In 2014, we created the Code2040 Summit as a space for our Fellows and alumni to gather for two days of robust programming. It was a hub for networking, skill development, career opportunities, and a space to celebrate the newest class of Fellows. As an organization, our primary focus was to serve these young, remarkable Black and Latinx individuals with the potential to change and reshape the world of tech. We welcomed distinguished tech professionals to speak on diversity, we invited company partners to connect with new potential talent and the Code2040 team was there to make it all run seamlessly. This was another step in ensuring that we were helping our Fellows level up by preparing them to thrive in a flourishing industry.
Today is a different story with a different climate. Navigating today’s world means being inundated with increasingly overt racial injustices, constant challenges around systemic racism, and no longer riding the wave of Obama-era progression. It also means that the approach to our work must change. It’s no longer about how we can elevate and support Black and Latinx brilliance — that’s only part of it. To move the mission forward, to achieve a future of a diverse and inclusive tech sector by 2040, the work must include everyone. Therefore, we need to be incredibly intentional about making spaces for different groups within our diverse community and we must ask folks to come in fully prepared to do some unpacking and self-exploration while contributing to a space that is safe, brave, and empowering for everyone involved. This is our plan for the 2018 Code2040 Summit.
The theme this year is The Woken Word. It is our belief that to effectively do racial equity work, to navigate the industry as a Black or Latinx individual, to embrace your potential as an ally, you must do a deep level of learning that will help you build and/or craft your woken voice for change. Our own identities, experiences and privileges shape how we view our world. By making space for each one of us to understand our own nuanced self and also making space to understand the identities and experiences of others, then we can truly understand and engage in this mission as advocates and warriors for change.
Do you wish to learn how you can identify and challenge systems of oppression? Do you want to expand your capacity for empathy in a way that will help you better support others? Do you want to understand how your identity influences and possibly perpetuates racial prejudices? These are only some of the hard questions we’re addressing at the Summit.
Join us on Friday, July 27th and Saturday, July 28th at Dogpatch Studios in San Francisco for a eye-opening experience that will not only honor the weight of advocating for racial equity, but create spaces to celebrate a vibrant ecosystem of change-makers who are willing to do the hard work.
Tickets are on sale now!
Be part of the Code2040 community and make your woken voice heard.
