The Command Center: The Equation for Equality

I am excited to present the inaugural issue of The Command Center, a monthly update of Command Shift’s work with NPower's partners, advocates, allies and other supporters to take action and accelerate more women of color in technology.

Our first issue focuses on breakthrough research from our partnership with leading labor market analytics firm, Emsi Burning Glass. The report, The Equation for Equality, will fuel our goal to motivate and educate young women of color about the multitude of pathways that exist to enter the tech industry and will help to create a more inclusive workplace for all people to thrive in tech careers. 

On the day we released the research report, we also learned very exciting news from MacKenzie Scott. Please continue reading to learn more!

We hope you enjoy reading about our updates. If you’re not already part of our movement and want to join us, please in-box me or email commandshift@npower.org.

Thank you for your commitment to supporting women of color as they work to enter, persist and thrive in tech careers.

Candice L. Dixon, Coalition Director

The Equation for Equality: A New Era and a New Goal

A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis found that even though Black, Latinx, and American Indian women represent 20% of the U.S. population, they only make up 5% of today's tech workforce.

The Equation for Equality: Women of Color in Tech findings report revealed a new strategy to address this underrepresentation: Recruit from an already “tech-eligible” U.S. workforce of women of color. 

Our research revealed:

• There are 4.7 million tech workers in the US today and 2.6 million underrepresented women of color in jobs that use “tech-similar” skills. With the right training and support, this “tech-skilled” group of women of color could transition into tech.
• A new “equation” or formula that employers, industry leaders, and policymakers can use to benchmark the representation of women of color in tech against what their representation should be in the skills-similar, tech-eligible workforce. 

By tapping into this skilled workforce, Command Shift announced a new goal:

Double the number of women of color in tech jobs from 5% up to 10% over the next 10 years. 

We encourage you to read the report to learn more about this breakthrough data, including what your company can do to help increase women of color from nontraditional backgrounds in tech. Download the report here.

MacKenzie Scott Honors NPower with a $15 Million Gift

The week of March 22 was a big week for NPower and Command Shift. In addition to releasing The Equation for Equality report, we also learned that NPower received a $15 million gift from MacKenzie Scott. This is the single largest gift that NPower has ever received. Thank you Ms. Scott.

Meet Quster: She Moved from a Retail Cashier Job to a Full-Time Tech Position

After working as a retail cashier for six years, Quster decided to take action, and follow her interest in technology. Follow her journey (page 18) and how she upskilled to launch a career in tech.

Forbes Spotlights Research: Byline from NPower CEO

We encourage you to read a new Forbes byline from NPower CEO Bertina Ceccarelli - Prioritize Skilled Women of Color to Win the Competition for Tech Talent. Bertina discusses how tapping the talent pool of tech-skilled women of color from non-traditional backgrounds can help fill tech jobs and increase diversity overall in the tech sector, and equally important, how these positions can help provide increased economic mobility for this deserving population. 

Call to Action: What You Can Do to Help Increase Women of Color in Tech

The Equation for Equality: Women of Color in Tech outlines a new set of SHIFTS that corporate leaders, employees, HR managers, and others need to make to recruit from an ‘already skilled’ workforce of women of color, and help to increase diversity and inclusion overall in the tech industry. We invite you to read and share the report and subscribe to this newsletter to follow the action.

Thank You to Our Partners

It’s been almost one year since NPower launched Command Shift, and there has been a lot of progress during our journey.

I’d like to take a moment to express our gratitude to our partners who have supported us every step of the way, including our Founding Partner, Citi Foundation; our Steering Committee Members: Accenture, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Broadridge, Citi, Comcast NBCUniversal, Guardian Life, and World Wide Technology, and other coalition members who are critical to this approach to systems change: Girls Who Code, Girl Scouts of the USA, Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), The Knowledge House, National, Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT), NETSCOUT, TCS, Vodafone Americas Foundation and Workday. And last, but not least, we thank our Research Partner, Emsi Burning Glass for their stewardship and allyship in mapping out this data discovery.

Command Shift In The News

A quarter-million qualified women of color are currently missing from the tech space. Here’s one solution to the problem

Report: College degree requirements are keeping qualified women of color out of tech

The Equation of Equality for Women in Tech

New Report Reveals That 2.6M Women of Color Are Qualified To Fill Open Tech Jobs. So Why Aren’t We?

Candice Dixon Of NPower On The Labor Shortage & The 5 Things We Must Do To Attract & Retain Great Talent

NPower: 2.6M women of color have skills to fill tech jobs

Study: Women of color are ready for tech work, busting the “pipeline myth”