Congratulations to Our Coders!
The Mission
After spending 15 years writing software, for Dreamworks Animation SKG, Kwesi Davis is teaming up with Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church & Faithworks Compton to launch Algorithm & Flow; a pilot program focused on teaching underrepresented youth the fundamentals of software engineering. A select group of sixteen high school freshmen will spend two hours, everyday (Mon-Fri) after school (5p-7p), building mobile applications, 3D games and data processing tools in the new Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church Computer Laboratory. By the end of the school year, these apprentice software developers will have mastered enough Java programming skills to sit for the AP Computer Science Exam. [Apply Now!]
Note: Algorithm & Flow is a Faithworks Compton program. Faithworks Compton is a 501(c)(3) organization; federal tax ID 46-3612645.
The Opportunity
The unemployment rate for African Americans was 6.7% in April of 2019. That puts it 86% above the national rate for all adults. Employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 13% from 2016 to 2026; faster than the average for all occupations. These occupations are projected to add about 557,100 new jobs.
“It doesn’t take a math wizard to excel at software. If you can read, you can code.”
— Kwesi Davis, ProGRAM Director
The Challenge
African Americans represent 14% of the US population. A recent study found, 3.7% of students who sat for the AP Computer Science exam were African American, with no African American students sitting for the exam in 11 states. Similar lower-than-national-average numbers can be found for other minority groups, such as Hispanics and Native Americans.
There are many barriers blocking people from pursuing programming as a career. Girls, for example, may be discouraged by gender stereotypes. Communities of color may have sparse access to tech training and equipment resources. STEM adverse personalities, in general, may feel they lack the love of mathematics to write code. We must shatter the obstacles sitting in front of underrepresented groups.
9%
of STEM workers are Black
7%
of STEM workers are Hispanic
338%
computer job growth since 1990
“As the U.S. has transformed rapidly to an information-based economy, employment in science, technology, engineering and math occupations has grown – outpacing overall job growth. Since 1990, STEM employment has grown 79% (9.7 million to 17.3 million) and computer jobs have seen a whopping 338% increase over the same period.”