Black Lives Matter Statement

First things first:

Black Lives Matter.

Period.

We at Kenzie Academy have watched with horror as our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters in the black community, have had their rights trampled and lives ended — victims of long-standing and inarguably wrong societal and governmental systems.

The purpose of Kenzie is to see the unseen, support the underserved, and create opportunities for those who have been denied them. Therefore, we stand in solidarity with the protestors, with the victims, with every black American, and with everyone who stands up to injustice.

Before we felt it was appropriate to make a public statement we wanted to take the time to address these events with our staff and students and provide resources and support to ensure their safety. The Kenzie Fam as a whole is still very much committed to education and transforming people’s outlooks and lives. We will always support each other as we continue to tackle these deep-rooted issues.

Here’s how we’re moving forward together:

• Educating – we’ll continue to provide educational avenues for underserved populations and resources to help black professionals succeed in the tech industry. We’re currently organizing educational discussion panels in partnership with the Women Who Code organization.

• Empowering – we’re working to open doors for future black and brown students by creating closer ties to organizations specifically helping black youth around the country. To start we’re pursuing providing educational and career-building support to organizations teaching black youth to code. More details to come.

• Advocating – by promoting voices and ideas from black professionals in tech, we seek to show our support and solidarity for a future where tech is more diverse. We will continue to showcase black professionals that are making a change both at Kenzie and in the industry at large because representation matters.

– Team Kenzie