Kelauni Cook

Pittsburgh Black tech careers begin with kids in S.T.E.M.-focused classrooms

Software engineer and former high school teacher Kelauni Cook is working to improve inclusion of African Americans in local tech careers, beginning with kids in school.

When Cook, a Howard University graduate, moved to Pittsburgh last year to find a job in coding, she asked herself, “Where is everybody who looks like me?” African-American men and women represent 2 percent of the tech force, and most of them are engineers.

That question led her to host an Inclusive Innovation Week event in April called “Where is Black Tech in Pittsburgh?” The event drew together City Council members, co-working space owners, startup founders and Black entrepreneurs to discuss the divide between the city’s Black and tech communities.

Cook pulled together a team of a dozen players and started Black Tech Nation, an advocacy organization intended to address awareness of that disconnect.

The first challenge for Pittsburgh, she says, is in the classroom.

“It starts from the school system and how Black kids are prepared for S.T.E.M. careers,” she says. “It hasn’t been a priority until recently. But there’s still such a long way to go in Pittsburgh public schools if Pittsburgh wants to start including African-American people who are from here. If the school system isn’t fixed and the emphasis isn’t put on S.T.E.M. subjects, then they’re going to continue to rely on people like me coming from outside and working in these positions. If you already have the people in your backyard, then there’s something that could be done.”

Read the full story at NEXT Pittsburgh.