Code2040 gets $1.2M from Knight Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO — CODE2040, one of the organizations at the forefront of the effort to close the racial gap in tech, has received $1.2 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to expand its programs.

"We are very proud of our continued partnership with Knight Foundation to create access, awareness, and opportunities for black, Latino and Latina engineering talent," CODE2040 co-founder and CEO Laura Weidman Powers said in a statement.

CODE2040's mission is to make Silicon Valley representative of America one engineer at a time. Its name comes from the year of America's projected shift to African Americans and Latinos making up 42% of the population.

"More and more, people are relying on technology for their information needs. To create stronger, more knowledgeable communities it is important that the individuals who are building the technology we use represent our wide diversity," John Bracken, Knight Foundation vice president for media innovation, said in a statement.

Google backs 3-city program for black, Latino techies

Marc Andreessen gives $500,000 to diversify high tech

Black, Latino and Latina students earn nearly 20% of computer science degrees yet make up 9% of the tech industry and less than 1% of tech company founders, CODE2040 says.

Code2040 places software engineering students of color in internships with major tech companies and start-ups such as Apple, Intel and Slack. Eighty-three fellows have gone through the program. Code2040 plans to double that with the class of 2016. It has also reached more than 1,000 students through Technical Applicant Prep, which prepares Black and Latino students to land and succeed in internships and full-time jobs at top tech companies.

CODE2040 was a 2014 winner of the Knight News Challenge on Strengthening the Internet.

Follow USA TODAY senior technology writer Jessica Guynn@jguynn