![]() | It has been suggested that
Draft:Kat Calvin be
merged into this article. (
Discuss) Proposed since April 2024. |
Kat Calvin is an African-American activist, entrepreneur, and author. [1] [2] [3]She is the founder of Spread the Vote and Project ID and the Co-founder of Blerdology. [3] [4] Calvin's organization supports Americans to obtain their IDs for housing, jobs, and voting. [1] Additionally, Calvin advocates for advanced minority representation in the STEM field. [4] [5]
Calvin grew up as a child of a parent(s) who served full-time in the United States Armed Forces. She lived in Seattle and Sierra Vista, AZ. [6] In 2005, Calvin graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a bachelor’s in theater. [7] From 2007 to 2010 Calvin attended the University of Michigan Law School, receiving her doctorate. [1] [6]
Kat Calvin, Amanda Spann, and Janelle Jolley created the hackathon series” Black Girls Hack” exclusively for black girls, becoming the first non-profit hackathon catering to the African-American community. [8] This hackathon was a network of leading tech startups created and financed by black women. [8]
Calvin aimed to spark interest in young girls of color fostering a comprehensive national workforce for the tech industry. [9] [10] Black Girls Hack allows girls of color to create solutions for evolving digital problems. [9] [10]Before the second hackathon event, Janelle Jolley departed from her position with Black Girls Hack as it went into a rebranding/reorganization stage creating Blerdology: The Science of Black Nerds to reach a wider spectrum of participants and sponsorships to celebrate the Black Tech community. [11] [6]
The first Blerdology hackathon in November 2013, introduced fifty developers and coders to create a mobile application with some of the proceeds from the event going to Black Girls Code, to advance young black girls across America in their pursuit of computer programming. [6]
Blerdology sought out second-tier markets such as Newark and Detroit for people of color interested in technology while connecting with Rutgers Business School to host its second hackathon event. [6] Blerdology generated a hashtag #BlackHack to promote its new partnership with Rutgers Business School. [11] [6] [12]
Calvin has created other entrepreneurial enterprises to improve the relationship between African Americans and the voting community, so in 2017, Calvin founded the non-profit organization Spread the Vote. [12] [5] [3] [7] Spread the Vote’s mission is to close the gap between registered voters and voter turnout by helping them get photo IDs monetarily in states that require identification to vote. [5] [13] [3] [7] Spread the Vote was awarded a grant from New Media Ventures (NMV) which is a network of investors that fund media and tech startups. [13]
Calvin created two other satellite political non-profits under the Spread the Vote organization. [14] Project ID and Project ID Action Fund seek to educate further and empower its voters through laws and policies. [14] [4] [3] Project ID introduced a bill into Congress, The IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act creating free federal IDs for Americans. [14] [4]
In 2023, Calvin became the author of “American Identity in Crisis,” which was released on the 19th of September. [4] Her book details how 26 million American adults have no government ID. [4]
![]() | It has been suggested that
Draft:Kat Calvin be
merged into this article. (
Discuss) Proposed since April 2024. |
Kat Calvin is an African-American activist, entrepreneur, and author. [1] [2] [3]She is the founder of Spread the Vote and Project ID and the Co-founder of Blerdology. [3] [4] Calvin's organization supports Americans to obtain their IDs for housing, jobs, and voting. [1] Additionally, Calvin advocates for advanced minority representation in the STEM field. [4] [5]
Calvin grew up as a child of a parent(s) who served full-time in the United States Armed Forces. She lived in Seattle and Sierra Vista, AZ. [6] In 2005, Calvin graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a bachelor’s in theater. [7] From 2007 to 2010 Calvin attended the University of Michigan Law School, receiving her doctorate. [1] [6]
Kat Calvin, Amanda Spann, and Janelle Jolley created the hackathon series” Black Girls Hack” exclusively for black girls, becoming the first non-profit hackathon catering to the African-American community. [8] This hackathon was a network of leading tech startups created and financed by black women. [8]
Calvin aimed to spark interest in young girls of color fostering a comprehensive national workforce for the tech industry. [9] [10] Black Girls Hack allows girls of color to create solutions for evolving digital problems. [9] [10]Before the second hackathon event, Janelle Jolley departed from her position with Black Girls Hack as it went into a rebranding/reorganization stage creating Blerdology: The Science of Black Nerds to reach a wider spectrum of participants and sponsorships to celebrate the Black Tech community. [11] [6]
The first Blerdology hackathon in November 2013, introduced fifty developers and coders to create a mobile application with some of the proceeds from the event going to Black Girls Code, to advance young black girls across America in their pursuit of computer programming. [6]
Blerdology sought out second-tier markets such as Newark and Detroit for people of color interested in technology while connecting with Rutgers Business School to host its second hackathon event. [6] Blerdology generated a hashtag #BlackHack to promote its new partnership with Rutgers Business School. [11] [6] [12]
Calvin has created other entrepreneurial enterprises to improve the relationship between African Americans and the voting community, so in 2017, Calvin founded the non-profit organization Spread the Vote. [12] [5] [3] [7] Spread the Vote’s mission is to close the gap between registered voters and voter turnout by helping them get photo IDs monetarily in states that require identification to vote. [5] [13] [3] [7] Spread the Vote was awarded a grant from New Media Ventures (NMV) which is a network of investors that fund media and tech startups. [13]
Calvin created two other satellite political non-profits under the Spread the Vote organization. [14] Project ID and Project ID Action Fund seek to educate further and empower its voters through laws and policies. [14] [4] [3] Project ID introduced a bill into Congress, The IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act creating free federal IDs for Americans. [14] [4]
In 2023, Calvin became the author of “American Identity in Crisis,” which was released on the 19th of September. [4] Her book details how 26 million American adults have no government ID. [4]