Colorintech gets £200,000 In Grants from Google.org to Scale its Diversity in Tech Programs

Google.org, Google’s charitable arm, is supporting UK nonprofit organization Colorintech with £200,000 to scale its diversity in tech programs tailored to ethnic minorities. 

Over the next two years, the grant will help Colorintech reach ten times more people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. For example, Colorintech will launch career accelerator programs that will serve over 3,000 BAME students and professionals. 

To counter the lack of BAME voices in the tech sector, the nonprofit will also create a video content series featuring business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from diverse backgrounds. This content will allow Colorintech to reach a broader audience on an ongoing basis, beyond its programs.

Colorintech already has several programs that work across the talent pipeline to connect young BAME people to the tech ecosystem. Its recent ColorCode Summit brought over 100 secondary school students to West London to learn about coding, robotics and virtual reality. Colorintech’s flagship Immersion program also takes underrepresented university students on an all expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley showcasing cutting edge tech, and enabling them to meet entrepreneurs, investors and engineers.

During London Tech Week, the organisation released the first FTSE Diversity Audit which found that just 2.6% of UK tech board members were from ethnic minority backgrounds, demonstrating the importance of championing diversity in the tech sector.  

Dion McKenzie Co-Founder of Colorintech

“We are excited to partner with Google who share our vision of making the innovation economy more inclusive. Their support more than doubles the size of our programs and will allow us to help thousands of ethnic minorities looking to enter the tech workforce”

 Ashleigh Ainsley, Co-Founder of Colorintech

“In partnering with Google, we’ll be able to provide a substantial range of opportunities to ethnic minorities who want to enter the industry. Google’s grant enables us to really scale our impact and further our mission to make the UK technology community a more inclusive place.”

Stuart McLaughlin - Senior Regional Manager, EMEA. Google.org

“We’re excited to support Colorintech in their important mission to support greater diversity in the workplace. They have already made impressive progress in their work, and we hope that this grant, together with Googler volunteers, will help them reach a wider audience across the UK.”