Today while doing my favorite activity (visiting a public library), I saw that a pamphlet promoting San Francisco Tech Week 2023 is May 7-13 (ref). I noticed there was a session Javascript for Beginners organized by Mission Bit (https://www.missionbit.org/)
The San Francisco library system has been leading the way to enable every San Francisco resident to have free access to learning material, a safe physical space to hang out, a community hub and free access to state parks and local museums.
The next logical step is to partner with local non-profits to provide Free Computer Science For All. I was excited to learn more about Mission Bit. On their homepage they have an inspiring goal.
Bridging the Tech Divide : Mission Bit inspires youth of color to explore the world of STEM with project-based computer science education that embraces their identities.
They also cite a statistic that resonates with my personal mission of providing Free Computer Science For All. 98% students of color!
About: https://www.missionbit.org/about/
The team is led by Christina Ortega, as their CEO. linkedin, and a team of 9 people who help run programs to bring Computer Science to high school students.
There are 13 instructors and instructor assistants who help run their in person and remote classrooms.
What is unique is their 8 student advisory board members.
Like most non-profits, they do have a team of 10 at the board of directors.
Financial and outcomes
I reviewed their Mission Bit Annual Report 2022 and their financial statements for 2020 and 2019. It was surprising they had government contracts of $348,836. At closer look, it was the pandemic loans. Their financial report look pretty healthy in 2020, but of course Covid may have thrown a curve ball.
Mission
Mission Bit aims to inspire youth of color to explore the world of STEM with project-based computer science education that embraces their identities.
Classes (https://www.missionbit.org/classes/)
Mission Bit provides free coding classes, workshops and summer bootcamps to underserved and underrepresented communities. They also provide field trips in the bay area to make connections with the people in the tech community.
They provide semester-based coding courses to residents of San Francisco to students attending a high school site with limited to no computer science offerings.
Volunteer and Donate
For such a great cause, I have donated and signed up to join their demo day on May 12! https://lu.ma/icadtrdg