August 9, 2025
Khanna visited Jackson, Mississippi, to spotlight TechWise, a Google-funded initiative he has helped introduce to HBCUs like Jackson State nationwide.
Following a $1.3 million grant awarded to Jackson State University to expand its artificial intelligence programs, California Rep. Ro Khanna visited Jackson, Mississippi, to spotlight TechWise, a Google-funded initiative he has helped introduce to HBCUs like Jackson State nationwide.
According to The Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, three years ago, the university joined the program after Rep. Khanna opened discussions with the university and Almesha Campbell, JSU’s vice president for research and economic development.
As she told the outlet, the university has matriculated 35 students via the program and currently has 12 students enrolled in the program, which she described as a “workforce program” blending skill-building and industry experience.
Jackson’s mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, kicked the program off during his administration and introduced Rep. Khanna to the crowd at the Smith Robertson Museum, whom he said he met at a rally for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“What we did was create a program to create technology jobs and training across the country, and we partnered with about 15 different HBCUs. The students participate in a 10-hour per week, 18-month course, and then those kids get a $65,000 to $85,000 job in technology, but they also learn and are able to be mentors to future students in the program,” Rep. Khanna said in his remarks.
He continued, “We’re producing more wealth than we ever have in the history of this country and only 1 or 2% of Black Americans are getting venture capital. We excluded the Black community from the agricultural revolution, we excluded the Black community from a lot of the industrial revolution. Shame on us if the Black community is excluded from the digital revolution.”
TechWise, the outlet notes, was launched by the education technology company TalentSprint and receives funding from Google to provide free preparation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds for high-paying careers in technology.
As part of the program, participants receive training, mentorship, networking, and industry experience. The main track of the program runs for 18 months, featuring live virtual classes, coding exercises, and industry projects led by experienced instructors.
In addition, students will also participate in masterclasses provided by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, which will award them with an official credential.
As Rep. Khanna told Mississippi Today, he has a deep appreciation for the civil rights movement, which he expressed by describing his grandfather’s participation in Mahatma Ghandi’s movement for Indian independence from British rule. That movement, as BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, inspired the nonviolent resistance tactics employed by Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers, among others.
Rep. Khanna also indicated that he believes that the national Democratic Party needs to invest more in Mississippi, and generally, the South, where Black people and people of color live, held captive politically by voter suppression states. By investing in those states, Democratic candidates in states like Mississippi, Texas, and Florida, could become more competitive in statewide elections.
“The Civil Rights Movement then led to the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, and that’s what led my parents to come to the United States. Anyone who wants to understand the history of segregation, the history of racial justice, has to understand Mississippi,” Khanna said. “And anyone who wants to see the hope and promise of economic development has to come here.”
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