Cognizant Foundation Donor Spotlight Q&A
Please share a little about the Cognizant Foundation.
The Cognizant Foundation was established in 2018 to inspire, educate and prepare people of all ages to succeed in the workforce of today and tomorrow. We believe the tech industry can serve as an engine to unlock economic opportunity and expand equity in communities around the world. But that won’t happen unless we rethink existing talent pipelines and create more accessible pathways into high-paying STEM careers—that’s why our work focuses so heavily on supporting historically excluded and underrepresented populations.
Why is Girlstart, or other organizations like us, important to the foundation?
We know that early identity plays a powerful role in the jobs and careers we ultimately have. To expand and diversify the pipeline into fields like technology, more people need to be able to see themselves in the work—and that needs to start early on. Girlstart’s work is so important, because its programs successfully introduce girls to STEM concepts and career awareness at the ages where we find inspiration for our future.
What change does the foundation wish to see in the STEM field, and how do you plan to be a part of that change?
According to a recent AAUW report, “Women make up only 28% of the STEM workforce, and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college. The gender gaps are particularly high in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering.”
Our approach to address these alarming trends is to amplify, empower and accelerate the growth of proven models of community led programs—such as Girlstart. With partnerships like ours, we aim to unlock human potential and create more robust talent pipelines starting in a student’s early education years. As the girls impacted by Girlstart’s programs progress throughout their academic and professional careers, we hope they have access to the tools, resources and networks to realize their full potential.
Why does the foundation think it is important for girls to have positive experiences in STEM education?
As technology transforms work in just about every sector of the global economy, these advances continue to create unparalleled opportunities for many—however, far too few have access to the quality STEM education, training and opportunities required to improve their economic mobility in a changing landscape.
Starting at an early age, girls are discouraged and deterred from STEM topics in elementary school—this is one reason for the stark gender imbalance in our workforce. To combat this, foundations like ours must make strategic investments to break flawed systems and build new ones so that at every point in a girls’ learning journey, they have the tools, resources and networks necessary to develop competencies in scientific inquiry and reasoning—and in turn, a deep interest in STEM and computer science fields.
How is the foundation helping bridge the gap in representation in the STEM field for women of color?
In addition to support for organizations like Girlstart, offering young girls the opportunity to engage with STEM concepts from an early age—we are proud of other grantee partners, such as Break Through Tech and Reboot Representation and their tireless work to remove barriers and create innovative opportunities for women (especially women of color) to secure and thrive in STEM academic programs, internships and high-paying tech careers. We recently highlighted these two organizations and their work on International Women’s Day, as we detailed the foundation’s commitment to challenge the barriers facing women in STEM.
In the past year, what steps have you taken to diversify the STEM workforce pipeline in North Texas?
Girlstart is a longstanding partner to both Cognizant and the Cognizant Foundation, and we know the girls who experience Girlstart’s programs successfully go on to pursue education and career pathways in STEM. In addition to this partnership, we have additional grantee partners working to diversity the STEM workforce in Texas—such as NPower Texas, which prepares veterans and their families for tech careers; as well as CodePath, Flatiron School and Turing School, all providing historically excluded students with STEM and digital skills training, certificates and career opportunities.
Anything else you would like to share about the Cognizant Foundation?
We just want to echo how proud we are of our partnership with Girlstart and how excited we are to continue our work together. If anyone is interested in connecting with the foundation, please feel free to follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
