“Many places are digital, but few are digital and inclusive,” says the Brookings Institution in a new report on America’s eight “most digitally inclusive tech cities.”
“Sadly,” they write, “that’s one way to read a set of analyses we’ve done this year on the uneven spread of digital tasks and skills across the economy, with special attention to the representation of women and minorities in that work. More often than not, these groups remain underrepresented in the occupations and industries that are key to individual and regional prosperity.”
We’re glad to see Pittsburgh included on this list, though we know that like all cities, we still have a way to go (ask some of the brilliant people interviewed for our Top Women in Pittsburgh Tech feature and they’ll no doubt tell you that’s the case.)
How did our city earn its spot on the list?
“Pittsburgh’s strong performance on our measures of tech inclusivity — its black and Hispanic representation gaps hover at -3.7 percent and -0.2 percent, respectively — is even more impressive given its history as a blue-collar steel town,” Brookings says.
“To the region’s credit, it has tried to be proactive about fostering inclusion in tech starting with an earnest ‘Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation’ initiative launched in 2015. Now under the auspices of Inclusive Innovation PGH, Pittsburgh hosts an annual Inclusive Innovation Week offering free events on the myriad private and nonprofit efforts to make inclusion and diversity a priority in tech entrepreneurship and hiring.”
Read the full report here.
