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Former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe continues to champion the future of STEM. In 2020, Bowe founded LINGO, a company that offers kits allowing individuals of all ages to engage with projects that promote problem-solving and coding. The goal is to increase exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lingo (@stemlingoco) What’s more, LINGO has been well received in the education sector and among Fortune 500 companies, its LinkedIn notes. It is also faring well among investors, raising $2.3 million in a November 2024 round led by Pinnacle Private Ventures, according to a news release. 1863 Ventures, Sequoia Capital via the Scout program, and Dr. Joy Johnson also participated in the round. “This funding round highlights LINGO’s potential to reshape the future of STEM education,” Sean McCurry , founder of family office-owned private investment firm Pinnacle Private Ventures, said in the news release. “We...
This incentive might have you reconsidering those dreams of relocating. According to Moneywise, relocation to certain parts of the United States now comes with an incentive of $10,000 or more due to the labor shortage. With the steady decline of workers affecting positions ranging from fast food workers to electricians to 911 dispatchers and beyond, states are participating in programs designed to fill positions in areas that are experiencing the blows of the shortage the most. Some states with fewer residents, or those smaller cities and rural towns, are even targeting remote workers specifically to bank in on the big bucks for simply changing the scenery of where they work. The overarching goal is to have people use their income from a different location in their new home. In turn, this will help grow the economy by supporting local businesses and the tax base in select areas. From swag to coworking office spaces, various cities are going the extra mile to encourage folks to move...
Who knew that something as simple as a nap could lead to a groundbreaking innovative idea! According to Forbes, Natalie King is a former attorney who wanted to get a cat nap after church. That nap led her to the vision that made her the owner of the first Black woman-owned electric vehicle recharging station (EV)! “I woke up from that nap and there was a clear direction of the next thing you need to do is electric vehicle charging manufacturing,” said King during an interview at the Motor Bella auto show. And, if that isn’t a testament to God working in mysterious ways, we don’t know what is! King’s journey to building Dunamis Charge began in 2007 when she and her ex-husband launched a solar energy firm. She revealed that when the marriage ended, so did the company. What didn’t change though was King’s love for clean energy. In 2012, she created Dunamis Clean Energy Partners, a company that worked as a trade ally for several utility companies and incentive procurement with a heavy...
Dr. Brian Nwannunu, an adult-reconstruction fellow in orthopedics at Baylor College of Medicine, specializes more than just in the musculoskeletal system; he’s working to diversify the orthopedic surgery industry. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons reported that as of 2018, 84.7 percent of orthopedic surgeons identify as white, 6.7 percent identify as Asian, and 2.2 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino. This lack of diversity intensifies since only 1.9 percent of orthopedic surgeons identify as Black, and less than one percent are Native American. There isn’t just a lack of diversity in the orthopedic industry; there’s a lack of acceptance that Black people can work in this medical field. “A few of my rotations, the general culture, and the underlying message was, ‘We don’t want anyone that doesn’t look like us,'” Nwannunu, who is a first-generation Nigerian American, told the Houston Chronicle in an interview . “They don’t feel like they can relate to you. They would...
Traditional hiring processes often overlook qualified prospective Black candidates for job opportunities. But with some help from OneTen’s new tech-based platform, the organization hopes to generate more career paths that will level the playing field for Black talent. Today, the coalition of leading CEOs and their organizations debuted a new talent platform that will jumpstart OneTen’s ambitious program to hire, upskill, reskill and promote one million Black individuals in their careers over the next 10 years. “OneTen has a deeply important mission: Identifying and cultivating Black talent who the traditional career development pipelines have left behind, training them, and positioning them for success in a career,” Obed Louissaint — Senior Vice President, Transformation and Culture, IBM — said in a statement. “We hope that by placing more Black individuals in these fields, we will not only create careers and support families, but also create meaningful change in the organizations...
There has been increased attention on how business leaders address diversity , equity, and inclusion in the workplace. After nearly a year since the nation experienced civil unrest, a group of large corporations are banning together to keep the conversation going. Intel , Dell Technologies, Nasdaq, NTT DATA And Snap Inc. have teamed up to formulate a new coalition called the Alliance for Global Inclusion, Intel shared in a recent press release . Dawn Jones, Intel’s chief diversity and inclusion officer (CDIO) and vice president of social impact, told AfroTech that the companies formed this coalition to further commit to developing and aligning on shared metrics that track progress in diversity and inclusion. “This isn’t new for Intel – we’ve been growing and expanding our efforts to create more inclusiveness and close critical representation gaps for many years, and as we’ve done so, we realized that our efforts alone are not enough,” Jones told AfroTech. “We connected with...
As more electric vehicles hit the road, Los Angeles-based ChargerHelp! — an on-demand repair app for electric vehicle charging stations — has closed a $2.75 million funding round. With its new funding, it plans to build out its tech platform, hire new team members and expand to more service areas, TechCrunch reports. The Black women-led company was co-founded by Kameale Terry and Evette Ellis in January 2020 after receiving demand for its services from customers and investors. Now, the company works directly with charging manufacturers and network providers to provide its services. Trucks VC, Kapor Capital, JFF, Energy Impact Partners and The Fund made investments in ChargerHelp’s! recent funding round. The inspiration behind ChargerHelp! came from Terry’s tenure at EV Connect, where she worked with various manufacturers and learned about the common problems with electric vehicle chargers. Terry told TechCrunch that when there was an issue at a charging station in the Los Angeles...
Genesys Works, a national workforce development program that focuses on connecting underserved students with paid internship opportunities, has announced the appointment of a new CEO. In a press release, the company said Jeffrey Artis — who first joined the company as a business development coordinator — is now the new CEO. “Jeff’s knowledge of the workforce development community along with his business acumen aligns well with the Genesys Works mission,” said Tom Fry, Genesys Works National Board member, in a statement in the press release. “As we look to the future, we’re confident that Jeff is the right person to lead Genesys Works into the next stage of growth and impact.” For his part, Artis has spent most of his career leading workforce development solutions for Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies. He also said that he benefitted from a similar program offered by Genesys Works in his own career, so he felt that this was a great way to give back. “In my teens, I benefited...