Members of the EMBRACE employee resource group recently participated in the Black Girls CODE: Code for A Brighter Future Hackathon, in partnership with Colgate. One of four employee resource groups, EMBRACE's mission is to build Yext as a lighthouse company for racial diversity, especially within the NY Tech Sector.
Black Girls CODE (BGC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields. In addition to this, the organization strives to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.
The Black Girls CODE Hackathon was a 2.5 day event held at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. The purpose of the hackathon was for girls in grades 6-12 to develop skills in ideation, collaboration, app development, and presentation. They explored issues within their communities and developed mobile apps as a lever for social change.
Two Yexters served as mentors and team leaders for the weekend. They were proud to represent Yext and EMBRACE as first-time participants of the hackathon.
One Yext leader's team, Team Quadro, was the winning team, taking home a $4,000 grand prize! Team Quadro created the mobile app DOGO, which helps pet owners track lost pets using beacon technology, as well as connects them to other pet lovers in their community.
EMBRACE looks forward to working with Black Girls CODE and creating a long-term partnership between the organization and Yext.
