Code Camp 4 Girls
What inspired us to take on the issue is the same inspiration that brought our group to CTEP. We see a need in our communities and want to help find, implement, and share solutions to make lives better. There are huge disparities in the engineering workforce that include several demographics, one of the largest disparities present, is the unequal percentage of professional engineers who identify as a woman. Using our own specialized skills, resources available to us, we joined together to try and address this issue.
We chose to create a week-long coding boot camp for youth who identify as women. We agreed this would be a good demographic for us to be most helpful. We created five workshops that explore basic fundamental concepts of writing, as well as creating and solving problems using code. We hope to prepare the attendees to overcome barriers that exist, and to increase equity for women in STEM professions.
Group members: Cas Delveaux, Cristina Pacheco, Greg Romero, Pierre Young, and Virginia Lopez-Nadal
Community partner: Ramsey County Library-Maplewood
Each year our 35 CTEP AmeriCorps members choose community action projects that make a contribution to bridging the digital divide. The CTEP civic engagement projects are often cited by CTEP AmeriCorps members, staff, supervisors, and community supporters as one of the most unique and energizing parts of the program. This is one of the 2021 civic engagement projects.