Apple sponsoring Code2040 fellowship program with paid internships in latest diversity effort

Zac Hall | Aug 12 2015 - 10:33 am PT

Apple this year will be platinum sponsor of Code2040’s fellowship program geared toward increasing diversity in the tech industry, the company shared with Buzzfeed. Through its sponsorship, Apple will hire 10 of the fellowship program’s 80 students as paid interns working at the company’s Cupertino headquarters.

Denise Young Smith, Apple’s VP of Worldwide Human Resources, said the partnership with Code2040 will offer new opportunities to young Latino/as and African-Americans:

“We’re excited to be working with CODE2040 toward our shared goal of more opportunities in tech for young Latino/as and African-Americans. We want every young person to have the opportunity to get the job of their dreams, and we want our teams at Apple to be as diverse as the customers that buy our products.”

Apple’s efforts toward increasing diversity in Silicon Valley and at the company have been a focal point under Tim Cook’s leadership. The company noticeably included more women on stage during its major developers conference in June after Cook mentioned the WWDC stage ahead of the keynote. Apple also expanded its scholarship program for attending that conference this year so more students and members of STEM groups could attend the event.

Apple last released its diversity report one year ago, with Tim Cook declaring that he wasn’t yet happy with the numbers yet. Last month, Smith Young said that Apple would be even more transparent in its upcoming diversity report. Most recently, Rep. Barbara Lee called on Apple to release federal hiring diversity data, which it has resisted doing so far.

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Andrew - 9 years ago

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Hiring people because they are a minority is just as bad as hiring people because they are a majority. Discrimination is discrimination no matter who it is against.