Philly CoderDojo needs you

Posted by Philly CoderDojo on January 30, 2017

Philly CoderDojo needs you! Please also pass this email along to the techies/ potential mentors you know and look forward to an invite for youth to attend sessions. We need volunteers to help startup a local CoderDojo here in Philadelphia. CoderDojo is an open source, volunteer led international movement of free computer programming clubs for young people. At Dojos, young people between 7 and 17 learn how to code, develop websites, apps, programs, games and more. Dojos are set up, run by and led by volunteer members of the community, for their local community.

College provides a pathway to high-paying jobs but only 1 in 3 adults achieve a bachelor’s degree (2015 US Census) leaving many youths unprepared to enter a highly skilled workforce that they can’t afford to become qualified for. A report from Burning Glass, a job market analytics firm, found that there were as many as 7 million job openings in 2015 in occupations that required coding skills. They also found that programming jobs overall are growing 12% faster than the market average. Technology skills and computational thinking are critical to promoting prosperity in the lives of youth especially those who come from low-income families. Philly CoderDojo plans to combat the digital skills gap creating a diverse pipeline to these fast-growing technology enabled jobs.

Philly CoderDojo is recruiting volunteers from IBM, local universities and two youth-focused/ educational non-profits, Called-To-Serve CDC and How I Decide. We have been fortunate to partner with two elementary schools in the Tioga section of Philadelphia. There will be 24 dojo sessions in 2017 held once a month at each location and we are need of Mentors and non-technical volunteers for as many sessions as you can.

Philly CoderDojo needs you!

Philly CoderDojo Mentors & Volunteers Kick-Off Orientation – Saturday, February 18, 2017

Thursdays:
Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School 3:30 to 5:30pm at 3301 Old York Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19140 on 3/9/17, 4/6/17, 5/4/17, 6/1/17, School’s out, 9/7/17, 10/12/17, 11/9/17 & 12/7/17

3rd Saturdays:
Bethlehem Baptist Church 3:00 to 5:00pm at 712 Penllyn Pike Spring House, PA 19477
2/18/17, 3/18/17, 4/15/17, 5/20/17, 6/17/17, School’s out, 9/16/17, 10/21/17, 11/18/17 & 12/16/17

Wednesdays:
Kenderton Elementary School 3:30 to 5:30pm at 1500 W Ontario St, Philadelphia, PA 19140
3/29/17, 4/26/17, 5/10/17, 6/7/17, School’s out, 9/27/17, 10/25/17, 11/29/17 & 12/20/17

A CoderDojo Tech Volunteer is also known as a Mentor and is a technically skilled individual who guides CoderDojo attendees and facilitates their learning and project work during a Dojo session. Mentors usually have a preferred area or expertise within which they like to work (eg. HTML, Python etc.). It is recommended that ALL CoderDojo Volunteers are to be background checked according to local regulations. The Mentors main focus is on guiding the young people through the basics and then facilitating them in creating their own projects.

These are basic requirements for Mentors;

· A love of coding and enthusiasm for passing this skill on

· Basic Knowledge of at least one coding language or experience with Scratch.

· Background checked according to local regulations

· Equipment necessary for a session you want to run if it is not supplied by the Dojo itself

Duties & Responsibilities – A Tech Volunteer can support their Dojo by providing encouragement to young people at the Dojo and helping with:
Planning a Dojo

· Choosing and researching Tutorials for the sessions

· Choosing and Sourcing equipment needed for the Dojo

· Organization and operational support

· Creating / researching new Resources for the Dojo

At the Dojo

· Health and Safety Checks

· Mentoring and Supervision:

· Positive reinforcement

o Project support and guidance

o Encourage creativity

o Facilitate Peer to peer learning

Volunteers can contact the Philly CoderDojo Service Leader, Nefertiti Stanford, at (267) 318-1526 or PHLCoderDojo@gmail.com. Pending Volunteer registration link, here are some are resources to get you started https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5gF7ssrokcMVmhFaTU3eVViQm8?usp=sharing