Working in the technology sector didn’t seem like an option to Jaycee Holmes until she started at Spelman College.
“I had a roommate who wanted to major in computer science and math,” Holmes said. “I had never heard of a Black girl who wanted to major in those subjects.”
Growing up in a predominately white area, Holmes had a high school teacher tell her she didn’t look like someone who would major in mathematics. But when she graduated Spelman, that’s exactly what was on her degree.
She went on to work as a program manager for Microsoft and returned to her alma mater as an interactive media professor and co-director of the Spelman Innovation Lab. She and her brother Ernest, a graduate of Morehouse College and a software engineer at Google, now run a nonprofit called CodeHouse to inspire other students of color to break into technology.
Launched in 2019, it awarded its first round of scholarships to incoming students at the Atlanta University Center, the nation's largest consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Thirty students received $20,000, a year of mentorship and entry into a four-week summer program to help pursue degrees in technology. The initiative was made possible through partnerships with tech companies, such as Microsoft and PayPal.
CodeHouse’s progress runs parallel to the growing national attention on HBCUs and Atlanta’s emergence as an East Coast tech hub. Tech giants are recognizing diversity is an asset within their workforces, a realization strengthened by studies showing it boosts innovation and revenue.
Microsoft and Airbnb recently picked Atlanta for their East Coast hubs, both citing the city's diverse talent pool. Google is in the midst of a massive expansion of its Midtown offices. Atlanta’s ethnic and racial demographics are considered a unique advantage over other emerging and established tech hubs.
Ernest said he sees companies looking to invest in and hire from HBCUs because of their concentration of Black talent.
The United Negro College Fund has seen contributions for HBCUs this year more than triple, surpassing $300 million, Clark Atlanta University President George French told Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Apple and Southern Co. are investing $25 million each to develop a technology and innovation hub for students at Atlanta University Center, the nation's largest consortium of HBCUs. The Propel Center will include a business incubator and digital learning labs with technology fueled by Apple. It will serve as a collaboration hub for HBCU students, faculty and industry professionals and could become a recruiting ground for companies diversifying their workforce.
CodeHouse is showing high school students that a career in technology is attainable, especially if they attend an HBCU. Ernest interned at Google for three summers before joining the company as a software engineer. He had six similar job offers when he graduated in 2019.
“There’s too many opportunities if you’re at an institution like this,” Ernest said of his time at Morehouse College. “If you have the skillset, the door is open.”
The Holmes siblings work with co-founder and Morehouse senior Tavis Thompson to run CodeHouse. Thompson, who has completed two Facebook internships, helps organize on-campus events.
Making sure these students see people of color in a tech role is a huge goal for CodeHouse. For the Holmes siblings, having role models in tech who looked like them sparked their motivation to enter the field. For Jaycee, it was her roommate. For Ernest, it was a high school computer science teacher.
“At Morehouse, I was always speaking to middle schools and high schools about what it’s like being a Black man in tech,” Ernest said. “A lot of students don’t get exposed to people like that, and that really hit home for me.”
CodeHouse connects high school students with technologists of color and tech companies to show them opportunities in the field. CodeHouse runs events with prizes and resources to get students interested in tech companies. The most recent event, held virtually, included 2,000 participating students and about 30 partners, Ernest said.
