The Hidden Genius Project, founded in Oakland, California in 2012 is changing the paradigm of high black male unemployment coexisting in a job market with a plethora of available high paying, high tech jobs. The founders, five black male entrepreneurs and technologists, made this their mission. And in the years since the organization’s founding the impact is tangible.
In just their first year Hidden Genius went from being staffed only by volunteers, with a budget of $1,500, and serving only serving 5 students to receiving a $500,000 Google Impact Grant.
In 2019 the organization traveled to London and South Africa to host a “Tech SLAM” exposing youth of color to tech career pathways. During the Covid Pandemic The Hidden Genius Project made the nimble switch to an online Global Tech SLAM. The digital event provided a transformative intercontinental tech experience to youth globally.
To date the organization has served 10,200 youth across all their programs, providing 772,800 hours of training. Roughly 500 of those served, grades 9th to 12th, participated in organization’s intensive 15-month immersion program. And they have expanded from Oakland to include cohorts in Richmond, California, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago.
The co-founders; Jason Young, Isaac Hayes, Kurt Collins, Kilamanjaro Robbs and Tracy Moore are all role models extraordinaire with education backgrounds including Harvard, MIT, Western Washington University and Duke University. They are dynamic, active technologists with enterprises including Mindblown Labs, Facebook/Meta, Shebang Research Services and VeraVis Executive Coaching.
Since its start the organization has expanded its vision to encompass, modeled on the Ron Brown Scholarship Program, providing life-long networking relationship opportunities for those it serves. And, it has set its sights on becoming a leading incubator for black male entrepreneurs and technologists. To learn more, or to use your social network support their goals and to share their good works visit https://www.hiddengeniusproject.org