Byte Back nabs $100K from a tech grant competition

Washington, D.C.-based tech inclusion nonprofit Byte Back won $100,000 as part of Oakland, California-based Kapor Center’s inaugural $1 million Tech Done Right Challenge grant competition. The challenge identified 10 social impact organizations working to build a more diverse and inclusive tech economy.

JUST RELEASED: Byte Back named one of 10 @KaporCenter #TDRChallenge winners! $100,000 to help us continue to increase inclusion in the tech sector and bring #techwithinreach! Read all about it at https://t.co/PQQiKZrRR2 pic.twitter.com/v8CgzB6urV

— Byte Back (@We_ByteBack) July 11, 2019

The Kapor Center is a family of organizations working to remove barriers in STEM careers.

The Tech Done Right Challenge launched in March to promote collaborations in U.S. cities to build diverse and inclusive tech ecosystems, and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The challenge posed this question to organizations to answer: What is your innovative solution to build a diverse and thriving inclusive tech ecosystem in your community?

The press release states that 120 companies from 48 U.S. cities submitted applications for the challenge. Byte Back will use its winning funds to continue to provide free, inclusive tech training and to scale cross-sector partnerships to strengthen graduates’ pathway into living-wage careers, Yvette Scorse, communications director at Byte Back, told Technical.ly.

“Our economy has changed, and Byte Back is providing the training for individuals who have been left behind,” said Byte Back Executive Director Elizabeth Lindsey in a statement. “Thanks to the Tech Done Right Challenge and our partnership with the Kapor Center, we’re building a more equitable and inclusive tech sector. We’re thinking differently about diversity, and together we’re changing the face of tech.”

Byte Back wasn’t the only DMV company to be awarded: Baltimore-based Baltimore Corps, a nonprofit fostering social innovation, equity and racial justice, also won $100,000 from the challenge.