TechGirlz to open source its curriculum, aims to hire 1-2 initial staff

TechGirlz is staffing up.

Cofounded by Chariot Solutions Chief Marketing Officer Tracey Welson-Rossman, the three-year-old nonprofit focused on encouraging teenage girls to get excited about technology has set its sights on scaling. Welson-Rossman is realistic about what TechGirlz needs.

“An all-volunteer operation is not sustainable,” she said at last week’s Open Access Philly meeting. 

TechGirlz will hire one to two staffers to help with operations, Welson-Rossman said. And that’s just the start: She also plans to collect data to prove TechGirlz’ impact and to begin sharing its curriculum with other organizations in order to have a broader reach.

“We didn’t plan to be curriculum creators,” Welson-Rossman said, “but that just wasn’t the case.”

The TechGirlz model has gotten plenty of national buzz. Its summer camp was featured in the Wall Street Journal and Inc. last year (this year, a student will travel from North Carolina to attend it) and Sheryl Sandberg even gave the nonprofit a shout out during her stop in Philly. Last February, TechGirlz won a $5,000 grant from the eBay Foundation for afterschool programs.