Black Futures Hackathon will inspire teens to enter tech jobs

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GREENWOOD Dist.–Urban Coders Guild and Atlas School are teaming up again for this year’s Black Futures Hackathon, when students will honor the Black pioneers of the past and future.

Tulsa middle and high schoolers will cruise through the intersections of tech and Black history as they collaborate on creating their own projects from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, February 24 inside Atlas School, located at 15 N. Cheyenne Ave.

Mikeal Vaughn, executive director of Urban Coders Guild, worked with Atlas School last year to introduce students, like the ones in his program, to the industry with the fastest potential for building generational wealth.

“We have to be mindful of the fact that Tulsa is now a nationally recognized Tech hub,” Vaughn told the Black Wall Street Times Wednesday. He wants to make sure young Tulsans, especially Black Tulsans, aren’t left behind as tech takes over the economy.

“We have to have young folks, start them young, and give them the experiences that will allow them to explore these careers,” he said.

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Black Futures Hackathon 2024

At this year’s event, Vaughn said the goal is to give the skills and resources to enter the tech industry while immersing them in a more collaborative experience. One project involves working with the students to help them craft their own Black history websites.

With Tulsa full of tech programs on the post-secondary level, Vaughn’s Urban Coders Guild is part of a burgeoning network of tech edupreneurs (education entrepreneurs) who want to funnel the next generation of Tulsans to college programs.

“We invest heavily in sports, whether that’s time and money and commitment,” Vaughn said. “I really want our young folks, especially our young Black folks, our young women, our Latinx community, our Indigenous communities to come out and at least have some experience with computer science and coding because we are building this is tech economy.”

Last year, nearly 50 students from sixth through 12th grade participated in building robotic cars. This year, new students will claim prizes in more collaborative, interactive projects.

Nearly 103 years after a city-sanctioned racist mob tried to extinguish the future of Greenwood’s children, Urban Coders Guild is ensuring the seeds that survived the embers of hatred sprout into leaders of a tech revolution.