diversity News of 01/16/21

Tracy Chou Launches Block Party To Combat Online Harassment And Abuse

Block Party , an anti-harassment startup that aims to help folks feel safer on social media founded by Tracy Chou, launched today. Currently only available for Twitter, Block Party helps people filter out the content they don’t want to see and ...

Fired GitHub Employee Who Warned Co-Workers About Nazis Is Seeking Legal Counsel

On the day a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, a worried GitHub employee warned his co-workers in the D.C. area to be safe. After making a comment in Slack saying, “stay safe homies, Nazis are about,” a fellow employee took ...

Human Capital: Google’S Labor Stumbles

Welcome back to Human Capital, a weekly newsletter that looks at the latest in diversity and inclusion in tech, as well as labor. This week, Google made headlines a couple of times for its workplace issues, while Coinbase found itself back in the ...

Google’S Co-Lead Of Ethical AI Team Says She Was Fired For Sending An Email

Timnit Gebru, a leading researcher and voice in the field of ethics and artificial intelligence, says Google fired her for an email she sent to her direct reports.  According to Gebru, Google fired her because of an email she sent to subordinates that ...

VCs Who Want Better Outcomes Should Use Data To Reduce Founder Team Risk

Janneke Niessen Contributor Share on Twitter Janneke Niessen is a partner at CapitalT , a serial entrepreneur and a tech diversity advocate. VCs expect the companies they invest in to use ...

Dear Sophie: Hacks For The March 2021 H-1b Lottery?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for ...

Curio Wellness Launches $30m Fund To Help Women And Minorities Own A Cannabis Dispensary

“We think of diversity as a keystone issue for the cannabis industry,” said Curio WMBE Fund managing director Jerel Registre in a conversation with TechCrunch. Registre’s conviction around this program is obvious as he explains the ...

Despite Commitment To Anti-Racism, Uber’S Black Employee Base Has Decreased

Uber today released its latest diversity report, showing a decline in the overall representation of Black employees in the U.S. despite an increased focus on racial justice this year in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. In 2019, ...

Human Capital: Uber’S Black Employee Base Shrinks

Welcome back to Human Capital, where I break down the latest in diversity, equity and inclusion, and labor in tech. TL;DR: This week, Apple announced its third head of diversity and inclusion in four years, Uber’s Black employee base shrunk ...

Reddit Appoints Second Black Board Member This Year

Reddit has appointed Paula Price, who has served on the board of six public companies, including Accenture and Deutsche Bank, to its board of directors. Price’s appointment makes her one of two Black directors on the company’s board. ...

Against All Odds: The Sheer Force Of Immigrant Startup Founders

Niko Bonatsos Contributor Share on Twitter Niko Bonatsos is a managing director at General Catalyst Partners . More posts by this contributor As VCs enroll the startup class of ...

Facebook Content Moderators Demand Safer Working Conditions

A group of more than 200 Facebook content moderators are demanding the tech company “stop needlessly risking moderators’ lives,” they wrote in an open letter to Facebook and the company’s contractors that manage content ...

Dear Sophie: Can An H-1b Co-Founder Own A Delaware C Corp?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for ...

Perkins, ACB, Benetech, Salesforce And More Announce Breakout Sessions At Sight Tech Global

Sight Tech Global is little more than two weeks out, and today we published the detailed agenda for Dec. 2 & 3. The show runs from 8 a.m. to noonish Pacific standard time. If you have not already grabbed a free pass to the 100% virtual event ...

Turo Puts $1 Million Toward Helping Black People Make Money Sharing Cars

Car sharing marketplace Turo has teamed up with Kiva to offer interest-free loans to Black people and folks from traditionally underserved communities to buy cars and then share them on Turo. The $1 million commitment aims to address the issue of ...

Human Capital: Amazon And CZI Face Labor Disputes As Biden Promises Gig Workers Better Protections

Welcome back to Human Capital. In this week’s edition of HC, you’ll read about the latest labor struggles at Amazon and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, President-Elect Joe Biden’s promises to gig workers, a primary care network for Black people and ...

Extra Crunch Roundup: Inside DoorDash’S IPO, First-Person Founder Stories, The Latest In Fintech VC And More

One of my favorite series of Monty Python sketches is built around the concept of surprise : Chapman:  I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition. [JARRING CHORD] [Three cardinals burst in] Cardinal Ximénez:  NOBODY expects the ...

Amazon Faces Lawsuit Alleging Failure To Provide PPE To Workers During Pandemic

Christian Smalls, a former Amazon warehouse employee, filed a lawsuit against the company today alleging Amazon failed to provide personal protective equipment to Black and Latinx workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The class action suit ...

Dear Sophie: What Does Biden’S Win Mean For Tech Immigration?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for ...

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Faces Racial Discrimination Allegations From Former Employee

Ray Holgado, a former employee of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, recently filed a racial discrimination complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Holgado, who is Black, worked at CZI from September 2018 through ...