A Kansas City nonprofit gets kids involved in coding to address the lack of minorities in the tech sector | KCUR

Joshua Hawkins is a black freshman in high school who enjoys tinkering with the latest technological tools.

His attitude is reserved, but he is noticeably energized by the collective passion on the vast work floor WeCode/KCthe nonprofit organization that has offered classes in robotics, web design, game and app creation for the past five years in an old building on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus.

“We’re a pretty great group, that’s for sure,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins and his 7- to 17-year-old classmates are adjusting wires and turning screws on the robot floor, Hawkins’ favorite part of the workspace. They fixate on a machine that looks completely off to the untrained eye.

WeCode/KC is a program that provides hands-on technology lessons to students in underserved communities. It is designed to give students in urban schools access to an education that other students have received for decades, resources that have served as a pipeline to college degrees and lucrative jobs in the growing technology sector. According to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity CommissionAlthough the high-tech population has become more diverse over the past decade, in 2022 there were still significant barriers to equal opportunity for people of color.

A “lucrative career path”

Tammy Buckner, a Black woman and founder and CEO of WeCode/KC, created the program in 2019 after 25 years in various tech roles.

“I didn’t see people who looked like me, I didn’t see minorities or blacks in general,” she said. “How can I make a difference in our community and show other people how to get involved in technology since it has been such a lucrative career path?”

Buckner knew from an early age that she had a talent for electronics. As a child, she had a computer that she was constantly tearing down and rebuilding. She also had an uncle known as the neighborhood electronics repairman, who was her mentor from an early age. Today’s young people, she said, aren’t getting that basic computer science education.

“Most of them don’t have the experience they need to actually be creators,” she said. “Because they’re playing on their phones, they’re playing video games and absolutely they have that knowledge, but they’re not exposed to making those games.”

To date, WeCode/KC has served more than 3,500 children, 93% of whom are Black, according to Buckner. The leadership is also predominantly black.

Of the seniors graduating in 2023, WeCode/KC reports that 60% have pursued a degree in computer science, engineering or related fields. According to Buckner, 100% of the graduating class of 2024 did the same.

She said efforts to bridge the gap in technology education are urgent.

“If we don’t engage with technology,” she said, “they will rewrite our history without us.”

To ensure that this does not happen, the National Association of Black Engineers has sought to organize, support, and promote the academic and professional success of Black engineering students and professionals since the organization was founded in 1975.

Grant Lewis serves as community outreach coordinator for the Kansas City chapter. He also serves as a senior technical technician for Honeywell in Kansas City.

Like Buckner, Lewis grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, where he tinkered with electronics such as VCRs, radios and television sets in the 1990s, but did not participate in formal computer science training.

“The number of kids studying engineering was low in my day,” he said, “because (although) some of these ideas were born, they didn’t make it into some of our local schools.”

Today, as mentors and advisors to Black youth, his students explore the many different career paths open to them. He also reminds them that not so long ago, programs like WeCode/KC did not exist.

“I encourage them to be open to opportunities that could change their entire lives,” he said.

The nonprofit KC Tech Council has been monitoring the Kansas City tech scene since 2016 and today serves as an advisor and advocate for the industry. According to Kara Lowe, CEO of KC Tech Council, children would do well to consider a career in one of the many technology-based fields. “These prosperous jobs are a means to creating wealth for generations,” she said.

As of October 2024, the average wage for active tech jobs in the US was $85,000. According to the US Census, the median income for Black households was $56,490 in 2023, and $65,540 for Latino households.

The KC Tech Council reported more than 17,000 job openings in the tech sector by 2023, and Lowe would like to see a large portion of those positions filled by women and people of color.

Hoping for change

At a recent reunion of WeCode/KC graduates to celebrate the program’s five-year anniversary, University of Central Missouri freshman Jackson Winstead praised his experience with the program.

Surrounded by high school students eager to absorb student wisdom, Jackson said one of the most valuable aspects of WeCode/KC was the community. Now that he is a cybersecurity major, he feels isolated as a Black student, a contrast to the camaraderie and comfort of working with other students of color.

“I’m one of the few minorities I see in my major, and I’m one of the few minorities in my classes,” he said.

He would like to see a day where he and Joshua Hawkins, current WeCode/KC student, could work side by side in the field of cybersecurity.

“I hope that the number of minorities in the technology sector will increase within my generation. Within my lifetime.”