Trish Millines Dziko

Trish Millines Dziko

Co-Founder and Executive Director, Technology Access Foundation (TAF)

Trish Millines Dziko is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Seattle-based Technology Access Foundation (TAF), a nonprofit that creates access to transformative systems of learning for students and teachers of color to eliminate race-based disparities in our increasingly diverse society. TAF provides an equitable public school STEM education for underserved students and support for educators of color. Through Trish’s leadership, TAF transitioned from out-of-school programs to become a statewide leader in public education, creating two co-managed public schools, partnering with public schools to transform them to promote the highest level of student learning, increasing/retaining the number of teachers of color, developing education leaders of color, and giving white education leaders to tools to create supportive environments. Trish is a committed, proactive leader serving on boards of organizations that focus on children and education.

There are so many ways to access technology, yet the opportunity to create technology in the U.S. has historically not been accessible to African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders (also known as underrepresented minorities). This has not only created the so-called digital divide, but it systemically locks underrepresented minorities out of opportunities for generational wealth that comes from tech employment and entrepreneurship. When I heard about how Reskill Americans is accessible to all who want to try, and learned about their method of teaching, the mentorship that they provide to participants, and how their inaugural cohort scaled to 42 states across the country, I felt it was an approach worth investing my time in; I’m eager to help them grow into a nonprofit with longevity.