TechGirlz

Attracting women to technology has proved among the most difficult challenges to solve. Reasons are numerous, including: the cultural bias against girls as they demonstrate skills or aptitude, few technology courses in schools, other teaching priorities, lack of expertise to teach the subject, a narrow view of options in tech careers (not just coding), and stereotypes of technologists. All have contributed to steering girls away from exploring technology as a life skill and/or career path.

Challenges facing girls in technology extend to the workforce. A persistent gender pay gap leaves women making only 78 cents for every dollar earned by men (and less than 60 cents on the dollar for women of color). This is happening at a time of rapid workforce transformation, where the number of unfilled technology jobs is approaching 1 million, even as only 25% of jobs in computing occupations are held by women. One of the clearest ways to erase these disparities is by creating a path beginning in adolescence that leads to higher earning lifetime wages. In today’s world, higher earnings for a meaningful segment of women begins with technology training.

The path to that economic empowerment begins in middle school, the age when most girls begin to opt out of technology related fields. It continues through high school, college and into a woman’s professional career. From video games to space exploration, modern work requires technology familiarity beyond coding. TechGirlz addresses this need.

TechGirlz ignites a love for technology in middle school girls. Our free, open-source courses inspire curiosity, impart confidence, and build community. 

Since 2009, TechGirlz has been developing leading edge tech education curricula for girls ages 11-14. Today, our library offers more than 60 workshops on a wide range of topics from designing mobile apps to robotics. Each was created using a rigorous methodology of research, curricula development, expert review, and extensive testing and evaluation.

Workshops are hands-on and designed to engage girls with no previous experience. Participants spend 2-3 hours at each workshop, with an average of 20 students per workshop. 

TechGirlz does not focus primarily on coding. Our experience shows that girls have much broader interests and connections to technology. We continually ask girls for their input on technology related instruction, topics and careers.

Overwhelmingly, they feel that technology is a way to solve the issues in their own lives, and they hunger to learn how it applies to their core interests. Girls want to be more than coders – they want to be technologists. 

The TechGirlz curriculum pushes the envelope for redefining what young girls can – and should – be learning about technology. Rather than delivering ongoing instruction, our workshops provide fun, interactive, inspirational technology experiences for girls that can be presented by volunteers anytime, anywhere. In so doing, we create an accessible starting point for young girls and others to engage with technology, take control of their technological futures, and transform the diversity and gender equality of the technology industry.

The target population for our program is middle school girls aged 11-14. 

Additionally, we have a Teen Advisory Board (TAB), which consists of TechGirlz alumni who meet regularly to share input with our staff on curricula, materials, recruitment efforts, and any other ways we can make the participant experience better. This is a really big part of TechGirlz’ “secret sauce”, as it’s a way for us to directly tap into the wants and needs of the demographics we’re serving. Insight from the TAB has greatly affected the TechGirlz program in many ways and is the reason we offer much more than just coding workshops. The TAB even suggested our name, CompTIA Spark! The TAB is instrumental in how we retain an 82% positivity rating, and how we’ve managed to have waiting lists for so many workshops through word of mouth alone.

In the mid-2000s, TechGirlz’ founder Tracey Welson-Rossman worked in the technology industry and didn’t see any women around her. In researching why, she found that middle school was a time when girls fall out of STEM pathways for various reasons. She wanted to change this equation, so she founded TechGirlz to operationalize equity. The program needed to happen at the breaking point where girls were falling from the STEM pathway, and the program needed to be done in an engaging, safe, welcoming environment. Thus, TechGirlz workshops were born.

Currently, the TechGirlz team is made exclusively of women, many of whom were teachers in the education system. Our TechGirlz team understands firsthand where the gaps are in the educational system, which makes the TechGirlz program that much better at filling those gaps for girls interested in technology. Furthermore, our team members were all middle school girls interested in tech at one point in their lives; they understand the cultural barriers girls are up against because they lived through those barriers. 
o Additionally, some of the daughters of TechGirlz employees are also TechGirlz participants!

For more info regarding this question, please see the previous answer about our Teen Advisory Board.

7,500 girls per year.

The TechGirlz program has its sights set high. By 2030, we want a million middle school girls to have taken a TechShop. In the long term, we want to scale this program so that every girl in the US is aware of its existence. Obviously, a lot needs to happen between now and that point, so we need MIT Solve to refine our business model and help us plan for an aggressive scale.

Alicia Park is an experienced educator, with a strong passion for Ed Tech, STEM and empowering young girls to explore the possibilities of working with technology. Alicia attended Holy Family University and graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree/dual certification in Elementary and Special Education.

Alicia has always enjoyed self learning new technologies and instilling them into her lessons, but knew she was destined for something more outside of the classroom. In October 2015, Alicia attended a meetup in Philly hosted by TechGirlz and immediately felt a strong connection towards the mission. Soon after, she began to use her skills to help update and build curriculum for the org, coordinate the blog, and later ventured into outreach. 

Alicia spends her downtime with her husband and dog, Dottie, taking in beautiful scenery with a walk by the river or escaping to relax down the shore. She’s obsessed with organization, music, finding the best memes to communicate with, and taking photos of the world around her (which end up being mostly of her dog). 

“One of my favorite quotes states ‘Empowered Women, Empower Women’ but I think empowered girls make an even bigger impact!

Unlike other organizations engaging youth in technology, TechGirlz does not focus primarily on coding. Our experience shows that girls have much broader interests and connections to technology. We have continually asked girls for their input on technology related instruction, topics and careers. Overwhelmingly, they feel that technology is a way to solve the issues in their own lives, and they hunger to learn how it applies to their core interests. Girls want to be more than coders – they want to be technologists. TechGirlz’ research and feedback loop help us create curricula which present technology in the way middle school girls want to learn–project-based, creative and fun.

Since 2009, TechGirlz has been developing leading edge tech education curricula for girls ages 11-14. Because of high demand for our workshops, we developed a model to open source our curricula, documents, and procedures, calling these free materials TechShop in a Box™, and began to recruit and train tech volunteers to lead them. Today, our open source library offers more than 60 workshops on a wide range of topics from designing mobile apps, infographics and Arduino programming to robotics, building web sites and animation. Each was created using a rigorous methodology of research, curricula development, expert review, and extensive testing and evaluation before its addition to our library (http://www.techgirlz.org/topics/).

Workshops are hands-on and designed to engage girls with no previous experience. Participants spend two to three hours at each workshop, with an average of 20 students per workshop. We have incorporated into our program hundreds of tech industry professionals who lead workshops and share their experiences.

Our impact goal for the next year is 10,000 girls. By 2030, we want to reach 1 million. Fortunately, we have the total buy-in from the CompTIA board, which means we will be able to achieve this goal with the assistance from grants and programs like MIT Solve. 

TechGirlz has presented workshops to more than 41,000 girls across the U.S. around the world, and keeps track of participant data through a secure CRM system. 82% of participants say they have greater interest in a career in tech following our workshops. We maintain contact with participants through bi-annual surveys, and through follow-up interviews with families. TechGirlz’ key KPIs are “did you change your mind about a career in tech” and “would you bring a friend to a TechShop.” We also track enrollment numbers, multiple registrations, demographics and feedback of the participants and volunteers.

By the time they enter high school, girls have already decided that technology is not an avenue for them. Many of them would love to pursue their tech interests, but by the age of 15, our culture has convinced them that they will not succeed. This needs to change. There are many nonprofit technology programs that target girls in high school, and while these programs are excellent, they’re not addressing the core age when these lifelong decisions are consciously or subconsciously being made. If we want more women in the technology industry, it starts by catching the next generation of girls at a young age and giving them a safe space to encourage their tech interests.

N/a.

There are 7 employees on the TechGirlz program. 

Since 2009. TechGirlz was its own 501(c)3 that was acquired by Creating IT Futures Foundation in 2019.

In 2021, we launched our Employee Resource Group (ERG) initiative, consisting of voluntary, employee-led groups whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace at CompTIA Spark and CompTIA. CompTIA ERGs exist to provide support and help in personal or career development and to create a safe space where employees and allies can bring their whole selves to the table. So far, we have established three ERGs with the focus on the areas of women, LGTBQ+, and diversity.

Since the summer of 2020, CompTIA Spark and CompTIA have had an active internal DEI committee, with regular participation from more than 40 staff from the corporation and nonprofit. To keep such a large group engaged, we formed three subcommittees focused on training/education, hiring practices and advancement, and external affairs. Some of the initial actions taken by the committee were to work with our subject matter experts to adjust all of the non-inclusive tech language used in our external training and education products (for example, replacing common IT terms such as 'master/slave' to describe hardware hierarchies); better outreach to communities of color for new job opportunities which has resulted in a greater proportion of finalists and hires being people of color; mandatory training around building an inclusive workplace such as microaggression awareness; guest speakers for town halls focused on diversity and understanding; elimination of college degrees as a requirement for most internal roles; and much more.

Another approach for building an inclusive workplace extends beyond the walls of our own organization and focuses on creating a diverse pipeline of tech talent for the future. CompTIA's Cyberstates 2022 report (https://www.cyberstates.org) is the definitive guide to the tech industry and workforce across the United States and details the state of diversity in tech.

Furthermore, all of CompTIA Sparks programs are aimed at building the tech workforce pipeline by making programming inclusive and approachable to students from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

As a non-profit, we have a mission-driven business model focused on achieving goals rather than generating profits. The primary sources of revenue are grants, donations, and sponsorships from various organizations and individuals. These financial contributions allow us to develop and provide our programs.

We work with corporate sponsors, including technology companies and foundations, which provide financial support. These partnerships help sustain our operations and allow us to reach a wider audience. We also rely on volunteers, educators, and partners to contribute to our mission. 

Overall, our business model revolves around leveraging partnerships, donations, grants, and volunteer contributions to provide free workshops to middle school girls, with the ultimate goal of increasing diversity and equity in the field.

Total financial stability is the dream of all nonprofits, but the truth is that only a lucky few nonprofits ever truly achieve total sustainability. At CompTIA Spark, we're incredibly lucky because of our relationship with CompTIA. CompTIA provides us with all of our overhead, which means that money from grants, donations, and programs like MIT Solve go directly to our programs. No external money is needed for our HR, IT, Finance, etc, as those are covered by CompTIA!

In 2018, we received a 3 year grant from TekSystems for $3 million. With this money, we were able to grow 3x in personnel and 10x in terms of impact numbers. We also acquired TechGirlz in 2019, which couldn't have happened without our support from organizations such as TekSystems.