Milky Way Tech Hub Adds Northwestern Mutual as Corporate Member To Advance K-12 STEM
Nadiyah Johnson. (Justin Gordon/Carvd N Stone)
For almost five years, the Milky Way Tech Hub (MWTH) has had the vision to make Milwaukee a tech hub where Black people and POC are able to thrive in the field of technology. To help further their mission, MWTH has added American Family Insurance and Milwaukee Tool as their corporate sponsors; Northwestern Mutual (NM) is their third and newest business to join the movement.
“It feels good,” said Nadiyah Johnson, Founder of MWTH. “It’s taken some time to get people to see the value.”
“I cannot tell you how much community has helped me,” she added.
In order to become an MWTH corporate member, you must answer the question: “How would I contribute to the MWTH ecosystem?”
The Milky Way Tech Hub was founded in 2017. (Picture by Justin Gordon/Carvd N Stone)
NM’s The hi, Tech program will support the scaling of MWTH’s Data Science Program in Milwaukee schools that NM has invested in through its philanthropic education strategy. The corporate membership will also support the overall growth, mission, and strategy of the Milky Way Tech Hub and NM’s commitment to invest in partnerships and pipelines for diverse tech talent.
MWTH’s Data Science program teaches students the importance of understanding the data and how to create stories around that data to push towards solutions. For example, students could study the data involving traffic accidents. Understanding where most of these accidents occur can help the students understand why those accidents are happening, such as lack of access to driver’s education. By knowing what’s going on, the students would be able to advocate for more access. And it all starts with being introduced to the possibilities of tech.
“By partnering with Milky Way Tech Hub and providing Milwaukee’s students with hands-on learning experiences, they’re better able to see themselves in a tech career,” said James Hischke, VP of Tech Workforce Programs at Northwestern Mutual.
The two entities started working together back in 2019 through NM’s Tech Advancement and Outreach Team (TAO).
Through this partnership, the goal is to ensure that people of all backgrounds, especially the Black community, are able to contribute to the future tech economy.
“[Milwaukee] is the best place for Black people to thrive in tech,” said Johnson.
To learn more about the Milky Way Tech Hub, click here.