Black Girls CODE Wins $50,000 in Grants & Returns to Teach Atlanta Teens to Create Mobile Apps

Nov. 29, 2012 - PRLog -- Black Girls CODE (BGC) was recently announced the winner of the Bank of the West Innovations in Philanthropy Award and was presented with a grant for $50,000 to continue their devotion to introduce young girls to computer programming, robotics, electrical engineering and other areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in inner cities across the nation.

“Receiving recognition for our work from Bank of the West was a tremendous honor,” said Kimberly Bryant, Founder of Black Girls CODE.  “This award both validates the importance of our mission in creating a bright future for the more than 700 young women who have been involved in our programs so far and provides opportunities for the thousands more we hope to reach in 2013.  This is a movement and we are elated that Bank of the West has joined us as a partner on this journey.”

The National Center for Education Statistics reported that African-Americans received 1 percent of degrees in science technologies and 4 percent in math and statistics in 2009. Because of the ongoing studies of falling numbers of African-Americans receiving STEM degrees over the last decade, BGC was created to make a change by introducing girls of color (African American, Hispanic and Native American) to STEM and allow them to discover careers and interests as creators and builders in technology.

On the heels of receiving the award, BGC is returning to Atlanta on Saturday, December 8, 2012 to host a one-day workshop that will teach girls, age 10-17, how to build their own mobile applications for Android phones at the Georgia Institute of Technology at the Klaus Advanced Computing Building (266 Ferst Drive Northwest) from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

BGC will utilize AppInventor, a fun and simple tool that allows young code developers to create mobile apps for Android phones. Using an easy drag-and-drop interface, the girls will also learn how to write music apps, tell fortunes and more.

Prior programming experience is not required to participate as BGC provides one-day workshops and weeklong classes introducing young girls to computer programming, robotics, electrical engineering and other areas of STEM in inner cities across the nation.

BGC will also host a one day web-building workshops in Los Angeles on December 15th at the University of Southern California. The organization has plans for an extensive series of workshops in February during Black History Month with classes in cities such as Memphis, Oakland, Miami, Atlanta, and New York on the roster.  To register for any of the upcoming classes visit: http://www.blackgirlscode.com/upcoming-programs.html. For more information about Black Girls CODE visit www.blackgirlscode.com. To watch a video on Black Girls CODE, click HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dsB2SSZAjs&feature=plcp).



Media Opportunities

To request event access or arrange media interviews with participants, please contact Lenora B. Woods at lenora@theellenoraagency.com (mailto:lenora@theellenoraagency.com%20) or 404-840-0516.

About Black Girls CODE

Since 2011, Black Girls CODE has been committed to providing girls from underrepresented communities’ access to technology and the 21st century skills necessary to become the tech leaders and creators of tomorrow. Black Girls CODE’s Summer of CODE campaign was created as vehicle to bridge the digital divide and “Change the Face of Tech” in the United States. The campaign serves as an awareness program to future weeklong programs taking place in Chicago, Oakland and Atlanta in the fall 2012.