Last month, 125 low-income youth from under-represented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from around Oakland, California became developers of technology rather than just consumers at the Level the Coding Field Hackathon. Working through a curriculum grounded in design thinking and mobile app development, 25 teams of five students in the 6-12th grades brainstormed educational, health and environmental issues in their communities, explored root causes of the issues and built a mobile app to address these challenges.

This was an incredible opportunity for a group of students historically lacking access to computer science education: 88% of the students were African American or Latino, 75% were low-income (qualified for free/reduced lunch) and 80% had parents that did not attend college.  The hackathon was sponsored by the Kapor Center for Social Impact, Silicon Valley Bank, Datawind, and AT&T and hosted by the Level Playing Field Institute.

You can experience the Hackathon by viewing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaoES9T8pTk#t=7 Special thanks to Sumaiya Talukdar of the Level Playing Field Institute for sharing this inspirational event.

For more information you may reach Sumaiya by email at: sumaiya@lpfi.org