Through dozens of global partnerships, GitHub is committed to investing in communities traditionally underrepresented in tech. As part of that initiative, we’re expanding our partnership with Maven, a national non-profit helping LGBTQ youth build careers in tech, and an organization we’ve worked with since 2013. GitHub is committing $100,000 over the next three years to help Maven reach more youth in the U.S., and collaborating with their team on game-changing conferences, camps, and hackathons.

Investing in queer youth events

In their own words, Maven “fosters solutions that empower queer youth to network, organize, and educate for social change”, and they’ve helped hundreds of teens go on to study tech-related fields and build careers as developers. We’ll be supporting their ambitious roadmap to reach more LGBTQ youth in tech hubs and rural areas through curriculum consultation, volunteering, and co-hosting for their three main core programs: Tech Summits, Summer Tech Camps, and the Hack 4 Queer Youth Hackathon.

  • Tech Summits: These single-day conferences bring together hundreds of youth and young adults to focus on organizing in schools and build competencies in tech. Maven hosts a variety of sessions for attendees like Tech 101 workshops, Out in Tech panels, and organizing strategy brainstorms.
  • Summer Tech Camps: Maven currently offers 1-2 week camp experiences for queer youth and allies in Austin, SF/Oakland, NYC, and Indianapolis. Each camp brings together 20 campers ages 14-20 for an in-depth tech career exploration. Youth will meet LGBTQ tech professionals and learn coding, marketing, and digital illustration as they build their own gaming startup.
  • Hack 4 Queer Youth Hackathon: These 3-day hackathons bring together tech professionals and queer youth to build tech solutions for queer youth. Maven’s 4th annual hackathon will be this fall in Chicago with around one hundred participants, and Maven will partner with oSTEM on making Hack 4 Queer Youth a part of their college national conferences.

Learn how you can support Maven’s work at mymaven.org.