Computerworld, 2/16/2009 (Earl Pace)

BDPA's Earl Pace Talks About Racism in the IT Workplace. Early in his career, when he was working as a programming manager at a financial services firm, Earl A. Pace Jr. went to a computer conference in Arizona where there were 200 attendees -- 199 white people and him. Well aware of the opportunities in the exploding industry, he decided that ratio needed to change. That decision led to the founding, in 1975, of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a national organization that now has more than 50 chapters and aims to provide what it calls "a pathway from the classroom to the boardroom."

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ComputerWorld, 12/22/2008 (Earl Pace, Ralph Gordon)

Editor's Note: Race issue still beset by destructive labels. After I interviewed Earl Pace for a Q&A that was posted on our Web site last week, I knew some pieces of it would end up on the cutting-room floor. I'd had an hourlong conversation with the African-American IT pioneer and co-founder of Black Data Processing Associates, and clearly not all of it would see the light of day.

Read the full editorial here.

ComputerWorld, 12/15/2008 (Earl Pace)

Q&A: Tech pioneer Earl Pace on racism in the IT workplace. Early in his career, while working as a programming manager for a financial services company, Earl A. Pace, Jr. attended a computer conference where he was the only African American among the 200 attendees. He decided that needed to change.

Read the full Q&A session here.

ComputerWorld, 10/18/2004 (George Hall, Melissa Thompson)

The Extra Mile: If you're ready to really commit to diversity in your IT shop, here's how to achieve it. Unlike the wild hiring of the '90s, the slow rebuilding of bare-bones IT shops over the next few years will provide an opportunity to staff up thoughtfully. It's another chance to get diversity right. Lots of IT organizations talk about diversity, but some are better at achieving it than others. We spoke with representatives of five IT groups that have been repeatedly cited as diversity leaders by the Black Data Processing Associates to discover how companies can find, recruit and retain top minority talent in IT...

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ComputerWorld, 8/11/2003 (Milt Haynes)

IT Careers: BDPA focuses on career growth, entrepreneurs. When more than 2,500 individuals meet for the annual Black Data Processing Association Conference in Philadelphia Aug. 13-17, they'll get a rich blend of three critical career components--technical expertise, mentoring and coaching of individuals, and skills to lead start-up and established businesses...

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ComputerWorld, 12/11/2000

Dabbling at Diversity. Vincent Estacio, 29, is an up-and-coming systems administrator at Sun Microsystems Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. In August, he graduated from a community-college-based program that trains minorities with IT potential, and now he's working full-time on Sun's systems migration team...



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ComputerWorld, 6/15/2000 (National BDPA)

Career Counsel. I have always maintained that the most important aspect of IT is the people. The technology is just a tool by which management furthers the interests of the business and enhances shareholder value based on knowledge gained from the data that they are able to turn into useful information. If we are to believe what we read about a shortage of individuals with IT skills, it appears that one of the most vexing problems that CIOs and their staff are having is the ability to recruit and retain people. Add to this the push for developing some level of diversity (other than H-1B candidates) throughout the enterprise. What advice would you give to CIOs who are looking to increase the level of diversity within their organizations? And is diversity something that CIOs are concerned about?


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ComputerWorld, 1/30/2000 (Curvie Burton, Yvonne Sharpe, Joe Thompson, George Williams)

Beyond the Racial Ravine. How can the information technology profession close the gap between affluent people and impoverished members of minority groups with little exposure to technology or opportunity to move into the field? One organization working toward that goal is Black Data Processing Associates (www.bdpa.org) in Largo, Md., a leading organization of African-American IT professionals. We invited four top BDPA officials to discuss their work with Allan E. Alter and Martine Severin...

Read the rest of the media story here.

ComputerWorld, 1/27/2000 (Clifford Clarke, Steve Edmonson, Les Pearson, George Williams)

Workplace Diversity. The numbers don't lie -the percentage of African Americans in senior management positions doesn't come close to reflecting their representation in American society. Here's why...

Read the full media story here.