Charles Phillips and Ryan Williams to support ASC’s mission by participating in engagements, providing counsel and amplifying the organization’s initiatives nationally

New York, NY — October 23, 2019 — All Star Code (ASC), a leading nonprofit organization creating economic opportunity for boys and young men of color (BYMOC) by helping them develop the tools they need to succeed in a technological world, has added two renowned business leaders to its Ambassador program: Charles Phillips, Chairman of the Board of Infor — the world’s third largest business software applications company — and Ryan Williams, founder and CEO of Cadre — the digital real estate investing platform.

The Ambassador program, launched in March 2019, connects business leaders with All Star Code’s more than 600 students and alumni to bolster All Star Code’s mission to create economic opportunity for BYMOC by helping them develop the skills and mindset they need to become entrepreneurs.

“We are so thrilled to welcome Ryan Williams and Charles Phillips as our newest Ambassadors” says Christina Lewis, Founder and CEO of All Star Code. “These illustrious, pioneering leaders embody hard work, bringing others up with you, and daring greatly — all values we teach at All Star Code. Their support, along with that of our other Ambassadors, all nationally-recognized leaders in the business community, will be critical to us achieving our goals.”

All Star Code partners closely with its ten Ambassadors — including Ken Chenault (Chairman and Managing Director at General Catalyst partners, former CEO of American Express), Van Jones (Political Contributor at CNN) and Darren Walker (President, Ford Foundation) — to bring widespread awareness to the underrepresentation of Black and Latino men in the technology sector. Ambassadors support All Star Code by speaking at ASC’s programs and events, hosting discussions and fundraising engagements, and providing strategic counsel to the organization.

“I know from personal experience how important it is to create windows of access and opportunity for young people, especially those who have often been forgotten. Tomorrow’s economy will continue to evolve, and require different skills than today’s,” said Williams. “The question we must ask, and that All Star Code is working hard to answer, is how we level the playing field so that in the midst of growth in the technology economy we lift up young people from underserved communities.”

More Information on the new All Star Code Ambassadors:

• Charles Phillips is a business executive in the technology industry who served as the CEO of Infor since early 2010 and is now Chairman of the Board. Infor is the world’s third largest provider of enterprise applications and services. In his first three years at Infor, Phillips significantly grew the company through multiple strategic acquisitions, the creation of an in-house design agency, and updates to the software user interface and visual appeal. Prior to joining Infor, Phillips served as co-president and director of Oracle Corporation and was a managing director in the technology group at Morgan Stanley. Phillips also serves on the board of directors at Viacom.
• Ryan Williams is an entrepreneur best known as the founder and CEO of Cadre, a New York-based real estate technology company. Cadre provides individuals and institutions direct access to large commercial real-estate properties, and has been described as a service that “makes the real estate market more like the stock market.” In 2015, Williams founded Cadre at age 26 after receiving investments from Thrive Capital and General Catalyst. Williams has appeared on the cover of Forbes’ “FinTech50” issue, was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list and is listed as one of Goldman Sachs’ “Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.” Williams received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University.

About All Star Code

All Star Code, a nonprofit organization founded in 2013, empowers young men with the skills, networks, and mindsets they need to create new futures through technology. Our goal is to close the tech entrepreneurship gap in the United States by developing a pipeline of diverse 21st century leaders. The Summer Intensive, our free six-week flagship program in New York, NY and Pittsburgh, PA, exposes our talented students to the technology industry via an innovative curriculum that mixes specific skills, networks, mindsets, and cultural understanding.

All Star Code Adds Two New Ambassadors to Drive National Awareness of Diversity Issues in the… was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

All Star Code has changed its mission and vision.

Five years ago when we launched, virtually no connection point existed between young men of color and the tech world.

In order to open the door, you need to see the door.

Our original mission was to “prepare young men of color for full-time employment in the technology industry by providing mentorship, industry exposure, and intensive training in computer science.” Focusing holistically on young men of color in tech felt original, radical and untested.

Today, not only is computer science much more widespread in schools, many learn-to-code organizations have realized that simply teaching someone computer science is not enough to support their success. Curriculums everywhere are incorporating industry exposure and highlighting the importance of soft skills, grit and attitude.

Furthermore, race is front and center in our national conversation. Major technology companies now regularly publish their workforce race and ethnicity data (something they once refused to do despite Freedom of Information Act requests).

Plus, more Black and Latino community organizations are tackling the issue of under-representation in the tech ecosystem.

And a major, comprehensive Harvard and Stanford study revealed that Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn less in adulthood than white boys with similar backgrounds.

The study concluded that income inequality between Blacks and whites is driven by the systemic racism these boys — and the men they become — experience throughout their lives.

So for 2019, we are unapologetic in the future we want to see.

We envision a country where all young men of color have the access to the tools of success, and where the ability to thrive is available to all who are willing to dare greatly.

Our mission is further updated to take into account how rapidly the learn-to-code space is changing.

All Star Code creates economic opportunity by developing a new generation of boys and young men of color with an entrepreneurial mindset who have the tools they need to succeed in a technological world.

Already, the All Star Code team is devoting ourselves to downloading the recipe for our secret sauce that has led about 85% of our scholars to continue pursuing computer science in higher education. We see that it is the instilling of a particular mindset that leads to persistence, irrespective of whether they continue to pursue computer science or not.

Becoming a software engineer or a programmer is great, but it is not the only path to a strong career in the 21st century. Our goal is to see our students thriving when they enter the workplace. So, we’re getting smarter about partnerships and we’re setting clearer outcomes for our curriculum. Next year, we are building a platform for our scholars to serve as a central clearing house for the myriad opportunities and resources we funnel their way.

We continue to believe that serving 1000 students by 2020 annually (a goal we set in 2015) is possible — but not all in the Summer Intensive. Stay tuned for our growth plans.

It is time to dare greatly for the future.

In 2018, we’ve had plenty to celebrate — our brotherhood of All Stars has grown to 433 young men of color, and they are already embarking on extraordinary projects: starting their own hedge funds, starring in cross-country documentaries, and creating their own apps and hackathon organizations to give back to their communities.

Our work and its impact has been featured in national and local headlines. A small sampling:

In April, Rolling Out covered the story of All Star Code, and the inspiration behind focusing on boys and young men of color: Christina Lewis Halpern empowers Black men to succeed in tech

In May, I spoke to Bloomberg on the underrepresented tech sector and the importance of ensuring diversification : All Star Code’s Christina Lewis on Diversifying the Tech Sector

In June, Black Enterprise covered our incredible fundraising milestone: All Star Code raises over $1 million to expand STEM summer program for boys of color

One of our top scholars and hedge fund CEO, Cole Mattox, was featured in CNBC: This 18-year-old launched a hedge fund from his bedroom in suburban New Jersey

In August, The Grio covered our star-studded fifth annual Summer Benefit: Teaching black boys to shine in tech: All Star Code celebrates in the Hamptons with Soledad O’Brien, Van Jones, which also received a mention in The New York Times.

In Pittsburgh, our pilot national expansion site, we were thrilled that AT&T upped its donation. With 40+ scholars in the Steel City, we are building a network of the future with help from our partner Remake Learning.

None of this would have been possible without funding.

We are especially grateful to our leadership donors, major supporters and sponsors. They have played a pivotal role in our expansion, growth and success of All Star Code.

As we head into the New Year, there is still an opportunity to join our movement by signing up for our monthly newsletter. You can further support our new mission and vision by donating to our Annual Appeal.

#DareWithUs and together we can make a more diverse and brilliant future.

Thank you and see you in 2019!

Christina

What you can expect from All Star Code in 2019 was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As All Star Code closes out its Fifth Anniversary celebration year, here is the final reflection in a series on how I successfully developed the concept that became a leading computer science education organization focused on young men of color. To read previous lessons from this article series click here.

Changing hearts is how you change minds…

… and changing minds is how you change actions.

In order to change the way institutions act, you need to change the minds of the people within them. Presenting facts alone won’t necessarily provide this, but provoking emotions will. Broadly speaking, to see the change you seek, you need to make people care.

LESSON FIVE: HEARTS AND MINDS MATTER MOST

When All Star Code first began, programmatic results were the focus. As mentioned before, branding was not a priority. There was no public announcement, there was no press release about my intention to do something. I was under the impression that I should only advertise when I actually did something. My original philosophy was “don’t promote ideas, promote results.”

However — people didn’t know there was a problem.

This was a huge surprise. It never occurred to me that the extent of the greater world was not paying attention. The girls’ tech initiatives were booming. Kimberly Bryant had founded Black Girls Code in 2011, and Reshma Saujani had begun Girls Who Code shortly after in 2012. At the time, the initiatives were young, untested, and fighting for traction among tech companies and computer scientists.

But no one was focusing on boys and young men of color.

The culture of technology was dominated by a concept of black/white thinking of an engineer. The most prestigious engineers were thought to be self-taught and had naturally come to computer science during puberty or before (even engineers who came to computer science in school are deemed less prestigious — and this needs changing). This group was predominantly made up of white men and (more recently) Asians. Although Asian-Americans were doing very well in the field, they still faced a “yellow ceiling” where they were less likely to be promoted into an executive position/senior leadership.

I looked at it and saw a disaster for people of color, where the steward of the industry/gatekeepers did not highly value the education pipeline. College degrees and graduate degrees, are still the pipeline into better lives, and moving out of poverty. As one of my first major donors said, an African American, with a large investment bank, “they’re moving the goalposts on us. First they won’t let us into the school, and now here we are all degreed up and now they say school doesn’t matter.” When he said that — I realized he was seeing the world the way I was.

Guys, wake up call. They moved the goal posts on us.

In making change, the secret to success is understanding the problem well enough to pick the right problem to solve. The gatekeepers of tech didn’t even know that this was a problem ergo they were doing nothing to solve it. They thought that their system was completely fair, but people of color were not occupying the highest level of computer science. That’s why at the time, nothing was happening. The focus was more so on addressing the digital divide among youth, making the Internet and computer science principles available to everyone, (i.e. computers and faster internet in public schools), strengthening online-only curriculums and making them free.

We needed to also empower young men of color to be successful in tech.

Data can convince people but it is important to include anecdotal data. A single powerful story, that’s three-dimensional enough, distills why your issue is important. Here’s our origin story as Fast Company reported in 2013.

How do you change hearts and minds? Raise awareness from the very beginning. It allows for movement building, and narrative change which is the beginning of the impact you seek to see. If you change hearts and minds, you can change the world.

All Star Code creates economic opportunity by developing a new generation of boys and young men of color with an entrepreneurial mindset who have the tools they need to succeed in a technological world.

All Star Code envisions a country where all young men of color have the access to the tools of success, and where the ability to thrive is available to all who are willing to dare greatly.

5 Lessons from 5 Years of Creating Economic Opportunity — Lesson Five: Hearts and Minds Matter Most was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As All Star Code closes out its Fifth Anniversary celebration year, here is a reflection on how I successfully developed the concept that became a leading computer science education organization focused on young men of color. To read previous lessons from this article series click here.

It took me over a year to speak out about All Star Code. From April 2011 to July 2012, All Star Code marinated as an unspoken idea in my brain, and the first person I ended up sharing it with was my husband. This sometimes turns date night into an All Star Code strategy session! His response was “sounds promising.” Following our conversation, I shared the idea with other members of my family and friends. I was greeted with affirmation: “cool idea,” “viable idea,” — this gave me the confidence to move forward, and start exploring who I needed to connect with in order to bring the idea to life.

LESSON FOUR: SEEK ADVICE FROM THE MOMENT YOU HAVE THE IDEA

One of the first things I did, was to write as much of the idea down as possible. Without having anything concrete in writing, your idea is just talk. The writing process tests the viability of the idea, allows room for edits and improvements, and makes it easier for people to respond to when the concept is in the written form.

The concept of a rigorous tech prep program focused on Black and Latino boys was virtually unprecedented. Combined with being a first-time founder, it was natural for me to seek guidance for how and where to start. In 2012, I met with a leading philanthropist in the tech inclusion space for dinner. When I shared the idea of All Star Code, she was incredibly enthusiastic, and gave me lots of advice and then suggested I get some more.

*Cue: pulling my hair out.*

Seeking advice is hard to execute, but is crucial when starting an organization. It can be frustrating to feel like you have a genius idea bubbling inside you, and listen calmly while someone picks that same idea apart. Many elements of my plans for All Star Code were criticized, and it was painful, at times humbling, and in some cases, it even felt humiliating.

But it’s all learning.

Tarrus, my founding board chair, who was kind enough to give money along with his insights, suggested packaging this rather frustrating advice marathon into a “100 people in 100 days” campaign. Why 100 people? Because it sounded good and seemed achievable. Why 100 days? Because it sounded good and seemed achievable.

I gained so much from these initial conversations. From my previous experience at the Wall Street Journal, I had mastered relationship building, and how to extract information. During this time I learned about existing efforts to diversify selective education, selective professions, and how they functioned. This included everything from designing a curriculum and program model, to funding and sustainability, to board structure. It was now time to listen, implement, and watch the magic begin.

I specifically interviewed CEOs, Development Directors and Founders around the country who ran colleges, camps, workforce development trainings, coding classes, job placement companies, and a variety of prep programs. It was useful to learn about their program models, how they hired, and how they got started. One thing I learned from some of the most successful models, was to hire back alums immediately following the summer they had completed the program. Doing that from the beginning tremendously helped. Another tip I received was about the importance of evaluation. We ended up surveying our very first beneficiaries, which helped so much when we started writing grants.

Since I was new to the field, seeking advice from others in the embryonic “diversity in tech” space as well as the founders in the burgeoning “learn to code” space, helped me to learn a lot about computer science and the hiring practices of tech companies. In order to equip my future students, I made it my mission to learn what skills were considered important and valuable to these companies. This has helped to ensure their employment readiness, and position All Star Code as an important part of the pipeline.

I found it necessary to engage others at the idea phase, because I was new to the field, and it was a new concept. As a result, I became a subject matter expert quickly.

Doing this at the onset meant I could make decisions more quickly, and with less second-guessing because the groundwork was done in the beginning. (Getting outside advice becomes a luxury once you operationalize). This is also a reason why you would need a smart and strong board, because they end up being your braintrust.

I saw all of the advice I received as good advice. The trick is to get in front of people that you respect and that are experienced. With that, the presumption is that you would have received good advice. The practice is then to take all of the advice given and implement it. If their advice works, you can go back to them! However with the growth of an organization, you may find some of your initial advisors become less active. Simultaneously, new advisors with more experience, enter the mix.

A final piece of advice that I received was to consciously cultivate a kitchen cabinet, a small group of advisors that can be a sounding board for ideas and strategies on my mind. It has been a rewarding way to develop relationships with people over time, (especially since I’m not asking for anything, and it’s made me smarter). They’ve provided me with referrals for people and vendors to hire. The group doesn’t necessarily need to include heavy hitters, and should include friends and family (whose advice you respect). You need people who really trust, and who are looking out for you and your best interest. As you talk to them over a few years, they get to know you and understand you more. It’s not helpful to formalize it too much, (they may not even know they are part of your cabinet). If they are the right fit, they won’t need a title, or any prominence to want to have a conversation with you. For some, you will speak to them on specific topics/ideas/issues, for a few, you may be able to speak to them about everything. Not one person is going to be able to give you everything you need, with one single piece of advice.

The great thing about seeking advice, is that you’ll soon be in a position to pass it on. Over time now, aspiring entrepreneurs, and students have come to me with questions regarding their businesses, ideas, and their futures. And I fully give back. It is an honor and a privilege to provide advice, and I encourage you to make time to give it as often as you receive. Months (and sometimes years) later, I have been graced with someone’s gratitude when they share: “you gave me all this great advice, and it made such a difference.”

5 Lessons from 5 Years of Creating Economic Opportunity — Lesson Four: Seek Advice From The Moment… was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

National press for All Star Code’s very first event was a surprise.

Queries rained in from around the country and the world about expanding All Star Code to their city. Le Monde wanted to interview me. Reader, I declined them all.

Why? It was too early.

In a misguided attempt to be prudent with our funds, full-time employees hadn’t been hired yet. There were more opportunities being presented than bandwidth to accept them all. I was not in this alone — but help was needed.

LESSON THREE: FIND PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE IT BEFORE (AKA DON’T TRY TO DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF)

All Star Code started with volunteers. Our founding board chair, Tarrus Richardson, had founded the nonprofit Council of Urban Professionals (CUP). It’s a terrific organization that connects, empowers and mobilizes the next generation of diverse business and civic leaders. As a finance executive and entrepreneur, he has always been passionate about helping minority and women-owned businesses grow.

From a young age, Tarrus has been and still is a huge fan of my father. He credits my father’s book, Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun? as his business bible. Tarrus was undoubtedly crucial to All Star Code’s founding.

On a Friday in early 2013, I asked him for his help in preparation for a big meeting lined up with the Bloomberg Administration. Two days later, we met at a restaurant during his son’s softball game and drew up a business plan on a legal pad. From that point, we began weekly phone calls as he advised on how to operationalize All Star Code. Basically, Tarrus was my boss for a year, and remains a mentor to this day.

With Tarrus involved separately, another friend, who was an executive at a music streaming company, was invited to be our third board member — and then we incorporated.

Even without money, you can put people into roles that when you have money you can fill later.

All Star Code’s first program manager was a total rock star volunteer named Saxonny Rich who Tarrus recruited. She was a CUP fellow and served as an early researcher/program manager. Tarrus had also loaned a few hours of time from his wonderful executive assistant, Maxine, who started doing our admin & finance.

Tarrus further advised the hiring of a management consultant (also through his network), who created a project plan and designed the job description for our first full-time hire in November of 2013 (note that this is after our public launch).

All Star Code’s first full-time hire was an experienced school and non-profit education organization professional named Robert Bonner. He created our first budget, designed an org chart and overall gave me the confidence to go out and raise more money.

Five years later, we now have a team of about 20 full-time and part-time.

On that note, here is a bonus lesson: Hire excellent lawyers and excellent accountants. Do not skimp on legal and accounting. As we incorporated, significant man hours were devoted to finding solid attorneys, ultimately landing us with an excellent team at Goodwin Procter led by fellow young mom, Alyssa Fitzgerald. And as much as it impacted the organization financially, at the outset of operationalizing, we hired a former CFO as our (part-time) Finance Director. At her urging, we also engaged a separate financial consulting firm, Kiwi Partners, a women-owned company that specializes in non-profit accounting.

During the startup phase, it’s common and easy to skimp and save on legal and accounting, but it’s a mistake. Some things are too complex and too high stakes to learn by failing. At least, not if you can help it.

Remember that as a founder, you need to position yourself to do a role you enjoy. It has been crucial to All Star Code (and my sanity) to bring in others to utilize their own strengths to push the mission forward.

If you’re considering doing something entrepreneurial or already have an entity that you want to grow, consider engaging other people to help you. Even if you don’t have money, you can find volunteers willing to invest in you. It’s worth the effort. It’s a cliché, but if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.

Or as we say at All Star Code: “Teamwork makes the dream work!”

5 Lessons from 5 Years of Creating Economic Opportunity — Lesson Three: Find People Who Have Done… was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Creating, developing and running All Star Code has been a roller-coaster over the last five years.

One of the hardest things to do as an entrepreneur is to manage your own emotions. This next lesson keeps me grounded:

LESSON TWO: BE SURE OF YOUR REASON WHY

Today, I have 15+ people working for me. But for the first year it was only me.

A solid six months was spent in design and prototyping. The next six months was planning. A whole year of designing & planning now feels like a real luxury.

When I started sharing about All Star Code, I was met with lots of questions:

“What do you want to get out of this?”

“Have you considered doing this with so-and-so organization already doing coding?”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Being sure of my reason why, and not being swayed by the questions I received, was essential to converting the vision I had of All Star Code into a reality.

The organization needed to exist independently to prove a number of lies wrong about boys and young men of color, and what they could achieve. That was my number one motivator to commit to All Star Code full time.

There was lots of polite skepticism at the short turnaround of launching the first Summer Intensive program in 2013. As an entrepreneur, polite skepticism should always be met with boundless optimism.

I kept insisting it was possible until an advisor took her own initiative and wrote me an unsolicited two-page memo with analysis recommending a postponement until a year later. (Lesson Two and a half: always have people like this in your corner). I listened.

(And yes, reader, I tried to hire her. She turned me down.)

People have often asked me if I ever considered quitting in those early days. The simple answer was and still is no. The mission was too important. Successful entrepreneurs must keep going, no matter what!

Now, we have graduated 433 students from our All Star Code Summer Intensive. And about 85% continue to study computer science in college. Excitingly, a handful of our oldest Scholars will be graduating from college in 2019.

It is difficult and un-glamorous to start something.

Every decision can feel momentous, because you are the sole decision maker. Being sure of what success looks like ends up being your guiding star, because you are the one building it.

That’s why knowing what you want the organization to be, requires knowing what YOU want to get out of it.

So think long and hard: what is your reason why?

Are you passionate about developing a new generation of boys and young men of color with an entrepreneurial mindset?

All Star Code is growing, and we’d love to have you apply. Click here to see our open positions.

5 Lessons from 5 Years of Creating Economic Opportunity — Lesson Two: Be Sure Of Your Reason Why was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This year, we celebrated five years of All Star Code. All Star Code is a leading organization that creates economic opportunity by developing a new generation of boys and young men of color with an entrepreneurial mindset who have the tools they need to succeed in a technological world.

Each summer is a life-changing experience for both our students and teachers. At the beginning of the summer, our students walk into the classroom tense and uncertain. By the end of the six-week experience, there’s a whole different young man there. Their eyes are up, their chests are high, and they know they belong inside some of the best organizations in the country. We know that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it. The Summer Intensive provides students access to real-life work environments and allows for our young men to see what they can be.

During the six-week course, students are introduced to essential web development skills, while cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, teaching soft skills and providing a network of peers who also love building things that matter. The curriculum is built on the foundation of the “growth mindset,” with the guiding principles of “Daring Greatly,” “Celebrating Failure” and “Telling Your Story.”

At All Star Code we teach that you learn the most from your mistakes, hence our “Celebrate Failure”pillar.

Since founding the company in 2013, I have acquired many valuable lessons on starting an organization from scratch. Some are from experience, some are based on advice given to me. For those who are in the beginning stages of launching their own business or venture, this series reflects on a few of the lessons I have learned along the way.

LESSON ONE: DO BRANDING FROM THE VERY BEGINNING

Idealism drives mission. On a practical front, it is the dark art of marketing that sells an idea. I have found that branding is a key part of getting people to care about the work that you are doing.

Tl;dr: you should sell your organization, using the same dark art that corporations use to sell their products.

When I began All Star Code in 2013, creating the program was my number one focus. We had to be excellent and demonstrate results from the very beginning. The budget was geared almost entirely towards students, curriculum and evaluation.

At the same time, several people advised me to focus on branding the organization. However, my lead advisor (and major donor), insisted that it would be a waste of money during the start-up phase. At the time, I couldn’t agree more. The cost seemed astronomical (roughly $25,000), and it was during a season where I was raising money in only $1,000 increments.

“You don’t need it,” he said.

He was right in a sense. Even without branding we had a really strong product and clear plan that gained us a lot of initial PR. We publicly launched with an article in Fast Company. We received funding from Google, Darren Walker, Robert Smith, Richard Parsons and other prominent investors early on — all with no branding. And we still grew nicely, with our flagship program aiming for 200 students in three cities this upcoming summer, up from 20 students in NYC in 2014.

Yet, to meet our goal of national expansion, we do need professional branding. The lack of early investment in marketing led to lots of wasted time. We changed our logo twice in our first year (and it changed twice more before 2016).

In 2016, we partnered with a boutique agency, led by two sisters, called Harley & Company. It was through their work that we realized our organization’s culture was driven by our students.

Today we have a growing team of professionals dedicated to showcasing who we are. In the past few months they’ve created an interesting and engaging monthly newsletter filled with inspiring first-person voices from our community, insights about our impact, as well as the latest news about our doings and open positions. And in the process they’ve also filled a crucial hole in our operations taking on the creation of invitations, Summer Intensive acceptance letters, our email database and added a lot of best practices that support the rest of the team, like copy editing and consistent graphics and messaging. And with the foundation laid by our branding, the team has lots of plans for capitalizing on it further (stay tuned).

What I hadn’t realized in 2013, is that being a successful organization with strong branding would only increase our ability to change hearts and minds. Although I sold all of our funders in face-to-face conversations, branding brought people outside of our network to us and it is now opening up a host of other opportunities.

Branding will feel costly at first, but the return on investment is worthwhile.

The most important thing, of course, is to build value. But this is about lessons learned and I knew that from the very beginning.

Interested in All Star Code? For the first time, we will be having a rolling admissions process for our program. Students in NY and Pittsburgh will be able to apply for next year’s Summer Intensive and be accepted within a matter of six weeks. We hope this decision makes planning the summer a little easier for our prospective families. Click here for more details.

5 Lessons from 5 Years of Creating Economic Opportunity — Lesson One: Do Branding From The Very… was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Our Summer Intensive program is a six-week course that introduces students to essential web development skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a network of peers who also love building things that matter.

It is the beginning of the second week of our Summer Intensive. By today our cohorts have formed bonds. 85% of them should know 85% of each other’s names. They should be yelling “I have failed” multiple times an hour. And, they should be really eager to continue coding.

Parents should be beaming, thrilled at all their young man has learned.

And our teachers? They should be exhilarated and tired from a week of real learning.

And us? Well, this is the moment we have all been waiting for and preparing for — and it feels great.

I’d like to spend a moment on the pretty hilarious article one of our team members shared on Slack last Wednesday.

This CEO spends a long time outlining some compelling stress relief tips but undermines the whole thing by bragging about his 70–90-hour work week. Good lord.

Our Vice President of Programs, Danny Rojas made a great point as we were laughing about this on our way to the Hunter College President’s Summer Cocktail party Wednesday. He said something like: “It’s not about work life balance. You want work life harmony.”

I think that’s right on. For myself, I would say I work between 35 and 70 hours a week. It’s a big range because I sometimes need time for endless amounts of school stuff. That’s why flexibility is important to how our organization will thrive. I am here in East Hampton writing this and I’m going to finish up because I want to join the kids and my husband at the pool. But some days I might not see my children because I leave before they wake up and return home after they go to sleep.

I am encouraging my team to work really passionately right now and spend as much time as they can close to the action, immersing in the program, listening to students, teachers and parents. The summer is only six weeks long. It’s most rewarding when you form relationships during it.

Whatever your “summer intensive” looks like, allow it and the people within it to become a part of your life as they have mine. I’m excited to immerse in our program for the coming weeks, and experience true work life harmony.

Forget Work Life Balance, It’s All About Work Life Harmony was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Bond Collective, Cisco, Comcast, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, MLB Advanced Media and Yahoo Provide Crucial Financial and Operational Support.

Over $350,000 in Fundraising, More Than Triple Previous Record Investment, Enables All Star Code’s Expanded Reach and Impact.

I am excited to announce that All Star Code has partnered with the above-mentioned industry-leading technology, media and financial services companies to launch the organization’s 4th Annual Summer Intensive for computer science.

In support of All Star Code’s mission to close the tech entrepreneurship gap by developing a pipeline of diverse 21st century leaders, Bond Collective, Cisco, Comcast, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, MLB Advanced Media and Yahoo are providing a wide range of operational and financial support and services.

All Star Code invests in Black and Latino high school male students because while STEM organizations for girls continue to grow, there are currently no national organizations fostering, exposing or educating young men of color for careers in the tech industry. The tech industry is one of the fastest growing industries and the highest paying, but only one percent of venture capital-backed startups have a Black or Latino member on their founding team.

“We are proud to work with such pioneering and respected companies to offer our students the best possible introduction to the tech industry and entrepreneurship,” said Christina Lewis Halpern, founder and Executive Director of All Star Code. “Their generosity has enabled a year of tremendous growth for All Star Code, not only in terms of the number of students we reach, but also in the depth of education and industry exposure we deliver.”

Throughout the free six-week flagship program, the corporate partners will facilitate All Star Code’s innovative curriculum that combines specific skills with networks, mindsets and cultural understanding, by providing: mentorships, speakers, financial contributions, computers and exposure to work culture.

The 2017 Summer Intensive will feature unprecedented reach and scope. Not only has the number of applicants to the New York program continue to double year-over-year, 2017 also marks the expansion of All Star Code into Pittsburgh, PA, an emerging tech market with a strong civic community, leading universities, and a ready population.

”We are pleased to host our second All Star Code Summer Intensive class at Goldman Sachs,” said Valentino Carlotti, Global Head of Human Capital Management for the Investment Banking and Merchant Banking divisions at Goldman Sachs. “We hope to inspire and motivate the next generation of leaders to pursue their dreams with competence, confidence and character.”

Cisco’s SVP and Chief Strategy Officer Hilton Romanski added: “It’s an honor for Cisco to support All Star Code and their mission of fostering diversity and entrepreneurial success across young men, who we believe will be best positioned to address the complexities of an ever-changing business and technology landscape. We look forward to hosting students at Cisco’s offices for the Summer Intensive, as well as engaging with them through mentorship and speaker programs to help build leaders for the workforce of the future.”

Since its founding in 2013, All Star Code has dramatically raised awareness of the lack of representation of males of color in technology and the importance of soft skills and mindset in teaching coding and computer science. The expansion to Pittsburgh is part of the organization’s continued growth, and a key milestone in bringing the organization’s network to 1,000 students by 2020.

Call to Action

Corporate Sponsors

All Star Code partners with several cutting-edge companies to give its students access to the professional world and the tech industry. For more information, regarding sponsorship opportunities, please visit our partnership interest form and contact Alberto Tornés, Director of Partnerships, at alberto@allstarcode.org.

Donors

All Star Code’s Summer Benefit is the largest fundraising opportunity for ASC and provides ASC’s supporters with the chance to meet and interact with our Summer Intensive students. The 4th Annual Benefit, one of the hottest tickets of the summer attended by C-suite executives, lawmakers and other influencers, is returning to the Hamptons this July. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact summerbenefit@allstarcode.org.

Student Applicants

Sign up here to be notified when applications open for 2018 Summer Intensive — All Star Code’s free, six-week flagship program designed to give high school boys the access and exposure they need to become successful tech entrepreneurs.

Announcing All Star Code’s Corporate Partners for the 2017 Summer Intensive Program was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Before the SI even started, Shuh sought out Cyril, ASC’s lead instructor at Alley, at orientation and asked about our support for “slow learners.” Daring greatly to put himself out there as someone who might struggle, he was really helping Cyril be a better instructor for him.

Over the course of the six weeks, Shuh wrestled with computing concepts, but never gave up. He stayed late to get tutoring with the things he was struggling with, but he also used this time to show those places where he excelled. Working late with Shuh, Cyril found out that he built his own computer and creates instructional YouTube videos for others hoping to do the same.

Cyril and Shuh also did some extracurricular hacking of a USB car charger to create a DIY portable cellphone charger. Shuh’s final project married his new and hardwon web design skills with his interest in political activism to create Rally, a platform for people to find grassroots organizations in the causes that are important to them.

Check out more stories like Shuh’s, and see how All Star Code continues to foster excellence by thumbing through our 2016 Annual Report.

Shuh Islam — All Star was originally published in Creating Economic Opportunity on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.