[okfn-discuss] Google launches $50m Made with Code - Girls in Coding Effort

Thu Jun 19 14:08:57 UTC 2014

The announcement:
http://bit.ly/madewithcodeblog

The official site:
http://bit.ly/madewithcode

Local events, resources:
http://bit.ly/madewithcodeevents

Google+ Community:
http://bit.ly/madewithcodecommunity

Press release:
http://bit.ly/madewithcodepressrelease

Video intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo11JJgj1cU

Clift Note: This looks like a great initiative. We had a number of
awesome young women from the Science Museum of Minnesota's Teen Tech
program come to http://citycampmn.org last year. We need more
connections like this. In general I hope efforts, like this will build
bridges with local tech for good/civic innovation efforts like those
bubbling up via the Code for America Brigade network -
http://bit.ly/cfabridagelist - and others. Now to play the video for
my six year old daughter.

Clip from the blog post:

...

In fact, fewer than one percent of high school girls express interest
in majoring in computer science.

...

Today, we’re attempting to solve this issue on a much larger scale.
Along with Chelsea Clinton, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, Mindy
Kaling, MIT Media Lab, National Center for Women & Information
Technology, SevenTeen, TechCrunch and more, Google is launching Made
with Code, an initiative to inspire girls to code. The program
includes:

Cool introductory Blockly-based coding projects, like designing a
bracelet 3D-printed by Shapeways, learning to create animated GIFs and
building beats for a music track.

Collaborations with organizations like Girl Scouts of the USA and
Girls, Inc. to introduce Made with Code to girls in their networks,
encouraging them to complete their first coding experience.

A commitment of $50 million to support programs that can help get more
females into computer science, like rewarding teachers who support
girls who take CS courses on Codecademy or Khan Academy.

We’ve also posted videos about women who are using code in their dream
jobs, like Miral, Danielle, Erica and other inspirational girl coders
— like Brittany Wenger, who is using code to fight cancer. And, we’ve
developed a few steps parents can take at home to get their daughters
excited about computer science. Read more about the initiative here.

More:
http://bit.ly/madewithcodeblog

Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.org
  Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracy
  Tel/Text: +1.612.234.7072
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