DURHAM – African Americans make up only 3.3 percent of Google’s technical workforce.
But the tech giant is working to change that.
This past month, it selected North Carolina Central University, a historically black college and university (HBCU) in Durham, for one of its two annual residential technical training programs.
Started 11 years ago, the Computer Science Summer Institute Program (CSSI) is a three-week, intensive program open to any high school senior student attending one of the nation’s 101 HBCUs worldwide, and interested in studying Computer Science.
Travel, lodging in a campus dormitory and meals are included.
“Students learn a project-based curriculum in Python directly from Google engineers,” Google’s CSSI program head Victor Scotti, Jr., told WRAL TechWire.
“This is with the intent of best preparing students for their first year of college in CS and Google internship opportunities.”
In total, close to 100 students from across the U.S. participated in the programs – with around 45 students attending at the Durham location, some traveling as far as Vancouver and Trinidad & Tobago.
Another 49 students took part in the same program at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, AL.
“Our goal with students is to promote equitable representation in tech by connecting them with like-minded peers, Google engineers, CS professors, HBCU alum in CS, and Black technologists in the local tech ecosystem,” said Scotti. “Once they complete the program, they are connected with Google, and we keep in touch with them to support them along their journeys.”
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