Girls Code With Purpose

Girls in orphanages and shelters in Tijuana, Baja California lack opportunities to develop digital skills and are ill-prepared to study professional careers in the field of technology.  

Girls Code with Purpose (GCWP) will provide workshops to orphaned and vulnerable girls (aged 8-17) to develop computer literacy and programming skills.  Classes are focused on empowerment and decision-making and are taught by professional programmers specialized in teach-through-play techniques.  Attaining practical, digital skills and gender empowerment will enable these girls to pursue university opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields and obtain high-quality employment.

If scaled, providing computer literacy and coding education and empowerment to vulnerable girls could shift both the expectations and the participation of girls in STEM fields reducing the gender gap in these areas and enabling vulnerable girls and women to compete in the growing technology job market and obtain sustainable livelihoods.

With thousands of migrants arriving in Tijuana annually, the city has a large number of orphaned and abandoned children.  Of the 128 orphanages in Baja California, Tijuana is home to 54.  Children, half of which are female,  who live in homes have few opportunities to develop job skills that will enable them to create a successful career.  They are less likely to obtain an advanced education, more likely to work in low-skilled jobs, and more likely to live in poverty as adults. Furthermore, orphaned and abandoned girls are more likely to experience sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and teenage marriage and pregnancy, which can result in prolonged trauma, interrupted schooling, social isolation, and girls’ limited access to training and job opportunities.  

Technology jobs are among the fastest growing and highest paid, yet worldwide, women are significantly underrepresented in these fields both in employment and in educational programs.   Girls are less likely to pursue education and job opportunities in STEM fields, a relationship that is exacerbated by income and poverty. In Mexico, just 19% of engineering professionals are women.  This gender gap is attributed to, in part, the societal norms and beliefs of women’s employment. 

To address the problem, GCWP aims to 1) increase educational opportunities for girls to obtain digital training in the STEM field 2) provide empowerment to disband belief systems and social norms that prevent girls and women from pursuing careers in STEM and 3) develop education and training to result in high-quality employment.  

Specifically, GCWP will provide technology training incorporating de-biasing (counter-stereotyping) messaging and decision-making skills to empower girls ages 8-17 to pursue technology-based vocations.  They will learn 1) to develop codes in programming languages, 2) utilize coding in their appropriate contexts, and 3) introduce girls to the innovative possibilities of their new-found knowledge. Special attention is given to carry out activities in a playful and curious environment.  Empowering principles are introduced and repeated throughout the program to disband belief systems that girls cannot succeed in STEM and to combat societal norms of women working in STEM.  

The workshops can be held online via Zoom video platform or in person utilizing a screen and projector. In both cases, a laptop, internet signal, and access to the Logiscool programming learning platform are required for each participant.  Each class is staffed by an instructor and may require a technology assistant.

GCWP targets orphaned, vulnerable, and abandoned girls ages 8-17 who are living in orphanages and shelters in Tijuana.  Most of these children have spent much of their lives in orphanages due to strict adoption policies.  Although children who live in homes receive formal education, many have obstacles to learning that are not properly addressed, including histories of trauma and behavioral disorders. GCWP addresses learning barriers by providing small class sizes and access to a neuropsychologist for at-risk children.

Create Purpose (CP) works directly with orphanages in Tijuana and has built relationships with orphanage administration and staff who collaborate with CP to implement meaningful and impactful programs.  CP has also established community relationships with organizations such as the Violence Prevention Partnership to ensure 1) objectives are in-line with the needs of the target population and 2) alliances in the community are available to support endeavors. 

Tijuana is an industrial city with vast career opportunities in STEM, many of which offer high-paying jobs. Thus, girls living in orphanages who gain practical, digital skills, will benefit with more opportunities to access university programs in STEM fields, obtain high-quality jobs, and create sustainable livelihoods, breaking the cycle of poverty in which they live.    

Girls living in orphanages lack educational opportunities to develop digital literacy and pursue a career, thus our program aims to increase the number of girls and young women participating in formal and informal learning and training while strengthening practical skills, competencies and experiential learning opportunities for orphans and vulnerable girls living in Tijuana orphanages. We aim to empower and enable these girls to pursue STEM-related education and/or work and help achieve a sustainable livelihood as well as to reduce the gender gap among women pursuing educational opportunities and careers/working in STEM fields.

Girls Code with Purpose is an innovative way to address both gender equity and access to occupational skills for vulnerable populations.  Most coding opportunities exist for higher-income families who can afford to pay for extra-curricular and specialty classes for their children.  While courses provided like this that target girls are valuable for gender equity, they contribute to inequality by leaving out the most vulnerable.  Likewise, many job training interventions teach women and girls skills to make a sustainable, yet modest living.  GCWP has the potential to break down barriers for these girls by providing them skills that have the potential to result in high-paying jobs, which would catapult them out of their lives of poverty.  Finally, the classes not only provide resources for children with learning barriers, they also incorporate empowerment, de-bias messaging and social-emotional skills which will further help these children live productive and fulfilling lives academically, professionally, and personally.

This program relies on an existing technological company called Logiscool that offers coding classes to kids.  Logiscool and SchoolCode are both fun-based programming school for children which simultaneously teach children programming while developing their logical-mathematical skills and creativity.  They also teach collaborative learning and other life-skills.  

Children also require computers and an internet signal to participate as well as the Zoom video platform if learning occurs virtually.  GCWP provides a technical assistant to help orphanage caretakers with virtual learning set-up and troubleshooting, which also may be provided in-person or virtually depending on the comfort level of the caretaker. 

Logiscool and School Code are widely used online programming school for kids that are used throughout the world.  They are both certified KidsSafe, which ensures they meet privacy and security standards for youth. We have collected data through our pilot phase that illustrates feasibility and initial impact of our unique use of Logiscool in Girls Code with Purpose.  We continue to collect data and analyze impact. 

Our theory of change follows a standard logic model; however, we have worked backwards in that, through collaboration with community partners and orphanages, we identified barriers that vulnerable children experience in relation to leading a healthy and productive life.  The primary obstacle identified is the persistent cycle of poverty, a result of the lack of support and resources to succeed combined with experience of truama and the resulting mental and emotional problems that follow. 

Since girls and women are at an increased risk of remaining in the cycle of poverty and experiencing negative life-experiences such as trauma, we chose to focus on this population.  To break the cycle of poverty among girls and women, they needed to have the opportunity to obtain a sustainable livelihood both to provide them with options (away from early marriage and early pregnancy) as well to to enable them to live a full-filling life of achievement, empowerment, and independence.  Once this was identified, we identified STEM as an achievable and desirable field that offered substantial opportunity (lucrative and in high-demand) in their own city.  Since CP programming works with youth, based on recommendations from STEM professionals and gender equity experts, we determined that coding classes would be an effective method to introduce girls to STEM.  Thus, our theory of change is as follows:

Activities: Age-appropriate coding classes offered to girls living in orphanages ages 8-17 incorporating social-emotional learning, life skills, de-bias messaging and offering specialized attention for at-risk youth.

Outcomes: 

Girls attending classes obtain basic (increasing with age) knowledge of coding, gain useful coding skills, disband prior beliefs about women in STEM and gain confidence to pursue a career in STEM.

Short-term:

More girls in the target population 1) become interested in the STEM field 2) obtain skills that make them more competitive when applying to a STEM program and 3) obtain skills that prepare them for a job in a STEM field (if advanced education is not pursued.)

Long-term:

More girls in target population 1) pursue advanced education in STEM fields 2) work in a high-quality STEM-related job 3) break the cycle of poverty.

Our program currently serves 30 children.  Moving forward, we plan to expand to 100 children in the first year and to 500 per year by year 5.  In five years, we plan to serve 270 children per year. 

Within the next year, our goals include:

1) To continue to expand the program's virtual option.  

2) To obtain work certifications 

3) To have a presence in the local bootcamps and challenges

4) To create alliance with local and national universities within their STEM programs

5) To continue to expand data collection and evaluation efforts

Within the next five years, 

1) To give international projection to the girls in the program

Barriers to implementation include obtaining finances to implement the proposed budget.  The majority of our funds are obtained via donors and crowd-sourcing.  All children require access to laptop computers, which they currently do not possess, thus supplying children with equipment and maintaining it will be a significant cost as we grow our program. 

Due to COVID, we shifted our implementation efforts to offer more virtual classes than we had previously planned, which diverted funds from building other areas of the program.  Additionally, we expect fewer donations during the 2020 year due to COVID-related economy concerns from our dedicated community of donors.   Due to the primarily virtual nature of our current program due to COVID, we are having to rely more on orphanage caretakers.  While they are dedicated to the project, they did not intend to have to manage technical aspects. 

We plan to seek additional funding through grants to sustain the program during COVID.  We applied for and received a loan from the US government through the CARE Act. We also plan to provide caretakers with basic technology training so they can set-up and troubleshoot for the children during virtual courses. For those caretakers unwilling to take on the technology challenge, we will send an assistant to the orphanage, with a strict COVID protocol to ensure all equipment is working as intended. 

For additional funding, we plan to continue to request donations from crowd-sourcing and community donors as well as continue to apply for grants from foundations, governments, and non-governmental organizations.

1. Ana Cristina Borquez, Curriculum Coordinator

2. Edith Soria, Project Manager, co-founder 

3. Shawna McNally, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

4. Nicholas Sandoval, CEO, co-founder

5. Ariana Fuentes, neuropsychologist and instructor for at-riks children

Ana Cristina Borquez Garces, M.Ed, Director of Programs for Create Purpose with over ten years of experience implementing educational programming to elementary through college-age students.  Ana will be responsible for curriculum development and data collection efforts in the field. 

Edith Soria and Nicholas Sandoval, co-founders of Create Purpose have established numerous relationships with orphanages, community members, and community organizations to support Girls Code with Purpose. Nicholas and Edith have six and four years respectively, of experience working directly with orphanages implementing OVC programming.

Shawna McNally, MSPH, RD, Public Health Consultant with experience 1) planning, developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks  in Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Africa and the United States and 2) managing Small Business Innovation Research Grants awarded from the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawna-mcnally-3762797/

Ariana Fuentes is a neuropsychologist who specializes in learning delays among children who are victims of trauma.

We work with various academic, governmental and community partners in each of our programming areas.  Please click the following link to see a more comprehensive list of our partners: https://www.createpurpose.org/aboutus 

We first and foremost partner with orphanages to identify child needs and to identify feasible and effective solutions. 

For our Girls Coding with Purpose program, we are partnering with Logiscool (https://www.logiscool.com/tr-tr/)to provide their technology.  We are also working with Espacio Migrante (https://www.espaciomigrante.org/), who are purchasing the program for their migrant population, which is helping fund our classes to our vulnerable girls population.

Create Purpose is a 501c3 nonprofit organization in the United States and in Mexico. Our mission is to “Promote sustainable and equitable community development through research and educational programs for vulnerable children and adolescents that facilitate their integral development and identification of their life purpose.” Our impact population is to develop and implement learning programs for at-risk children living in orphanages on the US/MX border. After several evaluations of different orphanages and communication with leadership and staff, our programs were imagined, designed and implemented to meet the special needs of the children at the orphanage.

The revenue model of the organization is separated into four parts. Donations, grants, events and sales of program. The first three are typical actions of a nonprofit and we will generate 85% of our revenue using these three strategies. The fourth, however, we are developing in order to self-sustain our programs. For our technology program, specifically, we will offer that exact same course that we provide in the orphanages to the general public. Children in the US and Mexico will have the opportunity to purchase our 16-week course in technology where 100% of profits will go to fund classes at the orphanages. When we have sufficient children from the general public in our classes then we will be able to offer 1:1 meaning, for every paying child in our course we will be able to gift one to a child in an orphanage.