Google Funds Coding Camps for Kids

Google logoGoogle’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt announced the company will spend $1.5 million  to support the educational charity, Actua.

The grant will help launch a program called Codemakers, with a goal of teaching 100,000 Canadian kids about coding software and working with cutting-edge technologies.

Over three years, Actua plans to run summer camps and school workshops across the country, with a focus on reaching underserved populations including girls, aboriginal youth, children of immigrants and kids from homes facing socioeconomic challenges, says chief executive Jennifer Flanagan.

“What we’re really trying to do with the Codemakers initiative is bring kids from the place of being very great consumers of technology to actually giving them the skills to be producers of technology in the future,” says Flanagan.

“Knowing that they’re using this technology at a very young age we want to tell them how it works and give them the skills so we put them in the driver’s seat in the future.”

The Information Technology Association of Canada offers programs targeting youth through its award winning CareerMash initiative.

CBC Television report