An info session is an optional session you can attend prior to the conversations to ask any questions you may have and meet the facilitator. You can sign up for an info session here.

Information Session Dates: (interested folks attend just one)

Option 1:
Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 10-1045am pst

Option 2:
Thursday, September 15, 2022, at 4-445pm pst

Absolutely not! All conversation pathways are free. To attend, simply complete and submit the registration form and await an emailed confirmation.

In order to make this project available to more folks in our community, we have multiple conversation options for each Red, Black, or Green pathway. See complete date options here.

Each conversation pod will include no more than 12 people.

These conversations will be held online using Zoom.

Each conversation is 90 minutes.

Diedra Barber will be facilitating these conversations. You can learn more about her approach here.

The framework for this project is transparently grounded in the following belief: the facilitator has little to no ability to control other people's behaviors and ultimate engagement, so she cannot offer/guarantee what some folks call “safe space.”

Also, it is important to note that the idea of “safe space” is situated in the white supremacy premise of “right to comfort” (usually only offered to and imagined by those with implicit racial and/or gender/class power and privilege).

Read more here.

You can learn about our philosophy on fostered space here.

An answer for the “I”: So Shifts the Sector is an opportunity to engage in conversations about experiencing reality as a Black/African American in the tech sector without centering the white gaze and experience. If you are wanting an opportunity to share challenges and joys specific to the Red, Black, or Green pathway focal points being offered, we are wanting you to join us because your experience and reality matter. Your voice matters. Your existence matters. We want you to join us!

An answer for the “we”: So Shifts the Sector is an opportunity to support Code2040 as it seeks to use its platform to highlight, elevate and center the Black/African American experience from the Black/African American lens with what is said and shared by us NOT what is assumed and presumed for us. Code2040 wants to know how Black/African American technologists are navigating the tech industry at the current moment. Your participation will not only contribute to this knowledge building, but you will be helping co-create a more powerful community of Black/African American technologists.

The signup link will be coming soon!

Attendees will be asked to join one of three conversation Pathways - Red, Black, or Green. Each path consists of two 90-minute online conversations and has its own focal point. We encourage you to let your experiences, story, and passion guide you in participating in the one or more pathways that speak to you.

Learn more about the journey conversation Pathways.

If you have the capacity and desire to do so, you are welcome to participate in one of the dates offered for each of the Red, Black or Green journey paths.

Yes! You have the option of signing up for a Self Made (SM) pod (as opposed to the Individual sign-up in a facilitator made Pod). You will need to have a minimum of four, and a maximum of 12 committed individuals. A point of contact for your SM pod can begin the sign-up for your group on the project registration form found here. SM pod sign-up is listed AFTER the options for individual sign-up.

There will always be at least one, possibly two conversation facilitators engaging in each online conversation pod. These folks will be taking notes in the aggregate, making notes of themes and Ah-Ha moments. If there is a desire to attribute an idea, thought, etc. by the facilitators, we will ask permission and seek consent to name and directly quote a participant. Participants have the final say for attribution and can choose to remain anonymous in any and all overall So Shifts the Sector project shareouts.

Diedra Barber, facilitator, and designer of So Shifts the Sector will create a post-project write-up. This will be done in the aggregate unless participant consent to attribute is desired and confirmed. This project write-up will be given to Code2040, for use in their social justice racial equity mission "to activate, connect, and mobilize the largest racial equity community in tech to dismantle the structural barriers that prevent the full participation and leadership of Black and Latinx people in the innovation economy."

So Shifts the Sector is not in collaboration with any employers, other than Code2040. For more on what will be shared with Code2040 see the FAQ question above. Learn more about our conversation Transparency & Confidentiality Statement here.

If we desire to share, with name specificity, any part of your offerings during conversations, we will first ask for your consent. If you do consent, we will attribute said offering to you, if and when incorporated in the final project share out. If you do not consent, generally speaking, it may still be included but will be included in the aggregate form, i.e as a theme or highlighted share that arose during our conversations.

For access to post-project information please reach out to Code2040 in winter 2023.

Absolutely! Please share the journey with your friends!