Re-imagining a Greater Boston Tech Workforce
Virtual Convening
June 12th from 5:30pm -6:30pm
Root Cause, SkillWorks and other advocates will facilitate a discussion with tech professionals, particularly BIPOC early-career professionals, to share ideas on what it would take to co-create an equitable Greater Boston workforce that nurtures inclusion and belonging for all.
Survey
We would like to learn about your experience working in the Greater Boston tech workforce. Help us gain shared understanding so we can co-design an equitable workforce that nurtures inclusion and belonging for BIPOC.
The survey takes about 15 minutes and your responses are confidential.
What are we doing?
SkillWorks, a nationally recognized workforce funder collaborative at The Boston Foundation, and other advocates have partnered with Root Cause, a Boston-based nonprofit consulting team to
- Co-design an emergent space for re-imagining an equitable and just tech workplace for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) tech workers – those impacted by and impacting this equity challenge
- Intentionally engage stakeholders – BIPOC tech employees and tech companies – who are motivated to take collective action so that we can re-imagine an equitable and just future.
Why are we doing it?
Our equity challenge – In today’s tech-focused workforce, a person’s race and class are relevant in their professional trajectory. There is inequitable access to education and workforce development for marginalized people. What this means is while the number of tech jobs is expected to rise in the next decade, according to McKinsey, the representation of some groups (particularly, Black talent) is predicted to fall behind. Workplaces CAN do more to be ready for the talent that’s being developed. For too long the solution has been focused on one end of the pipeline (students and training providers). We want to explore how employers can take equitable accountability in the solutions.
Who are we doing it with?
We are gathering with those who are impacted by this reality and those who are impacting this reality, specifically students/alumni of local workforce development providers, tech employees, workforce development providers, local advocates/organizers, government agencies, and corporations. We will center the experience of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the tech workforce in all phases of exploration.
How will we do this?
As Christine Ortiz from Equity Meets Design says: “Racism and inequity are products of design. They can be redesigned.”
Together, we will co-create an emergent space to explore with the tech workforce and companies and re-imagine an actionable pathway to a tech workforce that is inclusive and where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color have more diverse opportunities and inclusive pathways to enter and advance in the tech industry.
We understand this work will require centering the lived experiences and aspirations of the BIPOC tech workforce and co-creating emergent solutions for companies to:
- Establish a shared understanding of the equity challenge/problem – building on BIPOC tech workers lived experiences and existing learnings;
- Envision an equitable Greater Boston Tech Workforce centering those impacted by the equity challenge to co-create a vision with those impacting these inequities
- With the emerging vision, we will identify a common purpose for movement building, and the intended impact, and;
- Articulate a call to action to chart our path forward to create principles, practices, and accountability standards so that BIPOC workers are better represented and have lower barriers to entry and advancement in the Greater Boston tech industry.
For more information or questions about this project, please email osaint-cyr@rootcause.org
