GET Citiesan initiative focused on accelerating the leadership and influence of women, trans and non-binary people in techhas partnered with Gumbo Media and DePaul University's Women in Entrepreneurship Institute to launch the Chicago Digital Equity Fund + Tech Desk, sponsored by Verizon.
The Chicago Tech Desk was initially incubated as a pilot in 2021 in the GET Cities Chicago Tech Equity Working Group (TEWG). The TEWG is an alliance of Chicago accelerators, incubators and funds creating city-wide solutions to systemic inequities in Chicago's tech entrepreneurship ecosystem. The group's aim is to jumpstart, accelerate, and fund more Chicago tech startups founded by women, trans, non-binary, Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, people of color and LGBTQIA+ founders.
This year, the program is officially being launched and hosted at Gumbo Media, where seven qualified participants in the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute (WEI) Accelerator Program will receive $5,000 technology grants to use toward their tech enablement needs.
Tech Desk support, provided by Gumbo Media, will help each WEI entrepreneur to assess their technology needs, branding, digital storytelling and communications, online marketing, search/paid advertising, SEO as well as information technology (IT), client relationship management and database systems and other relevant tech enablement activities targeted by the WEI program.
To learn more about the Chicago Digital Equity Fund and Tech Desk, visit www.getcities.org/, business.depaul.edu/about/centers-institutes/women-in-entrepreneurship-institute/Pages/default.aspx or gumbomedia.com . To partner with the Chicago Tech Desk, email info@getcities.com .