Corporate America
Engagement in Education
By Gloria Romano-Barrera
Changes in the global economy and U.S. society have
provoked corporate America executives to commit to
carrying out educational initiatives through their core
business strategy and operations. These companies are
improving education at a greater scale and are creating
greater value society.
Supporting organizations to expand,
Google is committed to build products
for everyone. “In order for us to build products
that meet the needs of all of our users, including
the Latinx community, we need teams that
reflect the diversity of our users,” says April
Alvarez, Educational Equity Programs Manager,
Diversity & Inclusion, Google. “We know
we cannot get there without hiring and investing
in the talent of tomorrow.”
As part of Google’s larger commitment
to increase diversity and inclusion in
technology, Google is working to
strengthen relationships with the Latinx
community through educational efforts,
but also through work with small and
medium businesses, and making products
that are more inclusive. According to
Alvarez, it is through these relationships
that Google will improve representation
of Black and Latinx students in the
tech industry and Silicon Valley.
Alvarez and her team launched Tech
Exchange, an immersive computer science
residency program that attracts top software
engineering students and takes place on
the Google campus. In 2018, more than
17 scholars and one faculty from four
Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) and
additional Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs) were invited.
“In the spirit of getting proximate to
underrepresented communities in tech,
we’ve also expanded our GIR program
recently to include HSIs,” shares Alvarez.
“Over the past five years, we’ve grown
this program to 10 schools. And in the
fall, we’ll add three additional schools,
including two HSIs. To date, we’ve engaged
over 1,500 students through the Google
in Residence program, and look forward
to serving many more.”
Alvarez is also proud to expand efforts
in Spanish to increase accessibility in the
community. Programs include CS First, a
free, introductory computer science
18 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol. 24, No. 5, 2018
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