CodeNow Receives Motorola Solutions Foundation Grant
We are excited to announce a grant for $10,000 USD from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, Inc. Through the grant, CodeNow will be able to provide financial scholarships and mentoring support to Chicago high school students for the 2017–18 academic year.
Chicago, IL — August 30, 2017 — CodeNow, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming underserved youth into coders, designers, and product managers by teaching them to solve meaningful problems in their communities with software, today announced it has received a $10,000 grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, Inc. Through the grant, CodeNow will expand its four-phase, year-long program to help more students uncover their passions for design, product development, and entrepreneurship while learning the fundamentals of both front end and back end programming.
The Motorola Solutions Foundation awards grants each year to organizations, such as CodeNow, which support and advance technology & engineering education initiatives and public safety programs. This year, programs that served underrepresented populations, including females, people with disabilities and veterans were prioritized.
“As the learn-to-code movement gained momentum, we noticed that students weren’t just hungry to learn how to code, they wanted — and needed — to learn how to answer challenges with design, and how to effectively manage the development of their product. Through our new curriculum, students don’t just learn to code; they design and build apps that address social problems that are impacting themselves, their families, and their communities.” — Neal Sales-Griffin, CEO of CodeNow.
With funding from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, CodeNow is expanding its program into Chicago, its seventh city. The program model begins with 30 hours of hands-on weekend workshops led by CodeNow staff and volunteers from partner tech companies. Students then participate in 60 hours of self-paced online learning, hackathons (20 more hours), and a national 100-hour summer competition where final projects will be developed and launched.
This year, Motorola Solutions Foundation grants will support programs that help over 2 million students, teachers, first responders, and community members across the United States. Each participant will receive an average of 186 programming hours from its partner non-profit organizations and institutions. Programs will support special populations including: females, underrepresented minorities, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, people with disabilities, and veterans.
“Motorola Solutions Foundation is proud to support the work of CodeNow. As a leading technology company that supports the safety of communities worldwide, we know how important it is to educate tomorrow’s technology professionals as well as enlighten civilians and first responders on today’s safety needs,” — Matt Blakely, Executive Director of the Motorola Solutions Foundation.
For additional information on the Motorola Solutions Foundation grants program, visit: motorolasolutions.com/foundation and for more information on CodeNow please visit www.CodeNow.org.
About CodeNow
CodeNow, Inc. (www.CodeNow.org), founded in 2011, transforms underserved youth into coders, designers, and product managers by teaching them to solve meaningful problems in their communities with software. To date, CodeNow has taught over 2,000 underrepresented high school students how to code and engaged 500 volunteers for a total of nearly 13,000 volunteering hours. CodeNow has run programs in Chicago, Miami, New York City, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Washington D.C., and the Bay Area. CodeNow’s new year-long, four-phase program model, launched in 2017, immerses students in coding, design thinking, and product management as they work alongside CodeNow staff and volunteers from technology partners such as Adobe, Bloomberg, Basecamp, Galvanize, Infosys, and Visa. For more information visit our website: www.codenow.org
About Motorola Solutions Foundation
The Motorola Solutions Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola Solutions. With employees located around the globe, Motorola Solutions seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The foundation achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships and fostering innovation. The Motorola Solutions Foundation focuses its funding on public safety, disaster relief, employee programs and education, especially in science, technology, engineering and math. For more information on Motorola Solutions Corporate and Foundation giving, visit our website: www.motorolasolutions.com/foundation.
