Res. No. 282

Resolution designating March 24 annually as Women of Color in Tech Day in the City of New York to recognize the contributions of women of color to the technology industry and to acknowledge the challenges they still face.

By Council Members Louis, Gutiérrez, Salaam, Ossé, Gennaro, Hanks, Feliz, Stevens, Brooks-Powers, Marte, Narcisse, Farías, Riley and Cabán

Whereas, NPower, an organization established in 2000 and headquartered in Brooklyn, offers a training model for the technology (“tech”) workforce, reaching approximately 1,300 18- to 25-year-olds annually; and

Whereas, NPower celebrated the first Women of Color in Tech Day on March 12, 2020, with a proclamation on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall; and

Whereas, NPower noted that Women of Color in Tech Day was “designed to promote the importance of respect, dignity, fairness and equity in supporting Black and Latina women as they pursue tech careers”; and

Whereas, Three years later in New York State (NYS), the NYS Senate adopted Resolution Number (NYS Senate Res. No.) 62 to designate March 12, 2023, as Women of Color in Tech Day in NYS; and

Whereas, NYS Senate Res. No. 62 described Women of Color in Tech Day as “an annual day of information distribution, recruitment, training and job placement”; and

Whereas, NYS Senate Res. No. 62 noted that the tech sector in NYS is getting larger and is adding high-paying jobs to the economy; and

Whereas, NYS Senate Res. No. 62 noted that encouraging women of color to enter the tech industry is particularly important inasmuch as they might not have had traditional paths into the industry available to them; and

Whereas, In 2023, United States (U.S.) Senators Jacky Rosen, Roger Wicker, Tammy Duckworth, and Mazie Hirono introduced bipartisan Senate Resolution (S.Res.) 124 to designate March 24, 2023, as National Women of Color in Tech Day; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 acknowledges the importance of women of color in tech in the U.S., including Katherine Johnson, an engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Marie Van Brittan Brown, the inventor of home security systems; and Patricia Bath, the inventor of a tool to remove cataracts; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 acknowledges that women and girls of color too often face opportunity and achievement gaps in their education in the fields of science, engineering, and computer science and do not have the number of role models to look up to that they need in these fields; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 notes that “evidence suggests that structural and social barriers in tech education, tech workforce development, the tech workforce, and venture capital investment in tech can disproportionately and negatively affect women of color”; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 notes that the demand for a trained workforce in the tech industry will continue to grow significantly in the next decade; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 acknowledges that, although women of color are 39 percent of the U.S. female population, a 2018 study by Women of Color in Computing Research Collaborative found that women of color in the U.S. are awarded fewer than 10 percent of the bachelor’s degrees in computing and fewer than 5 percent of the doctorates in computer science; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 resolves that the Senate “commits to working to eliminate barriers to entering the technology sector faced by women of color” and pledges to ensure that girls of color have access to the tech-related education they need to compete in a 21st century economy; and

Whereas, S.Res. 124 is endorsed by a variety organizations, including Girls Who Code, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers the Computer Science Teachers Association, and the Girl Scouts; and

Whereas, March 24, 2024, is currently designated as National Women of Color in Tech Day; and

Whereas, There are women of color in New York City (NYC) today excelling in the tech sector of the workforce, helping to address discrimination and inequality of opportunity in the tech sector, and serving as role models for younger girls of color; and

Whereas, Designating a Women of Color in Tech Day in NYC would encourage New Yorkers to celebrate these important contributions; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York designates March 24 annually as Women of Color in Tech Day in the City of New York to recognize the contributions of women of color to the technology industry and to acknowledge the challenges they still face.

LS #16063

3/13/2024

RHP