Eight years after the Tech Diversity Pledge and the TechTown program launched to change the demographics of the city’s startup technology sector, the brand is ending. But the work, partnerships and community created will continue, organizers said.
“The team has been intentional on how to transform from TechTown to broader DEI work,” said Shea Flaherty-Betin, director of economic development for Prosper Portland, the city agency that shepherded the program. Based on TechTown's own reporting the numbers didn't change, but participants have pointed to the community built around the work as a success. Talks to sunset the TechTown brand started earlier this year.
Prosper is leaning on partners like Technology Association of Oregon to take the lead on tech DEI and community initiatives. Prosper’s program called Portland Means Progress is the main DEI-focused effort for the city. Portland Means Progress had overlap in its work with what TechTown was doing and will continue with its broader focus on DEI across sectors.
Elaine Hsieh is director of community engagement at TAO. She joined the organization last year and is in charge of organizing TAO's different community groups for events and programming. This includes TAO’s Tech in Color Community, its HR and leadership community and the Founders Investing in Founders Community.
“I want to provide people the resources that they need to make their organizations as inclusive and robust as possible. I also want to provide people connections for whatever it is they need at the time,” Hsieh said. “I want people to feel like they are not alone.”
What TAO is doing with DEI
Coming into this, Hsieh understood some of the history and criticism TechTown had faced around a lack of results. She also knows she is building trust between TAO and new communities. She noted that much of the TAO team is new and is bringing new perspective to the organization. At just more than a year, she is one of the most tenured staff, she said.
“If we say tech is for everyone then tech needs to be inclusive of everyone from its inception to concept, design and execution. Everyone needs to be involved in the process,” said Hsieh. “I have been vocal to the team to make sure we are using vendors, spotlighting companies and panelists from all marginalized communities. That is important to me.”
Here’s some of the work TAO is doing:
- For the People and Culture Community, which had a lot of membership overlap with TechTown, Hsieh is creating programming around cultivating psychological safety at work. This means programming around culture and what it means to be inclusive and how to do that in a way that is not performative but part of the mission and value and intention of a company, she said.
- For the Tech in Color Community, TAO hosts monthly coworking events at a CENTRL Office location where people can have meetings and work around others in the community. Lunch is catered and people can make connections. Hsieh is working with different cultural professional organizations and is building out workshops for people to network and build their skills.
“Last year, we started with a meal (a summer barbecue) to get to know each other,” She said of the Tech in Color Community. “It’s not me forcing people to be members of TAO. It’s about community building and being with people with shared life experience who understand your perspective.”
How Portland Means Progress is doing the work
Portland Means Progress is industry-agnostic and started in 2019. It has three components that participants can select:
- Hiring and committing to creating work experiences for youth and professionals from underrepresented communities. Companies must complete annual reporting on this work. Portland Means Progress will help with workshops, connections to vetted partners and community engagement.
- Intentional purchasing from businesses in Portland that are owned by people of color. This also requires annual reporting. Portland Means Progress will help with networking, a procurement liaison, vendor fairs and industry events and tools to help document the work.
- Culture change to provide DEI training and tools for employees and leaders. This also requires annual reporting. Portland Means Progress can help with connections to DEI practitioners, tools and education.
Flaherty-Betin joined Prosper in 2021. A year earlier, the agency had started re-evaluating the TechTown program. The program has seen criticism over the years that it lacked accountability for companies that signed on to a pledge to diversify their workforces. The racial diversity within participating companies never really moved and, in some cases, got worse over the years.
“We are still committed to supporting companies in their DEI journeys. We are interested in seeing real outcomes for communities of color,” he said.
He noted that Portland Mean Progress has trackable outcomes and has already seen $400 million directed to BIPOC-owned businesses.
“$400 million is real dollars moving into the hands of BIPOC companies,” he said.
With Portland Means Progress the city is working closer with organizations like Partners in Diversity, Emerging Leaders Internship, and regional BIPOC chambers of commerce to help develop programming that is informed by the communities being served.
“Part of this is recognizing Sam (Blackman’s) legacy,” said Flaherty-Betin, referring to the late Elemental Technologies co-founder who launched the idea of TechTown to help attract talent to the growing Portland startup ecosystem. “It was (built) around his energy and leadership. I think the impact of TechTown has been the relationships and shared learning and that is still centered in Portland Means Progress, and it’s informed by the communities we want to serve.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion is also a major element of the latest five-year economic development plan for the city called Advance Portland.
“Advance Portland is centered on equity and inclusion,” Flaherty-Betin said.
