Featured Program
Women Innovators Fellowship
The Fellowship was a competitive, 6-month experience that challenged three Fellows to develop new resources and tools to promote the advancement of women technologists and tech entrepreneurs in Omaha. Each Do Space Fellow received expert mentorship, a $10,000 stipend, and additional resources to bring her big idea to life.
Top Innovator Award
Do Space has won national recognition for its Women Innovators Fellowship Program. The Urban Libraries Council, the premier membership organization of North America’s leading public library systems, named Do Space as a Top 10 innovator in an annual contest that drew 260 submissions. Do Space won in the category of Race & Social Equity for our work in facilitating community conversations about equity and representation in tech.
Opportunity
Do Space was proud to offer three Fellows the opportunity to develop projects that addressed local challenges facing women in technology and tech entrepreneurship. Each selected project provided real benefit to Omaha’s innovation and creative communities, in part by raising awareness of local challenges and fostering a sense of community.
The Do Space Women Innovators Fellowship was a self-directed educational experience that gave our Fellows the opportunity to build a portfolio of work, exercise leadership skills, and become more competitive in the workplace. Most importantly, our all-female Advisory Board of Omaha leaders in business and technology provided the Fellows with advice, connections, and mentorship. This unique opportunity was generously sponsored by Dr. James and Karen Linder.
Challenges
Women are underrepresented in technical roles.
- Women hold 24% of Omaha’s tech jobs.
- The average tech industry female-to-male earnings ratio is 85%.
- In 1984, 37% of computer science majors were women. That percentage fell to 18% by 2014.
Women are underrepresented in business.
- 1 in 5 C-suite leaders is a woman; fewer than 1 in 30 is a woman of color.
- Women founders received 2.2% of all U.S. venture capital dollars in 2018 — the same percentage reported by Fortune in 2017.
- 70% of startups say they have no women on their boards.
Program Timeline
| September 1, 2018 | Applications open |
| November 1, 2018 | Applications close |
| Mid-November 2018 | Interviews conducted |
| Early December 2018 | Fellows notified |
| January 2019 | Fellows announced |
| February 4, 2019 | Fellowship begins |
| July 31, 2019 | Fellowship ends; showcase event |
WOMEN INNOVATORS FELLOWSHIP
Learn more about 2019 Fellows April Goettle, Bianca Zongrone Jefferson, and Carina Glover and their fellowship projects here.
Questions about the Do Space Women Innovators Fellowship Program?
Contact Anna Gadzinski at agadzinski@dospace.org.
INNOVATIVE EDUCATORS FELLOWSHIP
The Do Space Innovative Educators Fellowship created opportunities for local teachers, librarians, and educators to catalyze rapid innovation in Omaha. In Summer 2017, Do Space awarded three Omaha-area educators a $10,000 stipend to create innovative projects in 3D printing, robotics, and software development. Read more about the 2017 Fellows and their projects here.
