The Bay Area Tech Community Welcomed DC-Based Nonprofit, CodeNow, to San Francisco in an effort to Expand the Organization’s Footprint to San Francisco and Provide More Options for Inner-City Youth
CodeNow: Teaching Kids To Code from ShineOn Storytelling on Vimeo.
More than 50 Bay Area tech founders, executives and civic leaders came together on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at Trinity Ventures’s Dolores Labs in San Francisco to meet CodeNow and discuss how coding can help inner-city youth get out of poverty and into successful computer science careers. According to the US government, in 2011 computer programmers were the most wanted position in the US with 220,000 new jobs. In San Francisco alone there is a reported 3,800 new jobs with expected growth of 30% by 2020. CodeNow teaches underrepresented high school students skills in computer programming, providing a pathway to this expanding job market.
J. Moore Partners’ Founder, Jim Moore, kicked-off the evening talking about how graduates of engineering and computer science majors typically will make a salary of $70,000 out of school compared to average graduate salaries at $41,701. He introduced CodeNow as a solution to helping engage underrepresented youth in computer science, and as a pathway out of poverty. Rebecca Miller of Trinity Ventures echoed Moore’s sentiments, and highlighted how these skills were so in need for the VC’s portfolio companies. Ryan Seashore, founder of CodeNow, presented a video of the students participating in the program in Washington DC expressing how CodeNow helped demystify coding and made it feel possible for them to pursue engineering careers. Seashore, along with Board Member Roy Bahat, encouraged the community to support CodeNow and bring it to the San Francisco Bay Area. The program is in need of space, computers, mentors and funds and hopes to launch in San Francisco in 2013 once funding is in order.
This event was part of J. Moore Partners’ community platform bringing together technology founders, executives and civic leaders to discuss technology solutions that can evolve and provide greater access of healthcare, education and environmental conservation. We were delighted to partner with Trinity Ventures, VentureBeat and Broadway Grill in developing this event, and want to thank our amazing host committee: Dan Scholnick (Trinity Ventures), The Honorable Gavin Newsom, Gwyneth Borden (IBM), Hooman (Alice Radio/Producer of Olive), Ian Hunter (Zaarly), Jerry Kennelly (Riverbed Technologies), Jim Moore (J. Moore Partners), Jonathan Abrams (Founders Den), Kathryn Pellegrini Inglin (J. Moore Partners), Kathy Hurley (Pearson Foundation), Libby Leffler (Facebook), Rebecca Miller (Trinity Ventures), and Roy Bahat (IGN).
To find out more about CodeNow, click here.
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