ColorStack

ColorStack is a nonprofit student organization which offers academic advising and career development opportunities for computer science majors in the United States. The nonprofit was specifically designed for students from minority backgrounds as a means to improve diversity in computing.

The nonprofit was founded by Cornell University alumnus Jehron Petty in May 2020, after realizing his success in the computer science field was an "anomaly in the ecosystem". Through largely mentorship-based operations, the nonprofit hosts multiple in-person and virtual support programs and events. The goal of these events in often for its members to obtain scholarships and internships. In February 2025, the nonprofit had 60 chapters at universities across the United States, with 3,237 members. Future goals stated were to increase brand recognition to be on-par with similar organizations like National Society of Black Engineers and Black Girls Code.

Activities

ColorStack is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It was designed to build connections between minorities majoring in computer science in the United States, providing academic advising and career development opportunities as a means of doing so. To accomplish this, the nonprofit organizes a number of events: including a 12-week computer science program, a three-week virtual career-building camp, and a three-day virtual recruitment conference called "Stacked Up Summit". More commonly, however, smaller events are held which vary by location but include: learning technical skills, taking professional photos, networking, and attending conferences and speaker events with field professionals. Many of these events are mentorship-focused, with their end goal being to have members obtain scholarships and internships. Outside of computer science-related activities, some locations also hold social and cultural events, which vary by location as well. At Binghamton University, a "Sip and Apply" event takes place where members eat foreign cuisines while applying to internships, and at Virginia Tech, pizza dinners are held to help members socialize and ease fears about the field. Virtual events between universities like " hackathons" are also organized by the nonprofit. The nonprofit also hosts a community on the team communication platform Slack, where members can collaborate on coding and other personal interests.

History

The nonprofit was founded by Jehron Petty, a student at Cornell University majoring in computer science in the class of 2020. After working internships for Two Sigma and Google as a software engineer and product manager respectively, Petty reportedly realized he was an "anomaly in the ecosystem". The few other African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students studying with him were not performing as well, which he credited to a lack of proper support. While still a student, Petty was co-president of the club Underrepresented Minorites in Computing at Cornell (URMC), where he helped increase club membership and became inspired by the impact it had on the problem. Petty took many principles from this club, largely the focus on mentorship and inspiring and supporting minority students in computer science, to form an early version of ColorStack. With help and advice from Makinde Adeagbo, founder of the similar organization /dev/color, Petty made the club national and a nonprofit. Petty launched ColorStack as its own organization shortly after graduating in May 2020, fundraising nearly . In August 2020, the nonprofit partnered with the technical recruiting platform Triplebyte, which agreed to incubate the nonprofit and provide its operational funding for at least two years. Around this time, the nonprofit had 600 students across multiple schools. After one year, the nonprofit had grown to 1,000 students in its programs, and had raised over a million dollars from corporate sponsors and other investors. The nonprofit had also grown to be managed by four full-time employees and one intern. Further growth came after restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted, which had prevented some locations from beginning operations. In 2021, ColorStack gained Microsoft and Netflix as sponsors for one of their "Stacked Up Summit" events.

Some goals stated by Petty for the future of the nonprofit was to increase brand recognition to be on-par with similar organizations like National Society of Black Engineers and Black Girls Code, which he hoped to accomplish through increased marketing and operational support.

Locations

The nonprofit is national, with 60 chapters at universities across the United States , with 3,237 members. Some universities with chapters of the nonprofit include Kennesaw State University in Georgia, Northwestern University in Illinois, University of Nebraska–Lincoln in Nebraska, Binghamton University in New York, and Virginia Tech in Virginia.

Reception to the nonprofit at these schools has been overall positive. The Director of Undergraduate Programs at Virginia Tech, Paige Johnson, remarked the nonprofit was the first they had seen to bring similar organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers together under a centralized group. The nonprofit's chapter president at Binghamton University, Julian Ortiz, remarked the nonprofit gave an outlet and resources to students who largely came from backgrounds without them.

References

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501(c)(3) organizations
African-American organizations
Career and technical student organizations
Computer science organizations
Cornell University student organizations
Diversity in computing
Ethnic student organizations
Hispanic and Latino American organizations
Native American organizations
Student organizations established in 2020