Girls in Tech

In many different ways, we are trying to make sure that the young ladies that we are working with are being introduced to a sampling of different areas in Tech in order to spark interest.

We are also always on the lookout for Tech leaders in the group of girls. Currently, we have classes with students as young as 10 who have grasped the concepts and are now teaching the other students in the group. We tend to step back and see them build both their skills and confidence by doing something for the first time and excelling at it.

Once they find an area they want to focus on, that is where we seek professionals in the industry as mentors and teachers to help them foster the skills which are being sought in the market now to give them a headstart on the employment path eventually.

But we are not exclusively having the girls in the classes, we want diversity as much as possible so that all kids are encouraging each other.

In the "new norm" there are plenty of opportunities in the tech industry we would like them to be thinking about now. It is not our future, after all, it's theirs!

Thank you so much for you support.

We simply find when we have more female mentors, the attendance in the classes by the young girls increases.

We continue to have female volunteer instructors and in-person mentors who work with us in the classroom settings.

We also find that in some classes the attendance is 100% girls and in other cases at least 50%.

We want them from a young age to feel comfortable not only using the computers but also to explore the depth in which they can learn software, language and see the tech sector as a real possibility for them in the future.

Going into 2022, we will continue to have a great focus on the diversity of our classes and reach out to the volunteers and mentors who have approached us to make the YouMeWe program a continued succcess.

Thank you for your support,

YouMeWe NPO

Dear Friend,

Aside from attracting numerous young women globally as volunteers for this project, we have also been employing more young women to work for the NPO.  We have also been sending laptops to aged-out children from the homes who went on to university but due to the pandemic were sent back home from school and needed the laptops in order to connect online.

We work with various mentors and volunteers attempting to connect with the youth so that they have an example of the opportunities in tech.

Whether it be by helping create software or participating in coding classes, we want our program to be as diverse as possible.

Thank you so much for your continued support.

 We are continuing to match the demand we have in the classes with the programs we are providing. 

Over the past months we have introduced our program to new homes and continue to send out more computers to new homes as well as homes who have requested additional computers.

We are always pleased to see that although in the past, our classes were predominantly attended by the young boys, that we have over 50% attendance now of girls in every class that we have.

We have introduced more to English online, coding for IchigoJam as well as Sphero ball. In addition to the financial literacy training and career assessment tests, we have more female role models in the industry who are volunteering thier time as mentors as well as teachers.

Especially in what we experienced last year, the opportunities in tech jobs going forward will not only increase but be more interesting and broad. We are hoping that by having consistent time with the students weekly, we will help lead them to opportunitiies which will encourage them in their career choices.

Thank you again for your support.

YouMeWe NPO

Dear Friend,

If you are receiving this then you too understand the importance of encouraging girls in tech. When we started in this space by nature of the male roles in the homes, it was generally the younger boys who were taking the lead to also take part.

For the homes with women leaders or caregivers, like the nuns at St.Francis or St.Joseph's you see more girls being encouraged and now our classes are generally 50:50 if not a majority being attended by the young ladies.

When we have female volunteers or guests, I see a dramatic change in enthusiasm and much more engagement.

None of these children had a say in how their lives started but they, with your help as a counselor or mentor or coach, can help them figure out how they want their lives to end up.

Whether that be working with us to look at their SMART goals or connecting with one of the children one on one, they need these personal, human connections in order to find more meaning to their lives and what they are doing with YouMeWe.

In the photos you are able to see how coding with IchigoJam was introduced, we showed them the world of Virtual Reality with OCULUS as we feel these are examples of 21st century learning skills for the jobs which are waiting for them in the future.

If you are interested in participating in their career plans and life plans, please contact us at volunteers@youmewenpo.org.

Thank you,

Michael Clemons