A message from the CWIT board

In response to local and nationwide protests surrounding the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others, we want to make it clear that we stand with the Black community and activists fighting against white supremacy and systemic racism. We stand by the message that Black Lives Matter.

Our vision at Charlottesville Women in Tech and Tech-Girls is “to bridge the gender gap in tech by providing a safe and welcoming environment for women and girls to connect, learn and collaborate in Charlottesville.” We recognize that racism and the patriarchy are two sides of the same coin that have systematically diminished the value of women, especially Black women. We need to do better ensuring that we focus on both.

We are grateful that there are resources here in Charlottesville and nationwide that can help us in our anti-racist work toward a better future for all.

Charlottesville resources:

• African American Teaching Fellows works to recruit, support, develop, and retain a cadre of African American teachers to serve the public schools of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
• Black-owned Businesses in Charlottesville, a list curated by Destinee Wright who is working with UVA’s Equity Center to build an official directory.
• Charlottesville Metropolitan Area Chapter: National Coalition of 100 Black Women advocates on behalf of Black women and girls to promote leadership development and gender equity in the areas of health, education, and economic empowerment.
• National Society of Black Engineers at UVA works to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community.
• Virginia Equity Center works to redress racial and economic inequity in university communities.

Nationwide resources:

• Black Girls Code is devoted to showing the world that Black girls can code, and do so much more.
• Modern Figures is a podcast elevating the voices of Black women in computing.
• Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences serves as a national resource for all African-American computer science students and faculty.
• The Memo: Preparing Women of Color for Their Seat at the Table is devoted to helping women of color to take control over their careers by providing access to important resources and real world advice on their career development.
• National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) the only national non-profit focused on women’s participation in computing, fosters a culture where girls, women, and underrepresented groups participate with strong voices.