting minorities.
Apple’s Human resources chief Denis Young Smith told Fortune Apple is working with many non-profits on a multi-year deal to increase the amount of women and minorities in tech. Young Smith said,
Young Smith noted that the company’s intent to diversify goes beyond race and gender, hoping to reach out to employees of other sexual orientations as well.
One of the non-profits Apple is working with is the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which helps students enrolled in historically black (and public) colleges and universities, such as Howard University. The fund will receive $40 million to be used for a new database of computer science majors at these colleges and universities. There will also be a paid internship program for students.
The other non-profit is the National Center for Women and Information Technology, which will receive $10 million put towards scholarships and internships among other resources, in hopes to reach 10,000 middle school girls over four years.
“In any of these programs we’re really trying to provide focus, impact and a ripple effect–not just on Apple,” Young Smith says.
[via Fortune]
