As the roles of data management and analysis, among other technologies, continue to expand across the spectrum of modern industries, the need for an adequate and engaged workforce is giving more of a platform to those organizations working to empower less fortunate communities with IT knowledge and skills.

At this year’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, Marissa Elena Yanez, PH.D., founder and CEO of Empoder, sat down with Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), co-host of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, to talk about her company’s efforts to bring tech classes to communities that would otherwise have little access.

Making it real

Early in the interview, Yanez spoke of her own childhood in Silicon Valley, and of how difficult it was to find opportunities to learn about technology even in that setting. This experience, along with noting how common it was for tech-focused communities to have a barrier keeping lower-income families nearby from joining in, formed a large part of her drive to form Empoder and work to break down those barriers.

“There really needs to be a significant effort to not just create opportunities, but efforts to engage lower-income communities,” Yanez said, going on to explain how Empoder is working to draw in students from these communities and give them a passion for technology so that they’ll not only pursue it later in life, but have foundational experience with the sort of coding they might actually encounter.

While Empoder does “have [these kids] create games and programs that are interesting for them,” as Yanez explained, it’s also providing them with exercises from AP Computer Science classes so that instead of the simplistic drag-and-drop exercises, they’re getting to solve problems in Java and other syntax-driven formats.

Bringing in people

And, as Yanez put it, “Instead of just creating opportunity and hoping that people come to us, we go out into the community.” Part of these efforts are put into explaining to the parents of these potential tech force teenagers the importance of technology in the modern world and illustrating how it can affect their communities.

“You talk to [parents] about how apps and [other tech] are changing the world,” Yanez said. She then laid out the essential question that makes such a difference in creating enthusiasm and dedication for Empoder’s participants and their families: “If people from our community are not the ones creating that technology, then who’s going to create the technology that addresses the problems that affect us?” she asked.

Watch the complete video interview, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Anita Borg Institute’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Photo by SiliconANGLE