Call for Code Blogs

There is an opportunity gap for Black women and girls in tech, and Black Girls CODE is taking action to close that gap and show the world that Black girls can code, lead, innovate, and engineer their own futures. The Black Girls CODE mission is to provide pathways for young women of color to embrace the current tech marketplace as builders and creators by introducing them to skills in computer programming and technology.

IBM and Call for Code are proud supporters of Black Girls CODE. For the third year in a row, we are kicking off events with Black Girls CODE, and we’re excited to be back in person for several hands-on workshops and challenges throughout the year!

Starting on June 3rd, IBM and Call for Code will be in Atlanta, Georgia, co-presenting our first workshop with Black Girls CODE for 2023. The workshop is for girls age 9-17 and the theme is “Adventures of Sustainable Sheroes.” The students, or “Tech Divas,” will learn about issues impacting sustainability, such as reducing our carbon footprint and improving access to clean water. They will also learn important skills like effective storytelling. Then they will work through a guided project and learn how to code a visual, graphic story featuring IBM embeddable AI that they can share with others to inspire them to be sustainability heroes too.

The next chance to attend this workshop will be in Dallas, Texas on June 10th, and then it will subsequently be available virtually in September so that more Tech Divas can participate.

The valuable lessons learned in the June and September “Adventures of Sustainable Sheroes” workshops can be put to use by girls who go on to participate in the 3-day Call for Code + Black Girls CODE Sustainability Challenge in October. With the help of IBM mentors, this challenge has Tech Divas create practical, effective, quality applications based on IBM technologies that can have an immediate and lasting impact addressing a problem within the area of sustainability.

Girls from all around the United States have participated in this challenge in years past. Carter (10), Faith (12), Hannah (11), Kennedi (16), and Parker (8) of team SmartCycle were the 2022 Call for Code for Black Girls CODE grand prize winners. They built a web site that uses an IBM Watson Assistant chatbot to inform other kids about the importance of recycling and inspire them to take care of our environment and make a positive impact on the world.

Photographer: Lauren Silberman

This year’s Challenge will require the Tech Divas to use IBM AI technology and submit at least 20 lines of code along with a recorded video presentation and a 250-word description of their code-based solution. We are so excited to see what the teams will build this year to help people and the planet!

Visit the Black Girls CODE “Events” page to learn more and register for the upcoming workshops.