Problem statement:

Since there are apparent gaps in traditional formal education, youth unemployment around the world continues, virtually unabated, leaving today’s young people facing enormous challenges in finding a decent job and making an income. And while the technology industry continues to grow at an accelerated pace, companies across a range of sectors are facing a shortage of professionals with the prerequisite tech/coding skills to fill their workforce needs. And then there are structural, geographical, and socio-economical barriers that prevent the underrepresented and underprivileged minorities from accessing opportunities. We believe, until we prepare everybody for these opportunities, equal opportunities would mean nothing. A prime example of how to achieve this is Code For India Foundation (CFI). The CFI initiative is designed to close the tech gap and benefit the marginalized/ lower income class and is aimed at finding the fastest possible paths for low-skilled individuals with barriers to training and employment to secure well-paying, high-growth technology jobs. The barriers include Indian’s with disabilities, disconnected youth, workers with limited English proficiency, people with childcare responsibilities, etc. Many of these populations are not able to follow the traditional path of learning to code- as they do not have the time, money, or resources to spend four years acquiring new skills. This is why Accelerated non-traditional learning programs are a core part of CFI to help bridge gaps by creating more opportunities for people to learn within their communities.

Vision: Promoting Code Literacy For an Equitable Society. Building a diverse, inclusive, and empowered tech ecosystem.

MoS/ Target:

● Percentage of students placed in the industry / Placed for internships, successfully.

● The diversity graduated.

● Percentage of women trained and placed.

KPI:

● Corporate Partnerships,

● No: of Volunteers trained under the fellowship program,

● No: of foundation bootcamps conducted,

● no: of students participated,

● Funds raised.

Timelines With Checkpoints:

● Do 2 cohorts of foundation program per year - 6 months each

● Applications Platform going live by Oct 25

● Launching the CFI 2 year long paid Fellowship Program on November 1.

● Month Of November - College Outreach, Volunteer Driven Organisations Outreach to drive the momentum around the Fellowship Program.

● Opening Applications for the foundation program on December 1.

● Launching Fellowship Program by January 1. Followed by 4-6 month training of the selected fellows.

● Applicants shortlisting, selection to define a handpicked class of 30 students to train the first batch of CFI.

● Approx. looking to kickstart the batch in the month of February. (6-month long batch)

● Expected outcome - students qualify for internships after the completion of the foundation program (in Q4)