Benedict College, Google continue partnership to increase diversity in tech industry

COLUMBIA — Benedict College's partnership with Google, an effort designed to increase diversity in the tech industry, is continuing with a second group of students.

The historically Black college in Columbia was one of the first colleges to partner with Google and TalentSprint, an educational technology company, when the mentoring program launched in 2022 with 18 students from Benedict.

This month, the college announced seven more students will be part of the second cohort.

"We are honored to have been selected to participate in this powerful and innovative program," Benedict College President Roslyn Clark Artis said in a statement. "Partnering with Google and TalentSprint in one of the fastest growing fields of computer science and software development gives our students a distinct advantage in the tech marketplace."

The program, called Techwise, offers students free training to prepare themselves for jobs in the tech industry. Students in the 18-month program are awarded a $5,000 stipend and are paired with a Google software engineer as a mentor.

The goal is to increase diversity in the tech industry, which has a higher percentage of men and White people than the U.S. workforce population as a whole. Black people hold 8 percent of tech jobs despite making up 12 percent of the overall workforce, according to a 2022 survey by CompTIA, which annually compiles a State of the Tech Workforce report. Latinos and women are also underrepresented.

Benedict College is one of two HBCUs participating in the program, which has been championed by California Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley.

Khanna visited the college this month and has expressed frustration with the limited number of Black executives in tech. He's called for the federal government to expand the Techwise program, which is currently privately funded, so that more students can participate.

He used to teach at Stanford and saw how his students benefited from close networking with venture capitalists. Through mentoring, the Google program helps build those connections for students who wouldn't have access otherwise.

"It's not that the kids at HBCUs and Benedict are any less intelligent, it's that they don't have the same networks to the VCs. They don't have the same Rolodexes to the tech companies," Khanna said on a call with reporters April 27. "So, government can be a convener. We can say, ‘Look, there's talent here and you need to look at that talent and make a deliberate effort and intentional effort to overcome the stereotypes of where you hire from.'"

Khanna previously worked with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn to create a similar partnership between Zoom, the video conferencing site, and Claflin University, the state's oldest HBCU.

The Zoom partnership began in 2020 and runs for five years, offering students at the Orangeburg university access to internships at the company and scholarships.

"These types of programs can be transformative," Khanna said.