A not-for-profit organisation in California is helping prepare young people of colour for careers in technology. We go behind the scenes at Hack the Hood
For Zakiya Harris, growing up in East Oakland, California, meant navigating between two acutely different worlds every day. “I grew up in the hood, but I went to a very affluent school,” she says. “So I spent my days being one of few black people, and I spent my nights being in a predominantly black neighbourhood. I believe that really shapes the work that I do, because I’ve always been a bridge-builder.”
Today, Harris is building bridges in the Bay Area of California as the co-founder of Hack the Hood, a not-for-profit organisation that introduces young people of colour to careers in technology by training them to design and build free websites for small businesses. The participants, who range in age from 16 to 25, learn crucial skills for the 21st century economy while the businesses establish an online presence that they otherwise might not have had the time, resources or know-how to build themselves. “Hack the Hood is able to level-up the skills of young people and also provide a huge economic development boost for small businesses in their community,” Harris says.
Zakiya Harris, co-founder of Hack the Hood, says that in order for a diversity of solutions, there must also be a diversity of voices in the decision making process (Image: Clare Major/NationSwell)
Since 2014, Hack the Hood has sponsored 16 bootcamps in eight cities across northern California. The six-week programmes have attracted a total of 234 young people from low-income neighborhoods, 92 per cent of whom have completed the course. The camps begin with an intensive two week focus on technical skills such as website design, coding and social media promotion. “After that, the programme transitions into an office,” says Harris, when the young participants are paired with small business clients and are responsible for managing their web projects.
“We want them to feel like freelancers and like a design firm,” she says. The goal is to broaden their relationship with technology. “They start to see their place in tech,” adds Harris. “They don’t just have to be consumers, they can be creatives.”
The businesses that sign on also reap great benefits. Hack the Hood typically works with ‘mom-and-pop shops’ whose owners aren’t necessarily comfortable online or with operating social media. “A lot of these folks are small, and they don’t want to be thinking about their website,” Harris says. And because of the rapidly shifting demographics of Bay Area neighborhoods, businesses that lack an online presence aren’t reaching the new residents who are moving in. “We want our local owners to be more visible,” she says. “When people are Googling the new coffee shop or the closest accountant, we want those people who have been the backbone of our city to show up in the search results.”
Hack the Hood participants don’t just gain experience working in tech, they also develop skills such as project management, public speaking, networking and perseverance. And besides learning to write code, they are given a chance to explore the more creative aspects of maintaining a web presence through site design, photography and videography.
Hack the Hood students take part in one the organisation’s six-week camps which focus on building technical skills
Tapping in to their true passions and talents helps them find their niche in technology, says Max Gibson, a lead instructor and creative strategist at Hack the Hood. “At first, they might not have an idea of what they want to do with their lives, or what their real strengths and skills are,” Gibson says. “So for me, it’s really about allowing them to discover what those things are, and then pointing them in the right direction.”
For her part, Harris sees Hack the Hood as addressing a new gulf between the technological haves and have-nots. “People typically think of the digital divide as those who have internet access versus those who don’t,” she says. But that idea is quickly becoming outdated. “The issue now is the knowledge divide. Do you know how to pull up the hood and understand the code beneath it? Do you understand what your digital footprint is going to look like?”
Hack the Hood addresses a new gulf between the technological haves and have-nots
Closing that knowledge gap has the potential to impact communities far beyond the local area. “Young people of colour are going to create platforms and opportunities in tech that no one else has,” Harris says, pointing to several apps, including those tackling police brutality, immigrant rights and other issues affecting communities of colour, produced at recent hackathons. “My generation is passing on a planet that has many, many problems. Having a diversity of voices in the decision making process is going to allow a diversity of solutions to come through.”
Technology provides important tools for solving today’s problems, Harris says. “It’s imperative that we make sure every young person has access to these tools so they can address the problems of our future.”
This story was first published by Nation Swell, who have also made a film about Hack the Hood.
Main image: Hack the Hood
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