Seattle-area code school Coding Dojo is introducing a new program called Impact Scholarships, for students who want to use their coding skills to affect social change.
The company is partnering with Redlight Traffic, a group that combats human trafficking, to offer the first round of scholarships to female survivors of trafficking. Impact Scholarship recipients will get a 90 percent scholarship for Coding Dojo’s 12-week course.
“The coding communities talk a lot about placement numbers and jobs, but the thing that’s not being emphasized is how coding schools really help people transform their lives, and the positive impact that technology access makes on the community” said Coding Dojo CEO Richard Wang.
“Coding Dojo is really creating a new beginning for victims,” Redlight Traffic President Amin Haq said. “They’ve stepped up to a space that has not really been opened up.”
Haq will be taking a 12-week Coding Dojo course himself to better understand how coding can help victims of human trafficking.
Students can apply for the scholarships after completing a standard application for an onsite Coding Dojo class at its Seattle, San Jose or Los Angeles locations. The school is also looking to partner with other groups in the future to help offer scholarships to those who want to make a social change. It hopes to continue enabling people to create change from within minority groups.
Coding Dojo is joining the ranks of many other coding schools that are focusing on training those less represented in the current tech scene. Earlier this year, Code Fellows introduced a $250,000 scholarship program for minorities, women and veterans. A bill improving computer science courses in K–12 schools, with an emphasis on underprivileged districts, also passed in Washington state earlier this summer.
