After turning down a reported $125,000 from Uber, Black Girls Code has announced a new partnership with General Motors which includes a $255,000 donation.
Black Girls Code has previously hosted events in Detroit but hadn’t planted roots in the city. To help further the mission of introducing coding to young Black Girls, the non-profit organization has teamed up with GM to officially launch its program in Detroit.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra released a statement on the importance of the program. “It’s one of the reasons that it’s our mission to help build the next generation of STEM leaders, with an emphasis on expanding opportunities to women and other underrepresented groups.
Black Girls Code is one of four non-profit organizations to partner with GM to expand STEM opportunities for young people. GM’s donation to the program is part of its $10 million commitment to advance, science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
After turning down Uber’s donation in April, Black Girls Code co-founder Kimberly Bryant said the donation felt like a PR stunt spurned by the company’s recent diversity issues. “It seems a bit tone-deaf to really addressing real change in how they are moving towards both inclusion and equity. It appears to be more PR driven than actually focused on real change. So we turned it down,” she said.
Black Girls Code is hosting a STEM Immersion Day in Detroit on Oct. 7.