Inspired by Baltimore’s tech ecosystem and a locally conceived framework, a Detroit husband and wife duo expanded the scope of their location-agnostic initiative to amplify Black tech representation, foster wealth and cultivate community.
Just after their inaugural Black Tech Saturdays in February, Johnnie and Alexa Turnage attended a breakfast during South by Southwest in Texas. This is where, as Johnnie said on a call with Technical.ly, he and his wife met “people from around the world” who were making “strides” with “equitech”, a term coined by UpSurge Baltimore in 2021.
“My background was in grassroots organizing, so [I’m] no stranger to equity,” Johnnie said. “We always work hard to try to bring an equity lens through all the work we did. But it was really when Dug Song and I started getting a lot closer and he mentored me. He’d always tell stories about Baltimore and how equity worked in Baltimore because of just federal dollars and what it did for the community.”
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