Students, teachers and local politicians crowded the library at the Park Slope school PS/MS 282 to launch a coding initiative for young Brooklynites in public schools throughout the borough.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams spoke candidly about the program, named Code Brooklyn, and its mission to prepare students for coding jobs in the future. The program’s goal is to also provide every public school student in Brooklyn the opportunity to learn how to code and take those skills with them throughout their academic career and beyond.
“Our future is written in zeroes and ones, and coding will help our young people write that future while adding several zeroes to the ends of their salaries,” said Adams. “We need our students to be prepared to secure jobs of today and tomorrow, as well as to grow from the quantitative and creative skills that come from exposure to computer science and coding.”
The five point plan for Code Brooklyn begins with a call to action for every district within Brooklyn to participate in the Hour of Code, a global effort in over 180 countries to help demystify coding during Computer Science Education Week which takes place from December 7- 13.
So far over 200 schools within several districts have committed to take part. Part of the plan includes analysis from the Borough President’s office of the infrastructure need in Brooklyn schools pertaining to their ability to support robust computer science programming. This includes the availability of STEM labs, smart boards, computer cars, general wiring and Wi-Fi capability. Results of that assessment will lead to an internal report that will help determine allocations of the increased funding that Borough President Adams is committing in his upcoming capital budgets.
“How do we move this borough towards the future? This borough is experiencing double digit unemployment in many communities, with 25% living in poverty. If we don’t find meaningful employment and attract talent to the borough to teach our young people how to be prepared for tomorrow and how they can be part of the growth of this industry that’s moving in the right direction that is what our goal is and it’s my job as the Borough President to make sure that everyone can have an opportunity to benefit from the popularity of this brand and turn it into prosperity for all Brooklynites,” Adams said.
Park Slope City Council Member Brad Lander was also on hand to give his full support of the initiative.
“Through my funding of this year’s exciting new coding program at PS/MS 282, I’ve seen the importance of making sure that every child has the opportunity to develop his or her computer science knowledge,” said Lander. “Coding is a critical skill that can propel students to success throughout their academic and professional careers. “
Other experts who were present expressed their excitement about the potential opportunities this initiative will bring. “I applaud Borough President Adams and Code Brooklyn for this remarkable commitment to K-12 computer science education,” said Diane Levitt, senior director of K-12 education at Cornell Tech. “As the National Chair of Computer Science Education Week, I think this computer science ‘tech jam’ is a wonderful start to bringing digital literacy to every student in Brooklyn. Given Mayor de Blasio’s recently announced initiative, CS4All, Brooklyn’s students will experience a terrific launch on their journey to computational literacy.”
Schools interested in participating in the Hour of Code can sign up at hourofcode.com/codebrooklyn. Anyone interested in joining the more than 100 people volunteering in this effort can visit volunteer.codebrooklyn.org for more information.
