Philly’s tech startup community to study diversity issues
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Ten months after frustrations that Philadelphia’s tech startup community was paying short shrift to diversity, equity and inclusion exploded in public, a collaborative has been formed to get at the problem with data and determination.
“People got tired of just talking about it,” said Tiffanie Stanard, coorganizer and director of marketing for Open Access Philly, or OAx, a nonprofit focused on equal economic opportunity. “We have to make sure there are actions associated with it.”
In partnership with Philly Startup Leaders, which provides networking, resources and education services, OAx launched a survey last week to develop the first diversity, equity and inclusion data set for the city’s startup community to identify “the most impactful, actionable issues” and provide resources to “enact meaningful change.” Joining OAx and startup leaders in the initiative are three local startups: Guru, Mogulette and Media Bureau Inc.
“We came away from last year’s Diversity Dinner with a list of action items, said Robert Moore, a serial entrepreneur and board president of Philly Startup Leaders. “The top item was a call for more frequent opportunities to engage as a community on the subjects of diversity, equity and inclusion. It was also clear that better data would be helpful in making these conversations as productive and action-oriented as possible.”
Ms. Stanard said the goal is to get at least 1,000 founders, executives/team leaders, employees, investors, board members, advisers and vendors to take a survey on attitudes about diversity, equity and inclusion at their companies at http://bit.ly/PHLDEISurvey.
Additional input will be gathered at workshops to begin in the fall, targeting founders, leaders, board members and investors.
It’s a concrete step toward addressing a serious issue that has fomented hostility and divisiveness since a controversial panel discussion last October at the Black & Brown Founders Conference. It led to the resignation of startup leaders’ then executive director, Yuval Yarden.
Hired as the group’s first fulltime employee in March 2016, Ms. Yarden, who is white, and AfricanAmerican panel member Tayyib Smith got into a tense exchange at the conference with Mr. Smith, cofounder of Little Giant Creative and Pipeline Philly, at one point accusing Ms. Yarden of “whitesplaining” diversity shortcomings in the tech community.
Later that month, tensions remained high at the Annual Philly Startup Leaders Diversity Dinner.
Aggravation and exasperation wereexpressed not only by people of color but also by women and membersof the LGBTQ community.
“There was a lot of stuff in the air that we said, ‘We actually have to do something,’ ” Ms. Stanard said, referring also to her co-organizers at OAx, Paul Wright and Jeff Friedman, as well as Mr. Moore and others from startup leaders.