By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Founded in 2020, the Black Brilliance Research Project (BBR), a Black queer-led community research collaborative dedicated to improving the material conditions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in the digital age, aims to ensure technological advancements benefit all communities by offering workforce development and training programs, digital equity initiatives, and community-led research designed to address systemic inequities.
The idea for BBR came during a time of nationwide turmoil. The COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd spurred global protests advocating for Black lives and futures, prompting BBR Research Director and CEO Dr. Shaun Glaze to reflect upon what the community truly needed.
“The mass protests, the mass-like demonstrations across the whole world, were in defense of Black lives and Black futures that were happening,” Glaze said. “For me, personally, it created a moment where I had to think about who am I going to be in this particular moment where things are clearly at a point of transition? What do my ancestors want me to do? What would my future descendants want me to do? What do I want to do?”
With over a decade of experience in policy-changing research and securing grant funding, Glaze convened community members to design a solution rooted in their lived experiences.
“We needed to take some time to put together a plan with the communities that have been directly impacted by these injustices. And we should pay them for that time,” Glaze explained. “A group of us got together to present a proposal primarily to the city council, and in that process, that was essentially the birth of Black Brilliance Research.”
Among the key concerns to address were how to create community safety, community health, and what the [JC1] community needs to thrive. According to Glaze, digital inequities, exacerbated by the pandemic, emerged as a central focus of their mission. To tackle these challenges, Glaze partnered with Professor Christopher Webb, BBR’s Internet Access and Digital Equity Research Team Lead, who brings over 20 years of experience in digital and information technology in the United States and abroad.
“At the time I came on, the pandemic really exposed these digital inequities that we had pre-existing and were kind of festering as a challenge for access and participation,” Webb said. “By January of 2021, we were applying for National Science Foundation grants and secured two of them, and by February, we launched our first digital stewards’ cohort based in Seattle.”
Now, nearly four years later, BBR has trained six cohorts of digital stewards, with a seventh set to launch in January. The Digital Stewards program equips youth and neighborhood leaders with technical and community organizing skills to build and maintain critical internet networks. Participants receive training in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, internet infrastructure, technology skills, collaborative research, fund development, outreach, and mutual aid.
Once the Digital Stewards training program is complete, participants will be eligible to apply for a paid position to facilitate and train others on the design and construction of a wireless network within their community. John Scott, BBR Technology Instructor, says the impact of the program is immeasurable.
“I get great joy from seeing the progress that so many people made because of our digital stewards’ program,” says Scott. “In this cohort, people come from a variety of backgrounds, not just a technical background. Some are hairstylists or people who just got out of incarceration, and even people who had been just working at a grocery store. And all of them have successfully learned how to do some basic hands-on things such as crimping cables, working with different Microtek routers, or learning theoretical and technical skills.”
According to Scott, the program goes beyond technical instruction, fostering engagement through community outreach and participation.
“The program forces them to do community outreach, attend community events, and work on promoting themselves in the digital space while developing a load of new skills,” says Scott.
In a span of a little over 4 years, the growth that BBR has seen has been exceptional, as it is now one of the largest Black and Brown-led community research projects in the United States.
“Since the Fall of 2020, Shaun has raised $6 to 7 million in a combination of federal, state, city, and county grants to do this work, and I did not expect that to happen,” said Webb. “We have been able to accomplish, in such a short period of time, so much with those resources that Shaun was able to secure, and it has had a tremendous impact. We have worked with a dozen or more community-based organizations, the University of Washington, and are entering into an agreement to begin working in 2025 with Seattle Central College, as well as entering a new relationship with Clover Park Technical College.”
Glaze shared that the most impactful thing for them has been creating a community research organization that is Black-led, while simultaneously including the wisdom of both elders and young people from the community. That approach has allowed BBR to focus on what is truly needed for the community to thrive and transform.
“The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the funder for this, has invited us twice this year to present for what innovative workforce development looks like, not just because Black people made it, but because when you look at programs that are about earn to learn, that are supportive and build those skills and entrepreneurial thinking and are led by the community that has seen what happens when you don’t have investments that are meeting specific needs, you see just how big of an impact the program has,” said Glaze.
Webb realized the true potential of BBR and couldn’t help but feel inspired by the potential opportunities ahead. According to Web, the work of BBR is more than just providing the infrastructure for training, but about breaking barriers and opening doors for Black and BIPOC community members to thrive in the information and technology economy of the 21st Century.
“The amount of transformational intergenerational wealth that has been created, and that our community members have traditionally or historically been able to access or participate in is amazing,” said Webb. “And, seeing that happen and playing a small part in facilitating that dream, that realization has been truly one of the biggest, greatest, and most joyful impacts that this work with BBR has had in my life.”
This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBC Universal.