by Karla Monterroso, CEO, Code2040
There are some changes happening at Code2040.
First, the hard part: We are reducing our team, eliminating 12 positions mostly in student programs and operations. We are doing this to reorient our work towards to a new vision and to ensure the long-term financial health of the organization as we enter a new environment.
Honestly, this has been the hardest decision we’ve had to make. The Code2040 team, folks who have given us their time and talent, have undoubtedly brought us to where we are today. When we started in 2012 the leading argument around the dearth of diversity was that the talent wasn’t there. We were told time and again, this is a pipeline issue. Over the past six years, we’ve proved them wrong, building a community of hundreds of Black and Latinx engineers and thousands of their allies and supporters. This year alone, 159 students are filling internships across Silicon Valley, Portland, OR, and New York City.
Yet the lack of diversity has persisted. Systemic racism has intensified and become even more entrenched, leading to fear and fatigue and with this, fewer financial commitments in the tech sector to pushing for equity and inclusion.
So not only is the problem different than the one we set out to solve, the world in which we are solving it is different, too. And in this new world we have to change. We are at a crossroads.
We still want an innovation economy where Black and Latinx people are contributing as technologists, investors, and leaders, and a country in which we have the economic and social capital needed to thrive and build generational wealth. We still believe that tech is the key driver of our economic, political, and social lives and that ensuring Black and Latinx inclusion is paramount for our own survival and success. But how we are organizing ourselves to create this world is changing. We want to create groundswell of change agents building coalitions to tackle equity wherever they are.
This looks like ensuring that every program we do encourages the companies we work with to address the systemic bias in their systems. This looks like ensuring that our community members (students, mentors, volunteers, company champions), have the tools necessary to tackle this work in the companies they work. This looks like ensuring our sector is mobilizing together for the change we want to see.
Over the next few months, as we refine and reflect on the path forward, we’ll share more concretely what this looks like. In the meantime, I want to sincerely thank our team members to whom we have said goodbye. We know the path ahead isn’t easy but we’re ready to take on this next leg of the journey towards racial equity with you.
