Colgate Partners To Teach Black Girls To Code

Colgate and Black Girls CODE (BGC), a non-profit on a mission to teach one million girls of color computer programming by 2040, culminated its 2017 CODE a Brighter Future Hackathon Workshop Series last weekend in San Francisco, reports PR Newswire. More than 100 young girls, between the ages of 12 to 17, convened at Galvanize for a 2½-day workshop to learn to code and design mobile apps to address and solve problems in their communities. The partnership between Colgate and BGC launched during Black History Month earlier this year, with an online campaign appealing to the newest generation of young women of color to get interested in technology, while raising funds for BGC through shares. The first hackathon workshop series took place in April in New York City with more than 80 young aspiring coders. In addition, a video highlighting the CODE a Brighter Future partnership is also being featured in an ASPIREist series airing nationally on CNN.com and HLN News television network this month.  The hackathon allows students to work in teams with experienced mentors over an entire weekend building apps and tools. The girls are taught by coders and include ideation, app design + development and coding lessons. On the final day (9/24) of the Hackathon, a panel of guest judges, including entrepreneurs, developers and executives, selected the winning app that will help pave the way to a brighter future. The winning group of students received a prize. Black Girls CODE is an organization dedicated to educating girls of color, ages 7 to 17, in digital media and computer programming skills as well as building lifelong proficiency in problem-solving and abstract thinking. For more information on Colgate’s #CodeABrighterFuture campaign, visit www.blackgirlscode.com/colgate.