Deliver Your News to the World

CodeNOW Joins Y Combinator, Announces New Program to Develop Home-Grown Tech Talent Amongst Underrepresented Students Nationwide

Y-Combinator backed non-profit CodeNOW is tackling the challenge of scaling in-person programming trainings for youth with previous support from Bloomberg, Salesforce, Symantec, Cisco and others


Mountain View – WEBWIRE

Mountain View, Calif. -- February 27, 2014 -- CodeNOW, a non-profit focused on teaching underrepresented youth to code, is announcing a new scalable model and the launch of a new corporate program, CodeNOW in a Box, that will allow the organization to maximize its impact. CodeNOW’s goal is to create a diversified pool of home-grown technical talent from underrepresented communities. The organization aims to help students develop the passion and skills that will prepare them to excel in the workforce of the future.

Unlike other programs that are completed online, CodeNOW engages students with face-to-face coding workshops. The new approach, created with guidance from Y Combinator, will help the proven program reach hundreds of thousands of students while still maintaining its high standards of in-depth personal instruction. The new model will allow them to scale through larger class sizes and the implementation of a more efficient way of working with students. To increase trainer and student interaction, the organization divides students into groups of six, pairing them with qualified volunteer trainers, and allowing each student to progress at their own learning pace. The new CodeNOW classes are already being taught to local high school students in San Francisco and New York.

In addition to this new model, the non-profit is also announcing the creation of CodeNOW in a Box, a complimentary program that seeks to provide technology companies with the tools to host their own trainings. This program will allow CodeNOW to scale nationwide and give corporations a chance to give back to their communities, while seeding and creating a new passionate and diversified pool of technical talent for their future recruiting efforts.

CodeNOW is at the forefront of the “learn to code” movement and has already empowered hundreds of students in New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. CodeNOW’s expansion to the San Francisco Bay Area, under this new model, is backed by Y Combinator. The backing from YC follows previous funding support from several forward-thinking organizations and individuals, including Bloomberg LP, Infor, Brigette Lau of The Social+Capital Partnership, The Kapor Center for Social Impact, Cisco, HP, Salesforce, Symantec, Cisco and many others.

“By focusing on a group of students largely being ignored by the “learn to code” movement, CodeNOW is poised to have an incredible impact on the students who need it most. Ryan and his team have created a unique model that pairs the best that technology companies can offer - not just their expertise and software, but the people who make those organizations so special. We’re hugely excited to see CodeNOW continue its evolution and growth,” says Aaron Harris, Partner, Y Combinator

Companies interested in hosting their own CodeNOW trainings should contact Ryan@CodeNow.org for more information.

“We are working on a problem that few companies have been able to figure out: scaling a program that is dependent on people, rather than software. CodeNOW’s new model will help us grow from exposing hundreds of students to programming, to thousands,” says Ryan Seashore, Founder and CEO of CodeNOW. "Y Combinator is the best partner for helping us understand how we can reach more students, and take the next big step in the natural evolution of our organization.”

For more information about CodeNOW, please visit: http://www.codenow.org

About CodeNOW

CodeNOW was founded in 2011 and aims to give students access to a set of skills that is becoming an essential tool in our society. CodeNOW wants to bring down the walls that are currently ingrained in the technology industry and expose youth -- especially segments of underrepresented students like minorities and women --to programming and provide them with great assets for their future. The CodeNOW team brings a passion to their trainings that inspire the kids about coding and show them that with these skills doors will open for them down the road.



WebWireID185767





This news content may be integrated into any legitimate news gathering and publishing effort. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.