Update mission to include content on decreasing barriers to entry for education

[JessePeplinski]

Update the mission page (https://careersincode.org/mission/) to include headings similar to this blog post. We'll also want to include a "Career Coach" heading with the following content.

Decreasing the barrier to entry

In order to minimize as many barriers as possible when it comes to fighting poverty, accepted students received full tuition scholarships, laptops, coworking space memberships, student stipends, and we were fortunate to hire a student success representative to help students navigate barriers and hurdles they faced during the program.

To help inform these decisions, we asked our students two things during the screening process:

• Will you require any services for the program? Transportation? Childcare services? Anything at all that would help you complete the program?
• What are some challenges that you might have throughout the duration of the program? How can we help you address and solve them?

Here is how we helped to decrease the barriers to entry when it comes to fighting poverty:

Free Tuition

The average tuition per student to attend a coding bootcamp in the United States is $11,900. That is much too expensive given our desire to create an inclusive coding bootcamp that will provide opportunities for women and minorities in concentrated areas of extreme poverty. For the Careers in Code bootcamp there is no tuition cost. We treat each student as though they have been admitted on scholarship.

Free Macbook Pro Loaner Laptop

The women and minority applicants accepted into the first cohort were issued personal laptops free of charge that were purchased as a part of our grant funding. These consisted of brand new 2017 MacBook Pros that were given to students during the kickoff ceremony. As long as the individual successfully completed the program and satisfied curriculum criteria, they were able to keep their laptops moving forward.

Free Syracuse CoWorks Membership

Careers in Code purchased standard, 24/7 coworking memberships for each student. This provided students with a friendly work environment with Internet access, electricity, snacks, and most importantly, opportunities to network with other software developers and employers who are members. Additionally, one in every four homes in Syracuse do not have internet access. We’re fortunate to have Syracuse CoWorks as an amazing partner in helping to provide space for our students.

Student Stipends

Each student was given a spending stipend that could be used throughout the program.

Student Success Representative

Jason Sharf, our Student Success Representative, helped our students to navigate and eliminate any potential barriers, challenges, hurdles, or problems they might have incurred throughout the program. They worked closely with our students inside and outside the classroom to ensure their success and support them to the best of their ability. We’re determined to have every student graduate that was accepted into our program. Our Student Success Representative helps to ensure we do everything possible to meet this goal. You can view a full description of the role here.

Career Coach

Laura Thorne, our Career Coach, helps to ensure that our students are prepared to enter their job search with confidence and competence. The career coach helps students with everything involved in the job search process to help prepare them to land an internship or entry-level software development position. This includes (but certainly not limited to): linkedin, building a personal brand, resumes, cover letters, job boards, interviews (behavioral and technical), mock interviews, and negotiating offers. She also holds group and individual sessions (i.e. office hours) for our students to help assist them in their job search. You can view a full description of the role here.. You can learn more about Laura and her work here.

Class Duration and Time

The majority of coding bootcamps are fully-immersive and students are enrolled in them full-time. Conversely, operating Careers in Code as a full-time coding bootcamp isn’t feasible.We’ve learned it’s unrealistic to believe this demographic of students will be able to pursue the opportunity full-time given their respective job and family obligations. Therefore, our coding bootcamp will continue to operate in the evenings, Monday — Thursday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, and operate for 24 weeks.
We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to provide all of these opportunities to our students for our first cohort. We’re excited to continue to find ways to eliminate every barrier to education.

See original blog for reference: https://hackupstate.medium.com/decreasing-the-barriers-to-entry-at-careers-in-code-df16d8f6ef01