Verizon Awards Grant to Good Girls Write Code for Second Year

HAMPTON ROADS, Va., May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Verizon Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to the national nonprofit Good Girls Write Code to empower girls, in grades K-12, with technical skills needed to become the next generation of women-leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators of technology.

Over the last two years, the Verizon Foundation has chosen to award Good Girls Write Code with grants to further their creative STEM programs and donate them to Title 1 schools across Hampton Roads, Virginia. The combined effort provides young females, in low-income areas, access to computer science education and the exploration of STEM careers they may not have otherwise considered.

"The Verizon Foundation's continued support will help us expand our computer science resources and provide training to teachers in Title I schools across Hampton Roads.  We are determined to equip girls with the STEM skills needed to gain a competitive edge in technical careers," said Sasha Oppleman, Founder of Good Girls Write Code.

In 2017, women held 57% of professional occupations in the U.S. workforce but only held 26% of all professional computing occupations, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology. This is a staggering deficit of women in an industry that is expected to create 3.5 million jobs by 2026.

"When a group of individuals are left out of the creative conversation, as women are in the tech industry, we fail to diversify our thinking and ultimately slow innovation," said Sasha Oppleman.  Good Girls Write Code and The Verizon Foundation continue their work to eliminate the deficit of women in STEM fields by exposing young women to computer science and empowering them with the skills necessary to find solutions to real world problems.

Contact:
To learn more about Good Girls Write Code and their available program visit: www.goodgirlswritecode.org 
Follow us on Facebook (@GoodgirlsWC)
Follow us on Twitter (@GGWriteCode).

To learn more about the work the Verizon Foundation is doing visit:
http://www.verizon.com/about/responsibility/giving-and-grants

MEDIA CONTACTS: 
Sasha Oppleman, [email protected]                 
Contact: (757) 506-3100

SOURCE Goodgirls Write Code

Related Links

http://www.goodgirlswritecode.org/