2019 Impact | EDequity Global

Making AI Work for People and Planet

For women, disadvantaged youth, and marginalized communities

The 2019 AWS Chatbot Challenge was initiated to ensure that young individuals with some coding experience have the needed skills to become gainfully employed and fulfilled. The program was targeted at up-skilling young individuals in San Diego and beyond with cloud, AI and entrepreneurial skills.

OBJECTIVES

To explore:

What technology can do for governments and our communities
How employers, educators and governments can work together to ensure high school and college students receive a quality, affordable education and are prepared for digital transformation in the workplace

SOCIAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS

14 Partners/Sponsors: Amazon Web Services (AWS), WomenofAI.org, Netflix, ThingLogix, AAUW, Women Who Code, Girls in Tech, LatinaGeeks, We Tha Plug, SaaSMAX Corp, gNIS, WeConnectTheDots, TechSavvyWomen, and RaneMaker Institute.

Students registered: 61; 51% male/49% female, ages ranging from ~20 – 34

27 colleges and universities

Geography: Southern California and Mexico — we are making a cross-border impact!

Education level: High school grads, Associates and Baccalaureate degrees

AWS experience level: 96% Beginner/4% Intermediate

Mentors, Judges, Volunteers: 22 (local IT and tech professionals)

Keynote/Panel Speakers: 8 leaders in tech: Erica Lee (Founder, WomenOfAI.org), JJ Digeronimo (President, TechSavvyWomen), Bridget Kimball (Athena Board Member, VP and Chief Architect, Intuit Consumer Group), Shannon Maas (Senior Software Engineer at Netflix), Feyzi Fatehi (Chairman and CEO of Corent Technology), Luis Martinez, (MSOL, Director Startup Grind San Diego) Vanessa Miranda (VP LatinaGeeks San Diego, VP Girls in Tech San Diego), Franky Fuentes, Ph.D. (Data Driven Diversity & Inclusion Scholar) Christiana Russell (Panel Moderator, M.Ed, Founding Member at San Diego Tech Hub)

Panel Topics: 1) How we can close the gender and racial gap in tech with the support of education policy; 2) What tech companies can do to move the needle on equity, diversity, and inclusion

Trainers: 2 technology professionals: Sam Rastovich (ThingLogix, AWS Public Sector Partner) and Franky Fuentes, Ph.D. (Data Driven Diversity & Inclusion Scholar)