Award-winning Global Nonprofit, The Hidden Genius Project, Expands to Atlanta with Google.org Support

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Globally recognized and award-winning nonprofit, The Hidden Genius Project is expanding its tech, entrepreneurship, and leadership mentoring program to serve young people in Atlanta, GA. For the last 10 years, The Hidden Genius Project has focused on training and mentoring Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills in order to transform their lives and communities across the Bay Area. Through a student-centered and project-based approach, they invest in young Black men, give them access to technology training, and plug them into an ecosystem of innovation and empowerment.

Named 2021 Inc's Best in Business for Youth Entrepreneurship and having recently received a $3 million dollar expansion grant from Google.org, The Hidden Genius Project is utilizing this funding in an effort to bring its innovative programming to Atlanta. For Atlanta, budding partners include the Andrew & Walter Young YMCA and HYPE, an organization cultivating tech leadership among girls and young women.

"Over the past decade, we have been honored to engage young people across the globe to inspire them to leverage technology to reveal their genius, and we have seen some tremendous results. Even as we have expanded to establish comprehensive sites in Los Angeles and Detroit, we continue to encounter the same brilliance, bold spirit, and infectious leadership qualities among our Black male youth. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to link arms with communities in Atlanta so that we might offer our young people an even deeper array of opportunities. There is nothing of consequence that we have ever accomplished alone, and this growth moment will be no different. We are grateful to collaborate with a rich cadre of community and funder organizations, and have an even deeper impact for Atlanta youth." says Brandon Nicholson, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Hidden Genius Project.

As an Oakland-based organization, The Hidden Genius Project has created thoughtful connections; their forthcoming site location in Atlanta joins their additional operating sites in Richmond, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Detroit, MI and most recently Chicago. The expansion marks another achievement as this year the organization is celebrating their 10 year anniversary, welcoming partnerships with The RYSE Center in Richmond, CA, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan in Detroit, and most recently, became the first U.S. non-profit to be featured on a McLaren Formula 1 racing car through Smartsheet's Sponsor X initiative. The platform replaced its sponsorship logo with The Hidden Genius Project logo, and the nonprofit designed programming in partnership with TEAM, Inc., to connect with Austin-based youth in the first Tech Slam Formula One catalyst event.

The Hidden Genius Project anticipates launching its first Atlanta Intensive Immersion Program cohort in June 2023. The flagship program is an award-winning, 15-month youth development experience offering upwards of 800 hours of holistic mentorship and intensive training in a cohort-based environment for Black male youths in high school.

The Hidden Genius Project trains and mentors Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills to transform their lives and communities. Through their student-centered, project-based approach, they invest in young Black men, give them access to technology training, and plug them into an ecosystem of innovation and empowerment. As they continue to celebrate their 10-year anniversary, The Hidden Genius Project seeks to strengthen the field of technology education for young people across communities. hiddengeniusproject.org

Google.org, Google's philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world's biggest challenges. We accelerate their progress by connecting them with a unique blend of support that includes funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers. We engage with these believers-turned-doers who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a world that works for everyone—and we believe technology and innovation can move the needle.

CONTACT: Karen Lewis, [email protected]

SOURCE The Hidden Genius Project