#Breakthrough Leaders: Meet Bridgette Wallace, Founder of GIcode House
In March, we launched a campaign to shine a spotlight on leaders across America who are taking on some of today’s toughest social challenges. We highlighted 20 breakthrough leaders from our network and the groundbreaking work they do every day. As part of the campaign, we also ran a nomination process where we asked people to share with us social impact leaders in their networks who inspire them.
We received almost 100 nominations, all of which were inspiring and telling of how much amazing work is being done in communities across the country to advance equity and opportunity. Over the last few weeks our team reviewed all of the nominations and based on the words of their friends, family, and colleagues we have
chosen five amazing winners!
We are excited to introduce our community to this breakthrough leader, Bridgette Wallace. Bridgette is the Founder of G|code House, a co-living, co-working space for
young women of color in Boston. Keep reading to read the nomination that drove us to select Bridgette and to hear about her goals and vision for the future.
BREAKTHROUGH LEADER NOMINATION
“I am nominating Bridgette Wallace, who happens to be may amazing mom! Like many daughters, I could write a never-ending scroll about why my mom is deserving of this recognition, but when it comes to social impact specifically, her superpowers only continue. Since before I was born, my mom has been dedicated to helping others in the urban-most areas of Boston, especially young women of color. Right after college, she worked with girls that had been in and out of the DSS system and supported them as she would her own child. After that, she went on to work for the Boston Public Health Commission, working on endeavors to help women in the Commonwealth understand how to properly get information and screening for Breast and Cervical Cancer.
Now, she has decided to take her love of giving and her desire for entrepreneurship and has founded her own venture, called G|Code, in efforts to teach young minority women how to code and eventually use those skills to land technical jobs. With a long-stand passion for urban planning and public policy, my mom saw G|Code as a great way to grow the economic prosperity of people in her Roxbury community while closing the gentrification and wealth gaps in Boston. Her efforts and unwavering drive to see this idea get the funding it needs to. be initiated has landed her in publications like Forbes, The Boston Globe, and Boston Magazine, among many others. As she writes each grant and attends each community meeting with the larger goal of community benefit in mind.“
HEAR FROM BRIDGETTE WALLACE ON HER VISION FOR THE FUTURE
What is your big audacious goal?
G|Code House is a visionary nonprofit tackling a range of issues, including lack of diversity in the tech talent pipeline, housing security, gentrification, and workforce inequality. It is an innovative co-living, co-learning program based in Roxbury, MA, where undervalued women of color 18-25 will learn technical skills in order to build successful careers in the tech sector. ” When you teach a young woman to code, there is nothing she can’t do. When you give that young woman a home there’s no one she can’t be”
How can we make progress towards achieving this goal?
Driving people to visit our website, learn about our initiative and sign up to consciously sponsor underrepresented talent. Increasing representation is not a women or people of color issue, but a human and equity issue. Talent that is invisible in plane sight should be identified, supported, nurtured and showcased. Long term goals are to secure donations and funding to renovate both the main house and carriage house within the next 6-9 months
What is your call to action for our community?
We need all hands on deck to help this initiative achieve its mission. Your support and involvement can help drive our fundraising efforts, secondly, spread the word about our work to increase the tech pipeline through housing that builds on creating inclusive communities, thirdly open your eyes to the talent that is all around you and direct those that fit our criteria to apply to our program by visiting our website and taking that initial step towards investing in your greatness.
Click here to check out the other breakthrough leaders who were selected.
