Joshua Hawkins is a Black high school freshman who loves to tinker with the latest technology tools.
His demeanor is reserved, but he’s noticeably energized by the collective passion on the sprawling workspace floor of WeCode/KC, the nonprofit that has been offering classes in robotics, web design, game and app creation in an old building on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus for the last five years.
“We’re a pretty awesome group, that’s for sure," said Hawkins.
Hawkins and his 7-to17-year-old classmates are tweaking wires and turning screws on the robotics floor, Hawkins’ favorite section of the workspace. They’re fixating on a machine that looks completely done to the untrained eye.
WeCode/KC is a program that offers hands-on tech classes to students in underserved communities. It’s designed to give students in urban schools access to education other students have had for decades, resources that have been a pipeline to college degrees and lucrative jobs in the mushrooming tech sector. According to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, while the high-tech workforce has become more diverse in the last decade, by 2022, there were still significant barriers to equal opportunity for people of color.
A "lucrative career path"
Tammy Buckner, a Black woman and founder and CEO of WeCode/KC, created the program in 2019 after 25 years in a variety of tech positions.
“I didn't see people who looked like me, I didn't see minorities or Blacks in general,” she said. “How do I make a difference in our community showing other people how to get involved with technology because it was such a lucrative career path?"
Buckner knew at an early age she had a knack for electronics. As a child, she had a computer she was constantly tearing down and rebuilding. She also had an uncle who was known as the neighborhood electronics fix-it person, and who served as her mentor at an early age. Today’s young people, she said, don’t get that fundamental computer science education.
“Most of them do not have the experience they need to actually be creators," she said. "Because they're playing on their phone, they're playing video games and absolutely they have that knowledge, but they're not exposed to creating those games."
So far, Buckner said WeCode/KC has served over 3,500 kids, 93% of them Black. The leadership is also predominantly Black.
Of the 2023 graduating seniors, WeCode/KC reports that 60% pursued degrees in computer science, engineering or related fields. A full 100% of the 2024 graduating class did the same, according to Buckner.
She said the effort to bridge the divide in technology education is urgent.
“If we don't get involved with technology," she said, "they're going to write our history again without us.”
To make sure this doesn't happen, the National Society of Black Engineers has been trying to organize, support and promote the academic and professional success of Black engineering students and professionals since the organization was established in 1975.
Grant Lewis serves as the community outreach coordinator for the Kansas City chapter. He also serves as a senior engineering technician for Honeywell in Kansas City.
Like Buckner, Lewis grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, tinkering with electronics like VCRs, radios and television sets in the 1990s, but did not participate in any formal computer science training.
“The numbers (of kids studying tech) were low in my era,” he said, “because (while) some of these ideas were born, they didn't make it to some of our area schools.”
Today, as a mentor and advisor to Black youth, his students explore the many different career paths open to them. He also reminds them not that long ago, programs like WeCode/KC did not exist.
“I encourage them to be open to being exposed to opportunities that could change their whole life,” he said.
The nonprofit KC Tech Council has been keeping tabs on the Kansas City tech scene since 2016 and today serves as an advisor and advocate for the industry. According to Kara Lowe, KC Tech Council's CEO, kids would do well to consider a career in one of the many technology-based fields. "These prosperous jobs are a means to creating generational wealth," she said.
As of October 2024, the median wage for active tech jobs in the U.S. was $85,000. According to the U.S. Census, the median income for Black households was $56,490 in 2023, and $65,540 for Latino households.
The KC Tech Council reported over 17,000 tech job postings in 2023 and Lowe would like to see a good chunk of those positions filled by women and people of color, who remain underrepresented.
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in 2022, Black workers comprised 7.4% of the total workforce in the high-tech sector of STEM positions, even though the hold 11.6% of the jobs in the total workforce. The number represents just over a 1% increase over the last 20 years.
Hoping for change
At a recent reunion of WeCode/KC grads to celebrate the program’s five year anniversary, University of Central Missouri freshman Jackson Winstead heaped praise on his experience with the program.
Surrounded by high-schoolers eager to absorb any wisdom the college student had to share, Jackson said one of the most valuable aspects of WeCode/KC was the community. Now a cybersecurity major, he finds himself isolated as a Black student, a contrast to the camaraderie and comfort of working with other students of color.
“I’m one of the few minorities that I see in my major and I'm one of very few minorities that are in my classes," he said.
He'd like to see a day when he and Joshua Hawkins, the current WeCode/KC student, might work side-by side in cybersecurity.
"I'm hoping that the numbers (of minorities in tech) pick up within my generation. Within my lifetime.”
