THE CHALLENGE • Los Angeles County is the third largest and fasting growing tech ecosystem in the United States, but current and future workforce projections indicate a strong need to bridge a glaring skills gap. • A 2014 report from the Public Policy Institute of California predicts that by 2025, California will have an estimated 2.5 million unfilled jobs that will require at least some postsecondary education, with information technology slated to be the fastest growing sector. • At the same time, the unemployment rate is almost 15 percent for young college graduates and 42 percent for people with high school diplomas.
THE CHALLENGE
ONE SOLUTION Dakar has been working within the epicenter of Southern California’s “Silicon Beach” for more than five years to help this dynamic economic growth center become far more diverse and representa?ve of, and to benefit far more significantly from, the total LA County pool of talent. To date we have deployed over 40 mentors, and managed over $4million in www.forloveofliberty.org that have, in aggregate, inspired over 600 youth clients to break free of the powerful pull of nega?ve programming to become contribu?ng members of the technology class and local economy. We now wish to exponen?ally expand both our regional and state-‐wide reach and capacity by integra?ng measurably proven human capital development programs from other regions, recrui?ng a higher, more energized level of mentor talent, and par?cularly, developing new campaigns and tool as they relate to introducing state of the art cultural technologies as inspira?on to our target popula?ons. In order to execute this impact expansion Dakar is seeking vested interest partners such as Google Diversity to help determine direc?on, and how and what role we – together -‐ can play in providing civic and poli?cal leadership in making sure that people of color have a seat at the table.
THE OPPORTUNITY It has been clear for a while that with its strong base of universi?es and crea?ve talent, a Hollywood-‐fueled edge in digital media, a large local market and rela?ve proximity to Silicon Valley, Silicon Beach is on the verge of liT-‐off and ripe for a well-‐thought out inclusion campaign. Over the past few years, the growth in accelerators across Los Angeles County, the southern migra?on of capital and service providers from the Silicon Valley, and the resul?ng recogni?on of Silicon Beach as the third-‐best startup ecosystem in the world, have all fueled the ascent of Silicon Beach digital technology industry. Dakar is excited about the prospects of an inclusive urban pipeline across Silicon Beach in contribu?on to broadening the area fer?le ecosystem for tech entrepreneurs. Silicon Beach startups have challenges faced by startups everywhere: finding customers, product development, raising capital and hiring talent.
THE OPPORTUNITY As a region, Los Angeles County has advantages that Dakar intends to leverage to: (1) help improve our capacity to grow a more diverse and hybrid workforce, (2) forge closer ?es between our world-‐class universi?es and the technology community, (3) provide mentorship and support services for entrepreneurs, (4) build an inclusive community across the vast L.A. County areas (5) connect government to the technology community, and (6) establish partnerships between tech entrepreneurs and larger companies that might eventually buy their products. These problems can’t be solved solely by good will alone. In order to recruit thought leaders, support best of breed solu?ons research, and finance the op?mal integra?on of new best in class solu?ons atop our exis?ng mentorship ac?vi?es we ask Google to assist us in developing a pla^orm that generate measurably increased awareness and engagement from inner-‐city school districts, churches, and aTer school programs delivering mentorship best prac?ces to our targeted young entrepreneurs-‐to-‐be.
THE OPPORTUNITY Google can help us to further connect to secondary educa?on, community college, four year university students and startups to the Google diversity programs. Our projected outcome is to engage student cohorts with, capital, introduc?on to new markets, appren?ceships, and local, state and federal government opportuni?es for contrac?ng and or career placement. RESOURCES Dakar has exis?ng and proven partnerships with tradi?on and innova?ve local players like NAACP Hollywood bureau, CAA, William Morris Endeavor, Revolt TV, Sony, UCLA and USC by which we’ve already conducted successful campaigns suppor?ng entrepreneurs who are commercializing university technologies. Dakar is eager and hopeful that Google can at least modestly help us accelerate the innova?on economy by quan?fiably expanding the diversity and unique energy of its talent pool. This philosophy reflects the recogni?on of the poten?al for a mutually beneficial rela?onship between Tech Sector Icons and the local community they do business in in regions such as Silicon Valley and New York.
RESOURCES Google can help op?mize the condi?ons by which the urban tech sector in Los Angeles county can grow and thrive by suppor?ng movements such as business tax reform, offering tac?cal investment in L.A.’s growing tech hubs and execu?ng beher use of workforce development dollars in the tech industry. A modest and guided Google investment in Dakar could help us catalyze an increasingly efficient, transparent and accelerated civic-‐driven ecosystem of open data ini?a?ves, civic hackathons and beher use of online and app-‐based services in support of the growth of the local tech sector, par?cipa?on in local hiring incen?ves in both the entertainment industry, and aerospace. • MENTORING.ORG • Whitehouse Tech Hire • MY BROTHERS KEEPERS ALLIANCE • AMERICAN APPRENTICESHIP INITIATIVE • LA HIGH TECH INITIATIVE • DEFENSE MEDIA ACTIVITY Budget To Be Discussed:
• January 2016 Mentorship Month, MLK • Black History Month
• Specific Ask #1: Assist Dakar with the forma?on of a Mentorship Incubator that will assist K-‐16 students in the crea?on of Intellectual Property such as video, music, mobile apps, soTware, and connected devices. • Specific Ask #2: To provide guidance and requirements for Mentors to train students in the quest for internships and appren?ceship opportuni?es within Google or other like corpora?ons. Projected Outcome will provide Job shadowing, special projects, and other experien?al learning opportuni?es that will provide standards for training our students in real-‐world requirements. Dakar will create the ini?al applicant pool by invi?ng 200 students from top STE(A)M boot camps and classrooms in Southern California to the Google Mentor Meetup. These charter members will be celebrated and exposed to leaders in technology, media, and entrepreneurship. They will also receive mentorship and immersive training to develop them as ambassadors and return to their respec?ve schools and communi?es as student leaders. • Student will develop skills in cri?cal thinking and research as they assemble the source material for group projects. • Students will develop skills in technology, analysis, and the fine arts as they work through the research, development, produc?on and post-‐produc?on phases of the project. Students will use professional equipment and receive mentoring from successful professionals. • Social Impact Through the project, students will work to seek solu?ons to real-‐world problems. • Innova?on Students will develop their crea?vity and problem solving skills, both individually and in groups
RESOURCES
PAST /FUTURE PROJECTS
OCT. 2015 & MAY 2016 OCT. 2015
FEB. 2016
Jan/ Black History month 2016 calendar available upon request
Dakar’s Constituency
URBAN INCUBATOR
Dakar’s current approach to engagement WITH WHOM DO WE WANT TO CONNECT?
STUDENTS
YouTube Space LA CONFERENCES
WHERE CAN WE SHARE OUR MESSAGE?
S.T.E.A.M. WORKFORCE
PARTNERS
WHO ARE WE, AND WHAT DO WE STAND FOR?
WHO STANDS BEHIND OUR CAUSE?
The outcome of “as-is”, What If? • • • • •
We center everything around “us”, and our message Our conferences attract Young Scholars Of Color Our Partners support us through Mentorship We hope our ideals are well received by Influencers We have no idea if the very thing we each commit to, every day, find it’s way into the hearts and minds of our constituents
A different way to engage WHAT CHALLENGE ARE WE TRYING TO COLLECTIVELY RALLY AROUND?
WHO DO WE KNOW THAT CAN HELP US SHARE A STORY THAT ONLY WE CAN “OWN”?
CONFERENCES @YOUTUBE SPACE LA, NY THE CAUSE URBAN INCUBATOR
STUDENTS
PARTNERS S.T.E.A.M.
WHAT ARE SOME TRULY INSPIRATIONAL WAYS FOR US TO CONNECT OUR CAUSE TO THE MASSES? WHO DO WE WANT TO CONNECT WITH, & WHAT ARE THEY PASSIONATE ABOUT? WHO ARE WE, AND HOW CAN WE CONNECT OTHERS TO WHAT WE BELIEVE IN?
The opportunity with the new model...What If? • We center everything around the people we want to connect with • Everything we do, and they do, is about a common cause • What we stand for is clearly defined externally • We leverage the voice of our Partners in a meaningful way • Our outreach programs become useful, and capitalized • We connect with people around us • “Our” voice becomes “their” voice • Their needs become our solutions
Our framework for engaging differently What if... • Our YouTube Space conference had an evolving, engaging theme? • Our ideals connected with their most intimate dreams? • We delivered unprecedented results for our sponsors? • We connected with more people? • We exceeded our goals?
What if... • Our ideals connected with their most in?mate dreams? • Our outreach events had an evolving, engaging theme? • We delivered unprecedented results for our Partner? • We connected with more students of color? • We connected with more like-‐minded people mentors? • We built authen?c long-‐term rela?onships with all? • We exceeded our goals?
What if we created a campaign for good?
STUDENTS
AND EVERYTHING WE DID CENTERED ON THEIR AMBITIONS?
And what if it REALLY connected with...
STUDENTS
THAT SHARE OUR INTERESTS?
And what if we connected with...
THAT SHARE OUR COMMITMENT
MENTORS
And what if we leveraged their... THAT SHARE OUR PASSION
PARENTS
It’s about turning... THIS
INTO THIS
And here it is...
STUDENTS
TAKE THESE STUDENTS, AND LET THEM SHARE THEIR DREAMS OF CHANGING THEIR WORLD...
And then... FOCUS ON SOMETHING YOU BOTH SHARE IN COMMON... THE CAUSE URBAN INCUBATOR
And then...
TAKE THIS GROUP, AND LET THEM SHARE YOUR VISION OF THE FUTURE...
And then... MAKE THE MOST USE OUT OF THE MOMENTS YOU CONNECT WITH THEM... YOUTUBE SPACE LA CONFERENCES + VIRTUAL URBAN INCUBATOR
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INCUBATORS ACCELORATORS WORKSPACES
STUDENTS THE CAUSE PARTNERS YOUTUBE SPACE LA CONFERENCES+
INTERNSHIPS
CONNECTING WITH THE PEOPLE THAT MEAN THE MOST TO YOU IN WAYS THAT ARE BOTH MEANINGFUL AND RELEVANT.
OUR MANAGEMENT/MENTOR TEAM
OUR MANAGEMENT/MENTOR TEAM
DAVID C. TRAUB SHANE G. PASE Kashif Yvonne Harmon Chantal Lundberg Tony Cahill Ted Lai D Stevens