When I sat down to write this piece I had no idea Google this week would be at the center of a discussion about diversity and inclusion. Their CEO, Sundar Pichai, yesterday canceled a company-wide town hall meeting and spoke at Made with Code–a coding event for women–telling those in attendance, “there’s a place for you in this industry.”
It’s been over four years since Sheryl Sandberg released Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Millions of copies have been sold. Facebook under her leadership and in conjunction with Grand Circus, a Michigan-based coding bootcamp that helps launch tech careers, will be training 2,000 people in Detroit to become the next leaders in coding and social media marketing.
An internal memo at Google from a now former software engineer has made diversity and inclusion, once again, the center of conversation. In it he questioned both diversity training and the ability of women to be successful at coding.
While the memo itself has been covered at length. It opens up the discussion about what each company, especially iconic ones in Silicon Valley, can do to create opportunities for everyone in America.
Facebook Bets On Detroit
“One of the things we’re working on at Facebook is making sure that the diversity of our field and our industry represents the diversity that’s out there in the world because when you have more voices at the table with more diverse backgrounds, you make better decisions,” said Sandberg in an interview with Fox 2 Detroit.
“This is not for your brother, this is for you,” she added.
Facebook, with its program in Detroit, isn’t simply doing standard corporate social responsibility. It’s not a marketing ploy. It’s on-brand and in-depth. It’s a strong and lasting partnership with a city that has seen its fair share of negative memos written about it.
Did You Know Detroit Made A Comeback?
The motto “Detroit vs. Everybody” didn’t come out of thin air. What’s you first thought when Detroit comes to mind? It might no be positive. But Forbes and others have dubbed it this year, America’s Comeback City. The unemployment rate, once at 19 percent, is now down to 5.3 percent. The poverty rate is now a full percentage point below the national average.
Detroit powerhouses like Ford have also seen a resurgence in the last decade. Quicken Loans owner and Detroit-native, Dan Gilbert has brought the impact of a billionaire investor with the personal mission of restoring one of the largest and greatest cities in America. Brands like Shinola have moved to the area and built their brand around the culture of Detroit.
“Building the business here in Detroit, in a very grassroots way, we have engaged the community. It’s not about Shinola but about everyone that’s involved. That’s why we attached Detroit to our brand, our brand to Detroit and shined a positive light on what the future here holds and what the past has created.” said Jaques Panis, President, Shinola.
The energy, investment and upswing in Detroit are obvious but tech is where the real growth is at the end of this decade and beyond. Silicon Valley, ripe with benefits, also has its negatives especially for startups. The goal with a program like Facebook’s partnership in Detroit is not only to create a diverse, inspired and qualified workfroce for the future but to inspire a new generation of creators and makers from Detroit.
How Detroit Can Compete With Other Tech Destinations
Innovation and entrepreneurship grew Silicon Valley, Houston and Seattle in to major cities, vaulting them over Detroit.
“Partnering with Facebook allows us to continue to position our graduates as leaders in the technology field,” said Damien Rocchi, CEO of Grand Circus. “The specialized training that this bootcamp offers in React prepares students with the necessary skillset to thrive in today’s digital environment and fill a shortage of computer coding professionals.”
Detroit has billionaires, investors, large iconic brands and a collective energy that supports their own. Add a highly-trained pool of tech talent to that mix and suddenly Detroit becomes a destination for startups and established companies to locate and/or relocate.
Sandberg joining fellow female executive General Motors CEO Mary Barra to announce this partnership is more than symbolism. It’s a clear statement that Facebook is working with Detroit to create a future for tech that looks drastically different from the Google memo or a fictional episode of Silicon Valley. It’s a future of inclusion where stereotypes will be broken, closed minds will open and one city may restore its place at the top of American industry.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.