This is why I'm so obsessed with HBCUs and drop-out rates.

Years ago I tried to give an HR SVP grief for not hiring more Black CS PhDs.

They shared that there were only 4 CS PhDs awarded to Black folk in the nation that year.🤯

They interviewed all 4.

2 passed. Both accepted. https://twitter.com/vj_chidambaram/status/1270039158342418435
Rabbit hole...

I volunteer for an amazing program that brings CS profs from HBCUs and HSIs to silicon valley. I got a bunch of them in a room and asked them,
"What would have the greatest impact on increasing the number of Black women CS PhDs?"

About 5 of them said, "Money!"
I asked if they meant scholarships. They said that's not enough. I asked them to clarify.

They said, "Most of our best students drop out! ☹️ Financial hardship. What you think are our top students, are just the intersection of 'good students' and 'has financial support'"
Out of every 100 Black men that start college, ~60 drop out. 🤯

They don't drop out for grades. The primary reason for leaving college, is financial hardship.

Makes sense. Of those 100, 65 are financially independent (read: full time job + school, with no family money).
They don't mean to drop out completely. They "take a break," and never come back. The inciting incident for the break is usually an unexpected expense of less than $2000.☹️

This affects students of all races. But due to systemic racism, it is extremely common for Black students.
Let me put it another way: you can build a simple race-independent model to predict someone's likelihood of graduating from college by asking 2 questions:
* Are you rich?
* Is your family rich?

This is a stronger signal than GPA. 🤯

If they answer no to both, 1 incident and...
Another implication...

There's a halo effect around Black professional athletes. 🤯

If your cousin plays for the Lakers, they're not letting "the computer whiz" drop out if Spelman for want of $2000.

Keeping Black folk poor, depresses graduation rates more broadly.
One more implication...

Amortized over 10 years, many of the Black folk that work with you in tech, are in the same earning bracket as pro athletes.

You have co-workers that provide this financial support to extended family. Not just tuition. Covering those $2K expenses. 🤯
Black kids typically need to borrow more in student loans than non-Black kids (again systemic racism, wealth and income disparity).

So even those that do finish undergrad, are often $100K+ in debt and not in a good position to choose another 6 years of education over a paycheck.
So now you understand why even though I didn't go to an HBCU, I donate to every single HBCU, every year: They have high density of Black STEM graduates.

And even though I don't care that much about sports, I'm a part owner of a pro college bball league: +$3B / year wealth xfer
Sometimes it's not about mentorship or sponsorship. It's just about removing the obstacles that are preventing the expected outcome.

How might we get 100 Black women CS PhDs in a year?

From 1800 total CS PhDs
~900 expected women and non-binary
~100 expected Black
One idea, sort of live:
Foundations capable of granting "no questions asked" $2000 emergency stipends to the top 100 Black women CS students who've shown potential for pursuing a CS PhD.

Another:
Some of the Research Team leads at BigCos... already are PhD advisors? 🤷🏿‍♂️
You can follow @mekkaokereke.
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