EDequity Global Hosts ‘21 AWS Global Innovation Summit; Graduates Over 45 Participants from Across the Globe

EDequity Global Hosts ‘21 AWS Global Innovation Summit; Graduates Over 45 Participants from Across the Globe

EDequity Global AWS Global Innovation Summit

“In the face of the global COVID crises, how do we put the women and people who have suffered the largest economic effects at the center of recovery efforts and work toward fixing long-standing inequalities, by leveraging technology?” Shauna Ruyle, Founder & Executive Director, EDequity Global

Facing recovery from a global economic crisis, high unemployment, increased poverty, stagnating income growth, lowered GDP, and community college enrollment plummeting (in California, USA), is important to understand the different ways that technology is changing the world of work and how together we can stimulate inclusive economic growth through education. Hence, Edequity Global with the support of 30+ sponsors and partners including AWS, American Association of University Women (AAUW), Google, Netflix, ThingLogix, African Leadership University, California State University Office of the Chancellor, The Basement UCSD, Southwestern College, and more – has taken the bull by the horns to equip women, underserved young graduates and entrepreneurs in communities across the globe with 21st century cloud skills at the ‘21 Global Amazon Alexa Skills Challenge.

The ‘21 Global Amazon Alexa SkilIs Challenge received over 300 registrants from across the globe with 46 women, marginalized college/university student and entrepreneur graduates coming from 6 countries (over 70% participants from Nigeria, then USA, India, Kenya, Brazil and Mexico). These impressive alumni completed the 5-week AI primer, formed teams and built innovative Alexa Skills to address one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

‘21 Global Innovation Summit
EDequity Global has organized the 2-Day Virtual Global Innovation Summit as an exciting “finale event’ and celebration to showcase graduate technology solutions to global problems, leveraging AWS. Business leaders, educators, nonprofits and civic leaders from the US and across the globe will join three leadership round tables to discuss the most pressing political, economic, environmental and human rights issues facing this generation today.

Highlights
• 3 trail-blazing keynotes including:

London Bell, 2020 African Descent Fellow, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Founder and President Bell Global Justice Institute
Diya Wynn, AWS Senior Practice Manager for AI/ML Ethics
Marianna Holiday, AWS Educate International, Education to Workforce Solutions

• 17 global leaders
• 3 leadership roundtable discussions
• 8 international team fast-pitch demos
• 6 tech all-star judges
• 20 AWS scholarships awarded
• 350+ attendees
• 30+ partners

AWS Demo Day
April 17, 7-11am US Pacific Time / 3-7pm West Africa Time
Following the 5-week artificial intelligence (AI) primer and project submissions, 8 teams will be invited to deliver their fast-pitch demos on AWS Demo Day, April 17, 2021 at the Global Innovation Summit for a chance to win scholarships toward AWS training & certification! Participants from 6 countries
including (Nigeria, USA, India, Kenya, Brazil and Mexico) will present their Alexa skill solutions to global problems in a fun, interactive livestream format.

Leadership Roundtable Discussions
April 28, 7am-2pm US Pacific Time / 3-10pm West Africa Time
The leadership round table discussions will center around three important themes:

We Connect The Dots & EDequity.Global Merge Organizations to Build Capacity and Expand Global Reach

We Connect The Dots & EDequity.Global Merge Organizations to Build Capacity and Expand Global Reach

Westbury, New York, April 21, 2021 We Connect The Dots announced today that the EDequity.Global organization founded and lead by Shauna Ruyle a San Diego, CA based organization is now a brand within the We Connect The Dots, Inc. nonprofit organization. Over the past two years We Connect The Dots has supported Shauna and her mission to impact equity in tech education globally. The two organization leaders saw a clear path where they could leverage strengths and increase their overall impact together. The combined effort allows the organizations to create a greater impact without increasing organizational overhead by reducing redundancies. Shauna Ruyle who has been the visionary and leader for the EDequity.Global brand will begin to play a key role in the We Connect The Dots organization working to expand the EDequity.Global brand and integrate it into the We Connect The Dots social enterprise of brands, Code-A-Thon, CreatingSTEAM, Community Ambassador Program and Unlock The Box brand.

We Connect The Dots, Inc. a Westbury, NY-based non-profit offers underrepresented populations and at-risk youth the opportunity to engage in experiential learning programs for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM).  The programs are designed to assist young people in preparing for entry into America’s evolving workplace. We Connect The Dots was founded by entrepreneur and Microsoft veteran Laurie Carey to address the digital divide in communities nationally. Currently the organization works with students, in Long Island, the Greater New York Metro area, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, California, Illinois, Virginia, and Iowa. The not-for-profit’s programs provide underrepresented populations from low-income communities and others with opportunities to access and personally experience working in STEAM focused disciplines. These programs give students the skills they need to enter the workforce or continue their education in STEAM related fields such as engineering, science and computing.

San Diego, CA-based EDequity.Global is a global coalition of partners advancing education and economic equity for women and BIPOC youth leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS). Shauna Ruyle an entrepreneur and Microsoft veteran, founded the EDequity.Global brand to address the growing need to support women and people who have suffered economically, to fix long-standing inequalities in education and to build a more diverse workforce in the tech industry. EDequity.Global recently completed the second year of their AmazonAI Challenge with over 300 registrations from across the globe. The program competition consisted of 46 women, marginalized college/university students and entrepreneurs coming from 6 countries (over 70% participants from Nigeria, then USA, India, Kenya, Brazil and Mexico).

Both women credit their background at Microsoft in helping them succeed with such a massive undertaking and aim to empower young women and underrepresented students hoping to make an impact in the world of STEAM.

These two powerhouse women are driven by passion to create change and their entrepreneurial spirit drives innovative programs that span the globe. With an east and west coast presence the organization will continue to expand its impact to support building a more diverse workforce in tech for women and underrepresented populations.

“I am excited about our future together and look forward to seeing how the organization evolves over the coming year. Shauna brings so much to the organization with her marketing and business leadership, an established network in the industry, and a passion for change in education, she will enhance our team greatly.” Laurie Carey Founder of We Connect The Dots.

“I am thrilled to join We Connect The Dots. This collaboration provides the opportunity for networking and mentorship relationships and will help EDequity.Global’s overall mission to advance economic equity and cloud education for women and BIPOC youth, leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS). Together with Laurie and her social enterprise we can move faster on our journeys to help millions of women, girls and underrepresented populations learn in-demand tech skills and secure resilient careers.” Shauna Ruyle Founder and Executive Director, EDequity.Global

About We Connect The Dots and EDequity Global

We Connect the Dots, a non-profit educational organization founded by Laurie Carey in 2013, seeks to use learning and coaching models to create positive outcomes across education and professional development communities and provide engaging learning experiences. We Connect the Dots exists in-concert with Ms. Carey’s for-profit entity, Nebula Academy (a D.B.A. of Laurie Carey Consulting). Nebula Academy’s mission is to use cognitive learning and coaching models to create positive outcomes across education and professional development communities, where technology is used as a tool for supporting productive and engaging learning experiences. http://www.we-connect-the-dots.org. EDequity Global, is a brand within the WCTD organization, founded by Shauna Ruyle in 2019, EDequity.Global is a global coalition of partners advancing cloud education and economic equity for women and BIPOC youth leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS). www.edequity.global.

The demographic case for investing in America’s children

The demographic case for investing in America’s children

Originally published by Brookings Institution, William H. Frey

The Biden administration has made no secret about its intention to focus on investing in the nation’s youth. With its allies in Congress, the White House’s “American Rescue Plan” proposes to provide thousands of dollars of cash payments to families with children. This, alongside increased attention to education, caregiving, and other family support measures, signals the administration’s spotlight on the well-being of children. Although investment in the nation’s youth is a long-held staple of American politics, it was clearly not an emphasis of the Trump administration, which paid more attention to appeasing its largely older political base.

Read full article

Meet the ’21 Mentor Team

Meet the ’21 Mentor Team

EDequity.Global wants to give a HUGE THANK YOU to 9 selfless, all-star tech professionals who are mentoring/coaching international teams of women, BIPOC college/university students and entrepreneurs to imagine the future with voice at the Global Amazon #AlexaSkillsChallenge!

Mariam Hazali
Niles Pyelshak
Maria Lupetini
Franky Fuentes, Ph.D.
Sedleigh Adams
Sam Rastovich
Nicholas Gatehouse
Seema Moorjani
Woody Zuill

Mentors are coaching 9 international student teams to build #Alexa Skills that address these United Nations #SustainableDevelopmentGoals: 🌍

#ClimateAction
#GenderEquality
#NoPoverty
#ZeroHunger
#GoodHealthandWellBeing
#QualityEducation

Stay tuned for #AWS Demo Day!

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