The Congressional Black Caucus Institute recently announced a new artificially intelligent platform that’s dedicated to diversifying public policy corporations.
As part of their Career Placement Initiative, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, otherwise known more simply as “the CBCI,” created an AI-based software for job recruitment. Made alongside “Matchplicity,” a Black-led recruitment company, the new platform matches profiles with accurate job descriptions.
To ensure that diverse talent is being recognized, the companies focused on excluding any categories that have historically prevented people from marginalized communities from job opportunities, such as gender, race and a candidate’s zip code.
As part of the initiative, the CBCI also uses the platform-considered the first of its kind- as a way to connect alumni from partner schools and programs, such as the Howard University School of Law, the Senate Black Legislative Caucus and the Women’s Division of the National Bar Association, to career opportunities; the platform focuses on diversifying communications as well as legal and government affairs fields as of now. The House of Representatives and the National Political Parties have already pledged to use the software.
“The Congressional Black Caucus Institute has a storied history of educating the next generation of political leaders,” said the Executive Director, Vanessa Griddine, in a statement. “We are now going beyond training and research and responding with a tangible, tech-enabled solution that solves the pervasive diversity issues in public policy.”
“As we implore citizens to demand change in their communities, we are leading the charge,” she added.
Created in 2000, the CBCI is a nonprofit that focuses mainly on voting advocacy as well as informing and educating communities when it comes to solving issues that affect them.
Throughout its career, the institute has released multiple programs that work on increasing community engagement amongst Black Americans. In 2002, they launched their “Political Leadership Development Program Boot Camp,” a seven-day learning opportunity that teaches participants how to create successful campaigns.
According to the initiative’s site, 86% of those who attend the boot camp say that they’ll continue in politics and plan to eventually run for office. Nearly 93% of the participants have reported that they’ve actually gone on to find a position in the political field whether it was in campaigning or another aspect of politics.
Recently, in 2019, the group also began the Advocacy and Campaign Training Workshops.
The more recent initiative focuses on finding future advocates for civic engagement and equal educational opportunities for marginalized communities in the U.S.
