Clearly Innovative Education and Connect.DC — Digital Inclusion Initiative

The Coding and Entrepreneurship Program that Connect.DC is partnering with Clearly Innovative Inc on has a goal to provide education, mentorship and a positive learning environment that engages and teaches technical and entrepreneurial skills to students of all backgrounds. The program teaches students to brainstorm mobile app ideas and build mobile app prototypes. Students also learn to pitch and present their ideas to industry professionals. Students gain experience with basic programming through instructors and online coding tools and use their knowledge to create mobile solutions to community problems.

Highlights of the program are outlined below and we look forward to our upcoming summer program to provide more students in Washington DC the opportunity to explore potential opportunities in STEM.

• The program was hosted at Inclusive Innovation Incubator which is a physical manifestation of all of the work my team and I have worked on over the last ten years here in Washington DC to create a more inclusive innovation ecosystem for entrepreneurs, technologist and creatives

• 16 high school students, all of whom are DC residents, participated in the program. (15 students completed the program)

• Schools represented included McKinley Tech, Wilson High School, Thurgood Marshall Academy, Fre