Code/Art: Empowering Girls to Code through Art

The specific problem within the Gender Equity in STEM Challenge we are working to solve is the lack of early computer science (CS) programs that are welcoming and accessible to girls, especially to Black and Hispanic/Latina girls and girls from low-income backgrounds. Research shows that girls who are introduced to computer programming before high school are much more likely to go on to study Computer Science and ultimately work in a computing career. 

Several barriers, however, hinder this from happening. They include:

1. Most elementary and middle schools in the US do not offer CS classes.(code.org, 2022)
2. Extracurricular coding programs tend to be expensive.
3. Parents are less likely to encourage their daughters to take part in coding programs as compared to their sons (Swayne, 2019).
4. Gender stereotypes discourage girls from taking CS (Master et al, 2021).
5. Many girls who haven’t tried coding think it will be boring. (Google, 2014)

Removing these barriers will help to level the playing field for girls with their male peers in CS and set them on the path for success in future STEM careers. Unlocking this untapped potential and increasing the number of women in tech careers is so important because we are at an all hands-on-deck moment right now. The US is losing its edge as the world's technology leader (ASPI, 2023), and this is happening as we are facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime. Computer Science skills are needed to help us solve these big challenges, yet we aren't graduating enough people with the skills needed to meet current demand. 

Even after recent tech layoffs, there continues to be a large talent shortage, with an estimated 375,000 unfilled computing jobs in the US overall (Dice, Jan-Oct 2022) and 28,088 just in Florida (code.org, 2022). Miami, where Code/Art is headquartered, is currently the fastest growing tech hub in the US (WSJ, Aug 5, 2022), but it doesn’t have the local technical talent to sustain it. It is surviving by importing talent and outsourcing work to foreign developers. With computing jobs predicted to continue to outpace supply through 2031 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021), we need to expand the CS talent pool. 

Women -- especially Black and Hispanic/Latina women -- represent an underutilized talent source to help mitigate these labor shortages on both a local and national level. The percentage of women in CS has dropped significantly over the past 40 years –– going from 37% of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in 1984 (NCES, 2012) to about 22% today. Black and Latina women combined earned just under 4% of CS bachelor's degrees in 2020 (NCWIT Scorecard Excel data tables (1989-2020)), even though together they represent close to 17% of the US population (2020 US Census).

Increasing gender and racial equity in Computer Science will not only help mitigate labor shortages, but will also increase innovation (AnitaB.org, 2019) and lead to greater economic mobility and financial stability for women. 

Code/Art's solution to reach more girls with early CS programs is to take CS to the art classroom! By empowering K-12 art teachers to lead creative coding lessons, we are making CS education more accessible to girls at an early age and expanding the pool of girls interested in coding. This approach is designed to remove the five barriers to girls’ accessing early coding opportunities that were identified earlier:

1. By incorporating coding into art class in elementary and middle schools, girls (and boys) learn coding at an early age without the schools having to add an official CS course.

2. Students get fun and creative coding experiences for free in school.

3. When art is mandatory, girls take part regardless of their parents’ gender biases. And, when art is an elective in high school, girls far outnumber boys (Gehl, 2020).

4. All girls in art class get exposure to computer programming even if they otherwise would have been disinclined to try coding because of stereotypes. 

5. By using computer programming to create art, girls see that CS isn’t boring and isn’t only for math nerds. 

Our award-winning “Empowering Girls to Code through Art” solution was designed to empower art teachers with no previous coding experience in how to lead four (4) introductory creative coding lessons. To do this, we provide 14 hours of professional development training in which we walk the art teachers through each of the coding lessons. Code/Art’s trained classroom teaching assistants (CTAs) attend the training to assist the teachers as they need help.

Post training, the art teachers get access to easy-to-follow step-by-step video tutorials (see sample video and teacher resources here), detailed lesson plans, and 8 hours of CTA support in the classroom to further ensure they feel confident in implementing the lessons with their students. Most of Code/Art's CTAs are current CS majors in college. Having the Code/Art CTAs assisting in the art classrooms provides role models for the younger students and helps them envision themselves studying CS and working in a STEM career involving computer programming. As the majority of our CTAs are female (currently 83%), girls in the art classroom can better visualize themselves as future coders and boys see that women can be successful in CS, too.

In addition, we provide the teachers with information and incentives to promote Code/Art’s creative coding competitions with their female students. This not only provides the girls with additional fun coding challenges, but allows Code/Art to measure our impact based on how many girls taught by Code/Art-empowered art teachers enter our coding competitions. It also provides Code/Art a means to survey the girls and their parents, which we aren’t able to do directly with the students in the art classrooms due to privacy concerns. The top students (and teachers) in our annual CodeYourSelf(TM) competition get published in our annual What a Coder Looks Like illustrated book, which serves as an additional incentive.

Hear what teachers have to say about the program in this video.

Our primary target population is girls aged 8-18 from historically underrepresented groups in CS (primarily Black and Latina/Hispanic) and girls from low-income backgrounds, who typically have less access to early CS programs. As our focus is on increasing access to early CS opportunities, we will prioritize girls aged 8-14; however, we will also serve girls aged 15-18, as high school visual arts classes are predominantly female (College Board, 2020) and 38% of women in CS say they first developed an interest in computer science during high school (Langreo, 2022). 

Headquartered in Miami, FL, where the public school district has approximately 334,400 students of which 49% are female, 74% receive free or reduced lunch, 19% are Black, and 73% are Hispanic (Miami-Dade County Public Schools, 2021), Code/Art is well situated to reach its target population. As Code/Art scales horizontally into new school districts, a priority will be placed on Title I schools and schools with a high percentage of Black and/or Hispanic/Latina students. Students will benefit by gaining new in-demand skills and exposure to high-paying STEM careers, of which they may otherwise not have considered or even been aware. Although not a primary target, the male students in the art classes will also benefit from the coding lessons and potentially gain a more positive view of girls in STEM.

To reach these students, Code/art’s secondary target population is K-12 art teachers, primarily those at Title I middle and elementary schools. We empower these educators with the ability to lead four of Code/Art’s introductory creative coding lessons. This adds an exciting new facet to their teaching repertoire and also allows them to gain in-demand technical skills that boost their job security and offer them further career advancement opportunities. 

Understanding and addressing the needs of the art teachers form an integral part of our solution. To ensure that our program aligns with their requirements, we regularly survey participating teachers. We provide them with membership in a closed Facebook group to share successes and ask for advice, nurturing a supportive community that enables them to learn from each other's experiences. They also have direct access to us through provided contact information, enabling us to assist with any queries or concerns that might arise.

We acknowledge that implementing a new skill into a curriculum may come with challenges. To assist with this transition, we provide the teachers with easy-to-follow video tutorials, detailed lesson plans, and refresher training. Furthermore, we have arranged for 8 hours of in-classroom support from our trained classroom teaching assistants (CTAs), most of whom are current CS majors in college.

Code/Art’s CTAs not only provide technical support but also serve as role models for students, particularly for girls who often lack representation in STEM fields. The majority of our CTAs are female (currently 83%), offering students the chance to envision themselves pursuing a future in computer programming. The CTAs also benefit by gaining real-world STEM teaching experience.

The Code/Art team is closely intertwined with the communities we serve. With 75% of staff identifying as Hispanic/Latina, we reflect the demographics of Miami and understand the challenges faced by our communities. We are not just tech and teaching experts but also part of the community, sharing the same cultural nuances and experiences as the participants we serve.

Code/Art’s Team Lead, Amy Renshaw, is a longtime member of the Miami business and tech communities, and she founded Code/Art to bring more girls and women into the tech world. She has leveraged her connections in the Miami tech and education communities to build a network of partners and resources to support Code/Art to empower more girls to explore CS education and STEM careers through art.

Lisa Hauser, Code/Art’s Director of Professional Development, shares the immigrant experience of many of our participants. A native of Venezuela, Hauser knows the challenges immigrants face, and, as a woman in the male-dominated field of mathematics, she is familiar with the biases (unintentional or otherwise) against girls and women in STEM. As a high school math teacher, Hauser founded a Girls Who Code club after seeing the frustrations of female students whose interest in robotics clubs or other STEM experiences were quashed by the extent of male domination in those activities. For her work with Code/Art, Hauser was awarded the 2021 Educational Innovation Abie Award by the AnitaB.org group as part of the Grace Hopper Celebration.

Code/Art has been working in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) for five years and continuously solicits feedback from administrators within their STEAM department to better understand what they want and need in Code/Art's programming. We utilize surveys, impact forms, and open communication channels with the teachers we train, the students who participate in our programs, their parents/guardians, and all attendees of Code/Art Fest, our annual coding conference/celebration, to better understand our customers’ needs and continuously improve our programs based on them. 

Our "Tech es Para TODOS!" initiative, which is tailored specifically for our immigrant communities where native Spanish speakers are prevalent, was developed in collaboration with our CSforALL Accelerator cohort members and in partnership with Miami Connected, Comcast and the Homestead Cybrarium as a result of conversations with the MDCPS district, our students, and each other. The "Tech es Para TODOS!" initiative aims to bridge language and cultural barriers by providing resources and support in Spanish to enable active parental participation in their daughters' tech education. This initiative exemplifies how our inclusivity and understanding of the local community enable us to design and implement programs that meet its needs authentically.

We also strengthen our community connections by recruiting previous participants in Code/Art programs to be volunteers, coding instructors, interns, junior board members, speakers, and, even in one case, a staff member. In addition, Code/Art partners collaboratively with other community-based organizations, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters Miami, CSTA Miami, Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida, Miami EdTech and South Florida Tech Hub, to expand program reach.

Code/Art has had a long history of working with Miami-Dade County public schools to introduce CS and coding as a medium to create art (Dennis, 2021; Dahlberg, 2022). To date, Code/art has trained 105 art teachers, which corresponds to a reach of approximately 8,000 girls per year, with approximately 2,700 new girls reached each year. These numbers assume that each art teacher teaches, on average, 150 students per year, that at least 50% of art students are female, that all trained teachers lead at least one Code/Art lesson with each of their students, and that the art teachers continue to incorporate the creative coding lessons into their teaching each consecutive year.

In addition to the teachers taught directly by Code/Art in its professional development courses, over 500 teachers across the US have accessed Code/Art curriculum through Code/Art’s online learning portal. Beyond this, Code/Art's lesson on the Code.org Hour of Code activities page has been viewed over 30,000 times, presumably many times by teachers leading an Hour of Code lesson. This reach with teachers has enabled Code/Art to reach thousands of more girls across the US and resulted in over 700 girls from 23 US states plus Washington D.C. entering Code/Art coding competitions in 2023.

In addition, some of the Code/Art trained teachers are going further to provide additional, more in-depth coding experiences for their students, with a focus on reaching even more girls. At least three Code/Art trained teachers have used Code/Art’s curriculum to start Creative Coding electives at their schools, and eight teachers, to date, have started Code/Art Clubs for Girls at their schools. Based on our goals and increased demand from the teachers we have trained, we aim to support many more teachers in leading Code/Art computer programming electives and Code/Art Clubs for Girls at their schools in the coming years.

Since its founding in 2016, Code/Art has shown substantial year-to-year growth and hopes to continue that growth through expansion into new markets. With MIT Solve and Tiger Global Impact Ventures assistance, Code/Art hopes to overcome the following challenges in scaling our solution:

1. Streamlining training while maintaining focus on mission:

In our current delivery model, Code/Art directly trains teachers. Once trained, these teachers incorporate Code/Art's curriculum into existing courses as well as new electives, and Code/Art impresses upon them the importance of making CS education accessible to boys and girls alike. 

We realize that a train-the-trainer model, where we train a school district’s trainers and then they train their teachers would allow us to reach more school districts, and one school district has specifically requested that model. While this method is cost-effective for the district and it has the potential to bring Code/Art to many more students, Code/Art is concerned about consistency of messaging. The main concern is that focus will shift entirely to coding, and the vital component of the Code/Art curriculum that is focused on gender equity may be lost or diluted.

Through the learning and development modules aimed at refinement of plans for scaling, advice and reflection in coaching sessions, and feedback from counterparts in the peer-to-peer network, Code/Art would hope to get guidance on how to create and implement the train-the-trainer model for our teacher training in such a way that it is financially viable and also maintains the integrity of our pedagogical methods and priorities.

2. Strengthening data collection and evidence-based practices:

Code/Art is interested in advice from the peer-to-peer group on how to capture more data to demonstrate the efficacy of its art teacher program, given the privacy constraints schools are under with sharing student data. Currently, we rely on teacher impact surveys and anecdotal evidence to measure our impact in the schools. The exception is for female students who get introduced to coding through Code/Art in art class and subsequently enter a Code/Art coding competition or join a Code/Art Club. In those cases, we are able to reach out to survey them and their parents.

3. Gaining credibility in new geographic areas:

Introducing Code/Art to new school districts can be challenging, especially in communities outside of Florida. For example, we were awarded a grant to expand to four new cities, all outside of Florida. We are able to offer free professional development (PD) teacher training with stipend and post-PD support included at no cost to the selected districts and schools in those areas. Despite those incentives, it took us over six months to gain a foothold in just one of the new communities. 

Access to a network of resource partners across industries and sectors, as well as advice from fellow members in the peer-to-peer network, would help us in making connections and inroads into new communities. The visibility and prestige of an affiliation with the MIT Solve program would further validate Code/Art’s solution and help us more easily expand into new communities.

Our CEO, founder, and Team Lead, Amy Austin Renshaw, has been a part of the Miami community for 25 years. As a highly respected and recognized part of the Miami tech movement going back to its genesis in 2012, her local credibility strengthens Code/Art’s ties with the tech sector and increases opportunities for its participants.

Renshaw’s contributions to growing a more gender-equitable Miami tech pipeline have been recognized by various organizations and institutions, including the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the Miami-Dade County Public School Board. The fact that Miami-Dade County mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, has spoken at Code/Art’s last two K-12 coding conferences is a testament to the recognition and support Renshaw is able to garner from local authorities.

Thanks in part to Renshaw’s standing in the Miami tech community, Code/Art was identified and selected to be a member of the Miami cohort of the national CSforALL Accelerator program. CSforALL recognizes that “Education in the United States is an inherently local endeavor, and computer science (CS) education must rely on local actors and decision-makers in order to reach every learner.” Renshaw’s track record of being able to work effectively with local leaders in government, education, and tech convinced CSforAll that Code/Art is right to help it meet its goal of “accelerating high-need communities in their progress towards fundamental standards-aligned CS education for all learners, and increased access to interest-driven CS learning opportunities.”

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Renshaw has contributed to the Miami-Dade County community through many years of volunteer work in local K-12 schools: leading student enrichment projects, serving on the PTA, and working as a volunteer coding instructor through Girls Who Code.

With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in materials science and engineering from MIT, as well as a master's degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Renshaw is well respected for her education. How she has used her education and experience to further the cause of gender equity in tech in the Miami-Dade County community has made her a local treasure.

What makes the Code/Art solution so innovative is that it addresses the need for girls to reach their full potential to thrive in STEM education by meeting them where they are--immediately and intentionally-- by taking coding to the art classroom. Using art as an on-ramp to coding, Code/Art introduces computer science as a career pathway that many girls might not otherwise have considered. 

The beauty of taking coding to the art classroom is four-fold. First, the Code/Art solution brings back the learning model that was in place in the late 70s/early 80s when female representation in CS was at an all-time high, and girls and boys were introduced to computer programming at the same age in school (Margolis et al, 2003). Second, it expands the percentage of female students getting a first introduction to coding by removing the barrier of having to enroll in a computer science class, which allows Code/Art to reach many more girls with computer programming because mandatory art classes in lower grades are 50% female and art electives in higher grades skew largely female (Gehl, 2020) versus computer science courses that skew largely male (College Board, 2020). Third, the Code/Art solution reaches girls in an environment that is likely more conducive to their learning because they may be less burdened by self-doubt (such as not being good enough at math or not knowing technical terms their male classmates may already know) than they might be in a traditional CS classroom. Fourth, by discovering computer programming through art-based, project-based learning, girls see that computer science doesn’t have to be purely computational, that it can be creative and more relevant to them. This will help them to better visualize themselves in a future STEM career.

By incorporating Code/Art programs into school art programs as early as grade 3, the disparity between boys and and girls showing interest in computer science in K-12 can be reduced. With Code/Art programs and activities continuing all the way through high school, Code/Art expands the pool of girls interested in computer science by reaching girls who otherwise would never have signed up for a CS class or extracurricular program. 

Code/Art is also innovative because it is highly scalable. The Code/Art curriculum can be used in nearly any school setting. This map shows the schools where teachers and students across the country have already participated in and benefited from Code/Art activities. School systems may opt for having Code/Art staff train their teachers directly, or they may choose to follow a train-the-trainer model. In any case, Code/Art staff provide follow-on support services in the way of refresher courses and new material. These extensions of the original training are vital to assuring that instructors continue to teach the gender equity portion of the curriculum, which is fundamental to our mission.

Having already piloted our program in MDCPS, we have the following impact goals to scale and reach more teachers and students over the next 5 years:

• Continue our program in Miami-Dade, the third largest school district in the country, until we have trained at least one art teacher at every school in the district. 
• Take measures to ensure that all trained teachers continue to teach Code/Art curriculum each year and train a replacement teacher at a school if the current Code/Art-trained teacher retires or moves to another school.
• Develop a Train-the-Trainer model to allow us to scale horizontally and amplify our impact further and faster. 
• Establish Train-the-Trainer partners in the next four largest school districts in Florida -- Broward, Hillsborough, Orange and Palm Beach (all top 10 US school districts based on student enrollment).
• Start to expand our Art Teacher program into new school districts where we can make the biggest impact and where we have already established relationships such as in Detroit, Houston, Dallas and Pittsburgh.
• Scale vertically by supporting "all-star" teachers in their efforts to start Code/Art creative coding electives and Code/Art Clubs for Girls at their schools.

To achieve these goals:

• Increase Programs and Development staff capacity
• Fund the work through a combination of grants and paid contracts (especially with Florida school districts that can tap into a $10M state fund to cover CS professional development for teachers)
• Utilize existing partnerships and also expand partnerships in new regions

Through teacher impact reports, participant surveys, competition submissions, and enrollment numbers, we will measure the following outputs and outcomes as defined in our logic model:

Outputs

# of teachers who complete training  by gender, race and ethnicity

# of teachers who integrate Code/Art (C/A) lessons into their classes and for how many years

# of schools with C/A trained teachers

% of those schools that are Title I schools

# of students reached by grade, gender, race, ethnicity and Free & Reduced Lunch status

# of students receiving coding instruction for first time through C/A curriculum

Short-Term Outcomes

• Teachers have the skills, knowledge and confidence to lead C/A lessons

• Teachers integrate C/A lessons into their existing curriculum

• Teachers encourage female students to take part in C/A coding competition & other C/A programs

Long Term Outcomes

• Increase number of girls and young women in CS education

• Create an online resource to support other middle school arts + CS integration 

• Teachers start new  programs (e.g., electives or clubs) using C/A curriculum 

• At least 1 teacher at every MDCPS school trained to lead C/A lessons

• Program expands nationally & teachers throughout the US lead C/A lessons, clubs, and electives

• Female student alumni complete CS related post-secondary (PSE) programs

• Female student alumni go into CS-related careers

Code/Art's Theory of Change 

If girls…

1.  Are exposed to coding at a young age in a supportive/welcoming environment

2. See coding as creative and meaningful

3. Develop confidence in their abilities as a coder through successful coding experiences

4. Are part of a community of girl coders (peer influence)

5. Envision themselves in computer science careers (breaking stereotypes, seeing role models, and fostering interest in CS careers)

6. Have their parents’ support and encouragement in their daughter’s interest in coding

7. Have teachers and other influencers who introduce and encourage girls to pursue CS opportunities

Then they can achieve these outcomes:

Initial Outcomes for Girls reached with Code/Art lessons in Art Class (grades 3-12) 

1. Participants perceive themselves as coders

2. Participants develop a coding portfolio

3. Participants express interest in additional coding experiences

4.  Participants express interest in computer science-related career

Follow-up opportunities to ensure continuity across CS education in order to decrease successive drop-off in completion rates from K-12 through undergraduate years

Intermediate Outcomes (Grades 3-5)

Participants engage in computer science-related activities continuing to build upon their initial outcomes. Activities may include but are not limited to:

1. Code/Art Intro Series CodeHER

2. Code/Art CodeHER Jr Club levels 1-3

3. Code/Art annual coding competition

4. Code/Art Fest

5. Code/Art curriculum at their school (through Code/Art trained teachers)

6. Non Code/Art CS courses at their school

7. Other opportunities found through Code/Art e.g., coding scholarship competition prize or connecting with a coding camp through the Code/Art Fest STEAM Expo)

8. Non Code/Art CS opportunities found on their own

For Middle School participants (Grades 6-8)

Participants complete computer science-related courses and/or skills-building activities to build upon their initial outcomes. These may include but are not limited to:

1. Code/Art Intro Series CodeHER

2. CodeHER Club levels 1-3

3. Code/Art annual coding competition

4. Code/Art Fest

5. Code/Art curriculum at their school (through Code/Art trained teachers)

6. Non Code/Art CS courses at their school

7. Other coding opportunities found through Code/Art (e.g., coding scholarship competition prize or connecting with a coding camp through the Code/Art Fest STEAM Expo)

8. Non Code/Art CS opportunities found on their own

For High School participants (Grades 9-12)

Participants complete computer science-related courses and/or skills-building activities to build upon their initial outcomes. These may include but are not limited to:

1. Code/Art Future Tech LeadHER 

2. Code/Art annual coding competition (ChangeMakeHER)

3. Code/Art Fest

4. Code/Art curriculum at their school (through Code/Art trained teachers)

5. Non Code/Art CS courses at their school. For example,

   1. AP Computer Science Principles

   2. AP Computer Science A (Java programming language)

6. Other coding opportunities found through Code/Art (e.g., internships, coding scholarship competition prize, or connecting with a coding opportunity through the Code/Art Fest STEAM Expo)

7. Non Code/Art CS opportunities found on their own.

8. Program alumni engage in activities to support the younger generation of girls in computer science.

9. Participants enroll in a PSE program with the intention of studying a computer-science related field. 

Long-term Outcome (post program)

1. Program alumni complete computer science-related post-secondary education programs (BS degree, minor or certificate program, AA degree, Bootcamp, etc).

2. Program alumni are employed in STEM careers.

3. Program alumni support the younger generation of girls in computer science.

Our online learning portal through which teachers and students access all of our curriculum and submit to our coding competitions is set up on WordPress. We will likely want to develop a more robust platform for this to handle traffic as we scale our solution. 

Currently, we do not have our own coding environment, but rather have our students use a variety of existing platforms such as MIT's Scratch coding platform and P5.js.

• 4 full-time staff
• 5 part-time staff
• 3 high school interns
• 25+ contract coding instructors (many are current CS students) who assist art teachers in training and post-training in classroom)
• various volunteers who help with events and projects throughout the year

We have been working on our solution for four (4) years. We began developing the curriculum for our K-12 professional development program in the spring of 2019 and held our first training sessions in the summer of 2019.

Code/Art was founded in January 2016. The organization has been working to increase female participation in Computer Science and STEM careers for over seven (7) years.

Code/Art prioritizes building an inclusive workplace by ensuring that our leadership team and programs team, as well as our Board of Directors, reflect the community of girls we serve. Since 2016, we have been focused on teaching the women of tomorrow to code through creative, inclusive, and accessible methodologies that offer continued opportunities to grow in the computer science field. As such, Code/Art is committed to making sure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are part of our mission as evidenced by the following:

• 92% of staff identify as female

• 67% of staff identify as BIPOC and/or Hispanic

• 16% of our staff identify as LGBTQIA+ 

• 62% of Board of Directors identify as female

• 62% of Board of Directors identify as BIPOC and/or Hispanic

• 8% of Board of Directors identify as LGBTQIA+

• 83% of instructors identify as female

• 85%+ of girls served identify as BIPOC and/or Hispanic

To ensure that Code/Art incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusivity into our work we have developed several goals that we strive for on an annual basis:

• Goal #1: Host at least one workshop/symposium on how to increase female student participation in computer science by enhancing their sense of belonging through the use of Code/Art’s proven curriculum and teaching practices at the national Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) conference.

• Goal #2: Engage at least 500 girls a year through Code/Art’s coding competitions, with 50% or more being from historically underrepresented groups (Hispanic/Latina, Black/African American, Pacific Islander, or Native American/American Indian/Indigenous).

• Goal #3: Train, equip and support at least 100 teachers per year to lead Code/Art curriculum in their classrooms.

Code/Art is dedicated to increasing the number of girls studying computer science by inspiring them with the creative possibilities of computer programming. We pursue this mission by training K-12 art teachers to use coding in their art curricula so girls (and boys) are exposed to coding at a very young age, through an accessible and non-threatening medium. We also support emerging coders in all-girl coding clubs, camps and competitions. 

Key Resources: Code/Art’s greatest resource is our proprietary Code/Art curriculum. Other key resources include our leadership team with deep roots in the Miami-Dade County community, strong connections with - and reputation in - the local Miami tech ecosystem, and trusted partnerships with the Miami-Dade County School system.

Key Activities: Code/Art’s key activities are training K-12 teachers in the Code/Art curriculum, which they take back to their art classrooms. Code/Art also provides all-girl coding clubs, coding competitions, and an annual K-12 coding conference, Code/Art Fest.

Type of Intervention: Code/Art provides teachers with training in our curriculum, and it provides direct coding experiences for girls through all-girl coding clubs, competitions, and the annual Code/Art Fest conference/celebration.

Segments - The direct beneficiaries of Code/Art programming are 1) girls who are introduced to coding at a young age; 2) teachers who gain valuable professional development; and 3) boys who, through experience with the Code/Art curriculum in their classroom, grow up seeing girls as peers in technology.

Code/Art’s customers are 1) school districts who contract for Code/Art programming; 2) donors who support gender-equity in tech; and 3) corporations and communities who want a more robust and inclusive tech talent pipeline.

Value Proposition: Girls (and boys) benefit from being introduced to computer science at an early age, potentially leading to meaningful careers in tech. Teachers benefit from their students becoming more engaged in the classroom.

School districts gain value from Code/Art by having their students become more engaged in learning while broadening their educational and career horizons. Donors benefit from seeing more girls involved in tech, and corporations and communities reap rewards when these girls later enter the tech workforce.

Code/Art measures impact by 1) surveying students, teachers, and parents on participants’ perceived levels of interest in computer science, 2) the portfolio of coding projects created by students, and 3) surveying postsecondary Code/Art alumni to see if they are studying Computer Science or a related STEM field or currently working in a computing career.

Partners and Key Stakeholders: At present, Code/Art’s primary educational partner is Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Code/Art has also provided professional development services to teachers in Broward, Palm Beach and Hillsborough Counties and is in talks with those school districts to expand its offerings further. 

Channels: Code/Art reaches our target audience through 1) the Code/Art curriculum in K-12 art classrooms; 2) all-girl coding clubs; 3) online coding experiences; and 4) the annual Code/Art Fest K-12 coding conference and celebration.

Cost Structure: Biggest expenses are staff salaries, contract labor (coding instructors) and teacher stipends/incentives.

Surplus: Invested at interest to build a fund to bring on additional staff and to manage cash flow variations.

Current Revenue Breakdown: 

• Grants: 47%
• Corporate Sponsorships: 21%
• Contributions: 19%
• Earned Income: 13%

Code/Art has been operating successfully since 2016 with a broad revenue stream including fees-for-service, grants, individual donors, major gifts, and corporate sponsorships. To date, this model has allowed Code/Art to remain financially viable. 

As Code/Art expands to additional school districts in Florida and regions across the country, we will work to increase fee-for-service revenues. Florida school districts are able to tap into a $10M state fund to cover CS training for its teachers. So far three school districts have included us in their state funds requests, and we plan to grow that.

Code/Art is working to increase government grants. We recently received a $50K grant from the City of Miami, and we are currently working on an NSF grant proposal to study the impact of Code/Art's Art Teacher program with researchers at the University of Florida. We are also reaching out to Miami-Dade County commissioners to support Code/Art programs for students and teachers in their districts using their discretionary funds.

Code/Art is also working to increase individual giving through outreach efforts with generative artists--professionals working at the intersection of computer science and art--for whom Code/Art's mission resonates. In the past year, two of our largest unexpected donations came from generative artists. Similarly, we plan more outreach to women's groups, for whom our mission resonates.

Code/Art is also working to increase its monthly giving program to make its clubs programs fully sustainable and free to all.

Code/Art benefits from a broad revenue stream, including individual donors, grants, corporate sponsorships, and fee-for-service. This variety of funding methods is key to sustainability, as we are not reliant on any one source of funding. 

Our major grants have come from JPMorgan Chase, PPG Foundation, Microsoft and Knight Foundation. Other than Knight Foundation, which was a one-time financial supporter (and long-time and still active community partner), all have funded Code/Art every year over the past four years. Getting a recent $50K grant from the City of Miami was significant, as it was our first government grant. We have also had recent successes in getting recurring grants and funding from women's organizations.

Code/Art’s fee-for-service model is a fundamental part of the organization’s financial sustainability. We have found that after initially providing Code/Art training for free (subsidized by grant funding) to a limited number of teachers in a school district, the school district sees the benefit of our training and is willing to put the cost into their budget. Using this approach, we now are able to invoice the full cost of our professional development courses in three school districts in Florida: Miami-Dade County, Palm Beach County and Hillsborough County. 

Through Code/Art's strong relationship with Florida International University (FIU) and Miami Dade College (MDC), we receive in-kind space for our teacher training and community events.  FIU also underwrites at least one Code/Art professional development training per year through a fund they have for K-12 CS education.

We also increase staff capacity, by "hiring" high school interns who work for school credit and pay through an outside provider.