CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, May 15, 2024 – After nearly five years of operation, the GET (Gender Equity in Tech) Cities initiative, designed to accelerate the power and influence of historically excluded people and places in tech, is embarking on a new innovative chapter: transition to community. This intentional next step will foster resilience within communities and encourage strong relationships with other ecosystem innovators and funders. Building on a commitment to long-term, sustainable impact, three partners have been selected to carry out the work of GET Cities after it sunsets this year: World Business Chicago, Radical Partners and Last Mile Education Fund.

Carrie Freeman, Executive Lead of GET Cities, looks forward to the next phase. “We want to continue the momentum,” Freeman said. “Over these past several years, we designed interventions, built partnerships and networks, and scaled collaborative pilots to advance gender-inclusive ecosystems. This transition is the natural segue to further the catalytic groundwork we have activated across our cities and networks. Our partners will continue the work and expand upon building a tech industry that reflects and addresses the needs of all.”

With these insights, three organizations and longstanding GET Cities partners will be key players in the next phase of the work, furthering the initiative’s impact:

• Last Mile Education Fund, a national nonprofit organization, addresses social mobility and tech diversity through investment in overlooked and under-resourced talent. “It is so important to fully understand students’ experiences at the intersection of gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and technology,” said Ruthe Farmer, Last Mile Education Fund founder and CEO. “We’re excited to build upon GET Cities research foundation to further understanding of what it will take to achieve gender equity in tech.”
  
  
• Radical Partners is a Miami-based social impact accelerator that invests in leaders, mobilizes locals, co-creates solutions, and builds coalitions to collectively strengthen communities. “We look forward to expanding this work and bringing gender equity at the core of all of our initiatives,” said Joan Godoy, CEO of Radical Partners. “Radical Partners has been there from the beginning of GET Cities in Miami. “Now, we can build upon our local impact and iterate the GET Champions interventions to connect more local talent – who are often unplugged from life-changing opportunities – to some of Miami’s largest and incoming tech employers.”
  
  
• World Business Chicago is the leading force behind Chicagoland’s economic development, serving as the city’s premier public-private non-profit economic development agency. “We are honored to further the mission of GET Cities in Chicago,” stated Nicole McCarthy, Vice President of Innovation & Venture at World Business Chicago. “Enhancing access to Chicago’s tech talent pool, particularly for marginalized job seekers, aligns closely with our commitment to fostering inclusive economic development. With our strategic position and extensive network, we are poised to amplify and extend the impact of GET Cities throughout our city and region.”

Research shows that more diverse companies are more innovative and profitable; however, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, only 26% of women held tech jobs in 2019, a rate that continues to fall flat.

“If we’re going to move the needle, we need to be bold and intentional about our efforts in social impact innovation. Through this transition, we can take a step back to embolden our community partners to take the reins and build upon the innovative groundwork and partnerships the GET Cities initiative has successfully laid,” implored Freeman.

For more information about GET Cities and its partners, visit getcities.org. Learn more about the partners continuing the work: World Business Chicago at worldbusinesschicago.com, Radical Partners at radical.partners.com and Last Mile Education Fund at lastmile-ed.org.