Engaging Youth Through Coding
Who are we?
Code Youth is a project to train young people aged 17-24, who have dropped out of high school, to code and to support them in finding a meaningful career in the technology field. A preliminary environmental scan tells us that very few free coding classes exist.
Basic on-line courses exist but are mainly aimed at primary and high school youth. Most coding programs are expensive after-school courses, costly private colleges that require a lengthy process, and mainly coding summer camps in the United States.
Why do we do this?
Youth dropouts, and those who are at risk of dropping out, do not have many opportunities to climb out of low-paying, temporary and part-time jobs in service and retail industries. Youth unemployment is presently 10.9 per cent in Canada.
The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) said in a March 2017 report that 182,000 high-paying technology jobs will be available in Canada by 2019, but our school systems are not focusing on computer programming courses that would give youth a basic understanding of the field.