Spotted on Beta Beat:
Tech has a serious diversity problem — so General Assembly (GA), the New York City private vocational school for programming and engineering, is now opening an “Opportunity Fund” to give scholarships to women, veterans, African-Americans and Latinos.
The first contributors to the fund are Google, Microsoft, Hirepurpose and Nas.
Yes, rapper and recording artist Nas, the man who brought us “Illmatic.” The partnership with Nas began when he met GA cofounder Matt Brimer at SXSW, but Nas isn’t the only media figure to approach GA about these kinds of programs.
Each of the donors is taking on a target demographic. Google will provide scholarship money for women, Hirepurpose and Microsoft will fund veterans and Nas’s QueensBridge Venture Partners will sponsor African-Americans and Latinos.
“This is the start of what hopefully will be a contribution to what will be a more diverse and accessible community worldwide,” GA CEO Jake Schwartz told Betabeat in a phone interview.
You can read much more on the story here.
