By: Mary Jo Madda for The Keyword Ninth grader Ayan Cooper’s entire family grew up in the Bronx, and as his mother will tell you, you can often find him playing video games or exploring Harlem, where he attends Promise Academy I High School. …

By: Jenna Milliner-Waddell The breakout star of “Pose” is an outspoken advocate for transgender rights in front of the camera and behind the scenes, taking an untraditional path to train a community of tech workers. Angelica Ross is determined. You can see her resolve in the groundbreaking FX series Pose, in which Ross plays Candy, an outspoken transgender woman commanding respect in the 1980s-inspired New York ballroom scene. …

By: Mary Mazzoni — Even as civic tech startups launch and grow, founders of color and digital strategists find that today’s divided landscape present challenges to sustain a business based on the public’s willingness to engage in informed debates. With the midterm elections fast approaching, Americans are neck deep in political content. And if you feel you can’t click on an article or open a social media post without facing cringe-worthy diatribe in the comments section, you’re not alone.

By: Sherrell Dorsey The Plug took a look at more than 15 annual Black tech conferences to understand if and how these niche conferences are shaping inclusive cultures within the tech industry. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a Black college homecoming. Graphic tees splattered with affirmations like “Black Billionaire in the Making” are in abundance, music thumps throughout the venue, and attendees shuffling between expo halls and panel discussions keep time on Apple watches. The VIP rooms are filled…

By: Mary Mazzoni Most chronically homeless people don’t have a valid ID and can’t afford to get one. A team of Atlanta entrepreneurs are out to break the ID barrier — which can bar homeless people from getting jobs, obtaining housing, and accessing vital government services. For most of us…

By: Omotayo Banjo Black women experience worse maternal mortality rates than their white counterparts. Will machine learning make it worse or better? Giving birth in the United State can pose a fatal risk. This stark reality became evident to me immediately after I was discharged from a seven-week stay at a public hospital in Ohio, 34 weeks into my pregnancy. There, a team of doctors had monitored my fetus…

By: Sherrell Dorsey Entrepreneurs say these 56 offices offer a safe space for innovation. On February 1, 1960, four students marched to 134 South Elm Street in Greensboro, North Carolina, through the doors of F.W. Woolworth restaurant, and sat at the open counter to order lunch. But they were hungry in the wrong place. …

By: Tyler Young Village Capital’s latest report, “Beyond the Friends and Family Round: How to Help Diverse Founders Build Social Capital,” provides an overview of its VC Pathways pilot program in conjunction with UBS. VC Pathways supports African American, Latinx, and women entrepreneurs by helping them gain access to seed-stage…

By Tyler Young The tech industry, and companies like Starbucks, have spent millions of dollars to address implicit racial bias through diversity initiatives and racial sensitivity trainings. When Starbucks closed 8,000 of its stores in May for racial bias training, the company recognized it would take more than four hours…