An Austin-area nonprofit is hosting an interactive festival this week celebrating technology and the arts, with the goal of exposing young Latinas to education and careers in STEM.
Latinitas will host its inaugural TechKermés event on Friday, featuring performances, food and interactive activities with local tech companies such as Dell Technologies, Applied Materials, CapMetro, Electronic Arts, NXP Semiconductors and more.
“This is part of our community component,” Latinitas spokesperson Salwa Yordi told the American-Statesman. This is an opportunity to gather our families, any families in the community, to kick off the summer with us and get to do something different.”
Founded in 2002, Latinitas aims to empower young girls and communities through “culturally relevant” education.
The organization hosts events, like TechKermés and its annual Startup Chica conference, to expose Latino students, especially girls, to careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, Yordi said.
According to a 2024 report by the Kapor Foundation, one in 10 U.S. workers in technology is Latino, with 5% of executive leadership roles and 3% of tech company board seats held by Latino professionals. The report also found that, despite comprising only 10% of the tech workforce in the U.S., Latinos make up about 11.5% of laid off workers in the industry. That same study found that 78% of Latino students have access to foundational computer science courses in high school, compared with 82% of white students and 89% of Asian students.
“The numbers when it comes to Latinas in tech, the percentage is really, really low,” Yordi said. “These events give them the opportunity to think of a career that they want to engage with. Also, the digital literacy component, too. It’s an opportunity to create an ecosystem where somebody that looks like them, speaks Spanish, talks in their language, shares their work, they could see themselves in tech someday.”
TechKermés will have interactive activities in robotics, virtual reality, 3D printing, drones and more, as well as five performers from different Latin American countries, Yordi said.
When: Noon to 4 p.m. on May 31.
Where: H-E-B Eastside Tech Hub at 2416 E. Sixth St.
Parking: There will be limited free parking at the H-E-B Eastside Hub on E. Seventh Street.
Tickets: The event is free and does not require tickets to attend. Latinitas does have an RSVP link to register for the event, or attendees can simply show up.
