Fourth Annual Diversity in Tech Awards Celebrates Corporate STEM Advocates

NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mouse, one of the nation's most impactful youth development nonprofit organizations, revealed the winners of their fourth annual Diversity in Tech Awards (DIV) at last night's Diversity in Tech Awards Gala in New York City. Each of the award recipients were celebrated for their outstanding commitment to the promotion of diversity in the technology industry:  

• Atlassian, a leading provider of team collaboration and productivity software, received the award for the best Corporate initiative, for efforts including their transparent 2018 State of Diversity Report and increased representation of women in technical and leadership roles, underrepresented minorities in their U.S. offices, and employees over 40 years old. 
• All Star Code, a nonprofit computer science education organization focused on young Black and Latino men, was honored with the Nonprofit award for creating a summer intensive curriculum and program that arms young men of color with the skills they need to succeed in technology and helps them find placements in leading universities and companies.
• Vista Equity Partners, a leading investment firm focused on software, data, and technology-enabled businesses, took home the Financial Firm award for their diversity initiatives including the 2018 launch of the Vista Frontier Fellows Program to increase diversity in finance.  
• Judith Spitz, Founding Program Director, Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY) was also the recipient of the Individual achievement award for her efforts in encouraging and supporting women to major or minor in computer science or related disciplines.

Mouse is committed to increasing diversity in technology and creating opportunities for youth from underserved neighborhoods to realize their potential. The program aims to create lasting change in schools and communities, and fuel the nation's future. This year alone, Mouse is on track to positively impact over 60,000 students nationwide through computer science and STEM programming and curriculum. By providing students from all ethnic backgrounds with daily access to STEM resources, Mouse is simultaneously narrowing the diversity gap in technology, and improving the representation of women, black and Hispanic technology professionals from low-income areas.

"It is the creative impulse that makes people create music, great films and write books. That creative impulse also underlies all the technology that is created, and Mouse is about empowering educators and students to have that same creative impulse in their hands," said Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch and emcee of the 2019 Diversity in Tech Awards Gala.

"Cushman and Wakefield along with owners and occupiers of commercial real estate in New York City have a vested interest in the development of the next generation, said Dirk Hrobsky, Executive Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield, an event sponsor. "Increased STEM education in public schools is a great way to help our community educate children and prepare them for opportunities that lie ahead."

Each of the Diversity in Tech Award nominees were scored on various criteria including potential for impact, potential for scale within the organization, leadership involvement and future sustainability. The winners were selected amongst hundreds of nominees from a diverse all-star panel of judges. The judges included:

• Jacqui Cheng, Editor in Chief, Music, New York Public Radio
• Iltimas Doha, Student, Parsons New School of Design
• Bernard Guinyard, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Goodwin
• Kristie Koenig, Associate Professor & Chair, New York University
• Nicole Lindsay, Vice President, Strategy & Operations, MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth

This year's awards were presented by the following sponsors: BNY Mellon, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Best Buy, Dropbox, RBC Capital Markets, Cushman & Wakefield, MediaMath, Xandr, MongoDB, true[x], LiveIntent, Technology for Youth, Myriad Supply, and Ion Group. All proceeds from the 2019 Diversity in Tech Awards will benefit Mouse.

"Xandr is honored to sponsor Mouse's 2019 Diversity in Tech Awards," said Kirk McDonald, CMO,  Xandr. "At Xandr, our purpose is to make advertising matter, and a key priority for us as a company is to build a diverse and inclusive culture for our customers, partners and our workforce. We are proud to support Mouse in championing a movement to increase diversity not just in the technology space – but across all industries."

About Mouse
Mouse is a national youth development nonprofit that believes in technology as a force for good. We empower all youth and educators to engage with computer science and creative technology to solve real problems and make meaningful change in our world. We are committed to fostering greater diversity and humanity in STEM and empower youth -- and all those that educate them -- to access and amplify technology as a force for good. www.mouse.org

Media Contact:
Finn Partners on behalf of Mouse
[email protected] 
212.715.1595

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