Lee and Butterfield Report Back from the Valley

In 2015, the Congressional Black Caucus launched CBC TECH 2020 to increase African American inclusion at all levels of the technology industry. After a trip to Silicon Valley, CBC Diversity Task Force Co-Chairs, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), see little progress on African American inclusion. They recently wrote about their experience, saying that the tech industry’s inclusion efforts are sliding back. They visited eight tech companies, met with Black venture capitalists, tech employees, and nonprofit organizations working to build the pipeline. Their assessment was clear: “Recruiting Black tech talent is an item on most tech companies’ to-do list, but certainly not near the top. Even worse, creating an environment where Black employees feel included is even lower on the agenda,” they write. They applaud some of the efforts made by the industry, such as releasing data and acknowledging HBCUs. But they decry the lack of Black senior-level hires, low venture capital investment, and inconsistent promotion and retention. They offer a number of solutions as a to-do list for tech CEOs. See their prescription here.