Dev Color

The organization supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, supports the critical race theory-influenced concept of racial equity, ⁵ and has claimed on its blog that there is anti-Blackness in tech. ⁶

Dev Color is partnered with the left-of-center Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In 2022, Dev Color received a racial equity grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. ^{7 8}

History and Leadership

Dev Color was founded by Makinde Adeagbo in 2015. ³ Dev Color was also granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service in 2015. ⁹

Rhonda Allen is the CEO of Dev Color. ³ She supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ¹⁰ Previously Allen worked as a vice president for people and equity at Educators for Excellence. She has also worked at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) ¹¹ and Teach for America. ¹²

Allen has also claimed that white supremacy, misogyny, and xenophobia have caused harm in Asian communities and called for a stop to “white violence.” ¹³

Activities and Funding

Dev Color is a career network and accelerator for Black software engineers, ¹ technologists, entrepreneurs, ² and executives. ³ All Dev Color members must identify as Black and/or from the African diaspora, have at least one year of professional experience in software engineering or related technology roles, and be committed to the critical theory-influenced concept of a more equitable tech world. ⁴ The organization supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement and supports the critical race theory-influenced concept of racial equity. ⁵

On Twitter, Dev Color celebrated the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. ¹⁴ The organization’s blog ¹⁵ has claimed that there is “anti-Blackness in tech” ⁶ and that there are racial fault lines in Silicon Valley. ¹⁶

Dev Color began in San Francisco where it established its main office, with additional offices in Seattle, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; and New York City. ¹⁷ As of May 2023, the organization claims more than 600 professional members, 500 employer-member companies, and more than 1,000 program participants. It broadly aims to accelerate collective advancement of Black technologists, increase accountability for what the group calls “racial equity and representation,” and increase black access to executive leadership positions. ³

Dev Color operates the A* (A star) peer mentorship program and has a global community outreach program with more than 20,000 members. ³ The organization also operates a members-only employment portal that lists open positions and connects employers with potential job candidate profiles. ¹⁸

Dev Color is a part of left-of-center Bright Funds’ Diversity in Tech Fund. ¹⁹ It is also partnered with the left-of-center Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which sponsors an engineer in residence at Dev Color, ²⁰ Reid Hoffman’s LinkedIn, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and technology firms including Etsy, Pinterest, and Xperian. ²¹

Funding

DevColor receives funding from individual donations, membership fees, ²² and grants. ²³

In 2019, Dev Color reported revenue of $1,085,569 and expenses of $1,406,615. The group reported revenue of $1,008,799 and expenses of $860,652 in 2018. ²⁴

In 2022, Dev Color received a racial equity grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. ^{7 25} Also in 2022, Dev Color entered into a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar partnership with social media firm Pinterest to advance black software engineers, technologists, and executives. ²⁶

In 2020, Dev Color received grants of $30,250 from the Schwab Charitable Fund, $25,000 from the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust, and $15,000 from the American Endowment Foundation. ²⁷

In 2016, Dev Color received $20,000 from the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation. ²⁸