“In 2015, Google’s diversity report showed that only 3% of their software engineers were African-American or Hispanic. This trend holds true through the rest of the software industry. We need to break through the glass ceiling to provide future generations with more opportunities than we had. We all deserve a seat at the table.” - Milena Gonzalez '20

The Mission

We live in a city that has been impacted by industrial decline and migration of jobs. Troy is a part of the Capital Region, where 70% of the students in urban schools are classified as economically disadvantaged. Many of our students attend schools that do not have a strong, if any, computer science program. We work to alleviate this lack of opportunities by providing a series of completely free educational programs, giving our students a chance at socioeconomic mobility.

We strongly believe in ‘You cannot be what you cannot see.’ The undergraduate students who have the easiest time grasping new concepts and applying them have been previously exposed to similar material in high school. This exposure provided them with an advantage in courses. We hope to create a supportive environment that confers these same advantages to our students, who may not receive these opportunities in school.

What You're Supporting

coding&&community would like to use the donated funds to purchase new laptops for our weekly lessons, events, and workshops. The laptops our organization currently uses to teach are too few and too old. They are nearly a decade old, and can only run Windows 7, preventing us from exploring projects in subject areas that require more modern software such as application and game development. Some of the laptops no longer have functioning batteries, and in general the hardware is at the end of its lifespan. Our events are limited to a certain number of students simply because we don’t have enough computers for more students. Some of the ports in certain laptops don’t work, which makes teaching our Arduino lessons very difficult.

It is disheartening to see our students get discouraged when their projects had difficulty running on our old laptops. If we were granted $10,000, we would have enough money for 20 laptops assuming we could get them for $500 each. For this price, we can buy laptops that handle our requirements for software. With additional computers, we could host more outreach events with greater capacity. weRGold will help us to facilitate a learning environment in which our students can explore the many realms of computer science without limits!

Who We Are

{coding&&community} works to empower two generations by facilitating lessons for high school and middle school students, taught by undergraduate students. Both gain or strengthen their technical skills, as well as build their communication skills. We also collaborate with other RPI clubs to exhibit interdisciplinary aspects of technology.  We incorporate several features into our programs to inspire continued interest in CS.

At the end of each semester, parents are invited to their child’s project presentations, encouraging their continued support for their child’s interests.

Our lessons highlight underrepresented minorities and their contributions to technology, providing much-needed role models. We invite local guest speakers who come in and demonstrate to our students what kinds of opportunities exist in their own backyard. We also aspire to raise enough money for coding&&community in order to offer scholarships to assist with college tuition and travel to various conferences. For more information, visit our website.