Generating Genius Secures Warner Music Grant To Support Black Women Students Into Tech

The Warner Music Group and Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund has announced its first set of SJF Repertoire Fund grantee partners in the UK and Ireland.

Among the grantees is Generating Genius Black Women Into Tech, a UK-based program supporting Black women studying computer science, mathematics, physics, or engineering subjects interested in pursuing a tech career.  

The SJF Repertoire Fund

The SJF is a $100 million fund established in June 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

It invests in organizations around the globe that build more just and equitable communities, changing the lives of historically underserved and marginalized people.

The SFJ Repertoire Fund enables Warner Music UK and Warner Music Ireland employees to nominate local organizations for grants of up to $15,000.

The grants align with Warner Music Group’s mission of advancing racial equity and prioritizing organizations led by and focused on historically marginalized communities.

The British and Irish grantees follow the announcement of more than 20 organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, 11 organizations across Latin America, and 51 organizations in the US and Canada also receiving grants in last year’s fund.

Generating Genius

UK-based charity Generating Genius has been working for 15 years, ensuring students from disadvantaged backgrounds are positioned to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers.

In 2021, they launched a new program for Black female university students called Black Women Into Tech.

The program aims to help Black women students achieve their career ambitions, gain workplace-ready skills, gain one-to-one mentorship, build networks, and experience the range of opportunities available in STEM.

The program is for Black women of African or Caribbean descent in their first or second year of university, studying STEM subjects with an interest in pursuing a career in tech.

It has now been named as one of the grantees for the SJF Repertoire Fund.

“With 50 spaces for Black Heritage women who are at university and are interested in a career in technology, this grant will go a long way towards helping our next cohort starting in January 2024,” said Director, Programmes and Partnerships Lead, Zindzi Sewell.

“The grant will also allow us to add a much-needed new part of the program: a Technology Innovation Project Competition. We want to allow our students to start developing their tech portfolio and get into the habit of working on projects in their own time to continue upskilling.”