SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Non profit organizations the Black Girls CODE and the Latino Startup Alliance are joining forces to raise $5,000 for an Indiegogo crowdfunding initiative called La TechLa that seeks to empower 1,000 young girls of color with education about coding and the transformative power of tech. To contribute to the Indiegogo campaign go to bit.ly/1qtjwS6 donate before July 3rd, 2014.
"There is a lack of representation of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) but that troubling gap is even more pronounced for young girls of color," said Deldelp Medina. "La TechLa seeks to reverse this trend by tapping into Latina girls' love for tech gadgets and showing them – and their families - why technology matters to their future and how they too can become part of this movement. By combining the power of our organizations, we are investing in developing and building social and economic stability in our communities."
With starting capital assistance from Google R.I.S.E. and upon reaching the crowd-funding goal, La TechLa's organizers plan to roll out the program to 14 cities in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. La TechLa is slated to be held in San Jose, CA, San Francisco, CA, Palo Alto, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, Chicago, IL, Kansas City, MO, New York, NY, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Guadalajara, México, Austin, TX, Houston, TX, Dallas, TX and San Antonio, TX.
About Black Girls CODE
Black Girls CODE is devoted to showing the world that Black girls can code, and do so much more. By offering technology education to communities of color through workshops, hackathons and after-school programs, BGC introduces computer programming and technology to girls from underrepresented communities in technology areas such as web design, robotics, gaming, mobile app development and more.
About Latino Startup Alliance:
Co-headquartered in San Francisco and Miami, LSA is a fiscally sponsored project of CEL Education Fund. LSA is committed to building the foundation that fosters an ecosystem to support Latino tech entrepreneurs and future innovators by providing a community of peers, resources, mentors, & investors.
Originally founded in 2011 by first generation Mexican-American entrepreneur brothers Jesse and Ed Martinez as a support group for Latino tech entrepreneurs, LSA's national non-profit is led by the Martinez brothers as well as Manny Ruiz, founder of the nationally known Latino digital and social media platform collectively known as Hispanicize.
For more on Latino Startup Alliance, visit http://latinostartupalliance.org/ & follow the organization on https://twitter.com/Latino_Startups and https://www.facebook.com/LatinoStartupAlliance.