Free ‘coding bootcamps’ serving low-income youth to launch in February

The future heroes of the Philadelphia tech scene may be a handful of kids from North Philly.

At least, that’s the hope of North Broad Street-based nonprofit Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center, which serves some of the city’s poorest ZIP codes. OIC received a $150,000 grant from the Lenfest Foundation last week to launch CODE OIC, a program that aims to get kids interested in STEM careers and to prepare adults for entry-level tech jobs with free, 12-week “coding bootcamps.”

Program graduates will get help finding paid internships from coding education program Coded by Kids and Wilco Electronic Systems.

CODE OIC will launch in February at Callowhill’s Parkway Center City High School, and 12 to 15 students will be accepted for each class.

A program of this scale is unprecedented, reports our sister site, Technical.ly Philly.