Ada Developers Academy Unanimously Chosen As A Recipient of the $10 million from the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge
Seattle tech startup poised for national expansion as a recipient of a $10 million grant to bring economic justice to the tech sector.
Contact: Rakia Wells, [email protected]
SEATTLE, WA — July 29, 2021 – Today, Ada Developers Academy, a cost-free coding school for women and gender expansive people, announces it was awarded $10 million through the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge, to expand economic power and influence for women and gender expansive people through careers in the technology sector.
“With Equality Can’t Wait funding, Ada will expand across the country, adding new locations in each region and thousands of women and gender-expansive software developers to the field,” shared Ada’s CEO, Lauren Sato.
Currently, women represent only 26 percent of the computing workforce and 11 percent of senior leadership roles in tech. This issue is driven by the lack of effective and accessible pathways into the field and an inhospitable environment that results in markedly higher drop-out rates for women in tech. Ada Developers Academy has found a working model that fundamentally shifts who has access to, who builds, and who benefits from the technology sector.
Since its inception in 2013, Ada Developers Academy has served 500 graduates, with a 97 percent graduation rate, a 94 percent job placement rate, and an average salary increase of 160%. With the newly granted Equality Can’t Wait funding, Ada Developers Academy will serve 3,000 students and bring its proven training program to five major US markets by 2025. By 2030 Ada Developers Academy will serve over 10,000 participants across five cities and its digital campus, increasing each participant’s lifetime earnings by $7,000,000 each – creating $70 billion in wealth for women and gender-expansive people in just ten years.
“Over 500 Ada alums (Adies) are already hard at work every day building products that influence all of our lives, and they are gaining financial independence at the same time. They are buying their first home, paying off debt, taking care of family members, raising children, and giving back to their communities,” says Lauren. “At Ada, we believe we can achieve dramatic increases in the power and influence women, and gender-expansive people hold in this country by leveraging the wealth and cultural engine of our time: the technology sector. This funding means thousands of more Adies, and as a result, resilient economies and thriving communities that benefit everyone.”
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About Ada Developers Academy
Ada Developers Academy is a non-profit, cost-free coding school for women and gender-expansive adults. We prioritize serving Black, Latine, Indigenous Americans, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA+, and low-income people. Ada’s immersive training and internship program create pathways for thousands of people from disinvested communities to become impactful software developers.
More About the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge
The Equality Can’t Wait Challenge–hosted by Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, with support from MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and managed by Lever for Change–is the first competition centered on gender equality with an award of this magnitude and highlights the groundswell of energy and activism of the gender equality movement. For the full announcement of the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge awardees, please see here.