The PSF is always thrilled to be able to help introduce young people to the world of programming. As such, Young Coders' Workshops (also see O'Reilly) are especially close to our hearts. Young Coders, for those of you who don’t know, was started in 2013 at PyCon in Santa Clara by Katie Cunningham and Barbara Shaurette (see My Dinner with Katie). Kids ages 12-17 learn to code using Raspberry Pis, which they then get to keep.
Recently, the PSF has granted funding for PyOhio and for its Young Coders' Workshop. The conference will be held August 1st - 2nd on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Oh, while the YC workshop will take place on Sat August 1 (see PyOhio).
PyOhio serves as a regional conference for the Midwest with many attendees from surrounding states. Attendance at PyOhio has grown from 150 in 2010 to 400 in 2014. There will be 4 tracks of talks over 2 days and three days of sprints. This year’s schedule include a keynote by Catherine Devlin and talks by Brandon Rhodes and Brian Curtin among others. Registration is free (see PyOhio)!
Brian Costlow, Chair of PyOhio, explains that the Young Coders Workshop targets kids who wouldn’t otherwise get the opportunity. PyOhio organizers reach out to partners to get the word out to those beyond tech circles. They reserve 40% of workshop slots for their partner organizations' for kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods. Last year in 2014, the kids came from one of the most economically distressed neighborhoods in Columbus (see Demographic Info).
This year, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Columbus, OH is helping to recruit kids from poorer neighborhoods.
According to Brian,
We’ll pull kids from more than one neighborhood this year, but the highest median household income is $32,000 and all of the neighborhoods have at least 15% of households below the poverty line. By way of contrast, the median income for the Greater Columbus Statistical Metropolitan area is $44,000, but if you exclude the distressed neighborhoods, the household median income is around $80,000 and only 2% are below the poverty line.
The PSF is happy to be able to help with funding for such a worthwhile event. Not only do the kids get to keep the Raspberry Pis, but they also go home with the keyboard, mouse, and cable. This is especially important for underprivileged kids who may not have access to computers outside of school. In fact,
Other sponsors of PyOhio and Young Coders include Level 12, Safari, and Caktus Group, to name a few (see Sponsors). But sponsors are still needed, so there is still an opportunity to help! Please visit Sponsor Prospectus.
I would love to hear from readers. Please send feedback, comments, or blog ideas to me at msushi@gnosis.cx.