March 7, 2022 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Coded by Kids has big ambitions. The Philadelphia nonprofit is dedicated to preparing young people from underrepresented backgrounds for leadership roles in technology — with the ultimate goal of producing startup founders.
“My obligation is to prepare our young people to go as far as they are able to go,” says Sylvester Mobley, the organization’s founder. Often, he says, people question his approach and say not all of the group’s young people are going to become chief executives or chief technology officers. “My response is you’re absolutely right. However, because of where I set the bar, if I fail, my kids end up as VP of products somewhere or director of engineering. I’m OK with that.”
The students Coded by Kids work with range in age from 8 to 24. Participants learn about coding, software development, technology jobs, and more. A paid summer internship program teaches high-school and college students what tech start-ups do and how they work.
Students get real-world experience creating apps, websites, and prototypes as interns with Draft Studios, the organization’s web-development company. Some stay on, and it becomes their job during college.
“They manage themselves. They are the developers. They are the UI/UX designers. They are the project managers,” Mobley says. “We provide guide rails to make sure things don’t go off the tracks.”
Coded by Kids has worked with more than 1,700 young people since it started in 2014. Foundation grants and corporate sponsorships make up a large portion of the group’s roughly $2 million annual budget, followed by gifts from individuals and earned income.
The organization’s approach is intensive. Young people typically stay with Coded by Kids for one to two years.
“We’ve been resistant to the ‘you’ve got to get bigger’ push,” Mobley says. “We’ve always said we want to make sure that the outcomes we’re driving to are the outcomes we want, not necessarily working to the numbers.”
