Who is served: College students 

Number of participants served annually: 860  

Location: New York City colleges and universities (Currently: College of Staten Island, Queens College, and City College, with Columbia University in the pipeline) Baruch College and Brooklyn College have also hosted courses in the past. 

Frequency/Duration: Semester-long (typically 13 weeks), 5–10 hours per week in addition to in-class time 

Eligibility Criteria: For most courses, participants must be enrolled as a computer science major at a participating college or university. Some courses are suitable for non-CS majors. 

Application process: Online application and assessment to determine the appropriate course level 

Curriculum: Cybersecurity, Android app development, iOS app development 

Skill level: Entry-level, mid-level, advanced 

Outcomes:   

• 20 percent of students with prior technical work experience obtain a more prestigious work opportunity after taking a CodePath course.
• 43 percent of students without prior technical work experience receive their first internship/job after taking a CodePath course.
• Black students who take CodePath courses are 14 times more likely than those who don’t to earn tier 1 jobs or internships. 
• Black first-generation college students who take a CodePath course are 3 times more likely to get a job at a tech company. 

Partnerships: CUNY, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, United Negro College Fund, AnitaB.org. CodePath has also worked closely with Facebook for many years and regularly engage dozens of technology and corporate partners. 

Cost: Free 

Sources of funding: 90 percent of funding in 2018 came from earned income from corporations for recruiting. Closer to 50 percent will come from earned revenue in 2019, with the other 50 percent coming from foundations, donors, and a small amount from colleges. 

What makes this program stand out? CodePath.org started as a technical training company for senior engineers but quickly became an organization dedicated to “eliminating educational inequity in technical education” through transformational on-campus computer science education. CodePath.org—located in 49 colleges and universities across the country—provides high quality, rigorous training at scale at no cost to students.  

The courses are taught directly on campus through a project-based curriculum developed with industry experts. Classes are facilitated by carefully selected and highly trained student leaders (TAs). Students access the training material, which includes video lectures and documentations, through a portal designed by CodePath. Students also have access to experts who are available to answer questions about the material. Participants attend classes once or twice a week for 2 hours in addition to independent study, which students should budget several hours each week to complete.  

CodePath.org has built courses for several different subject areas including iOS and Android development, Cybersecurity, mobile app design, and technical interview preparation. Elements of computational thinking are embedded in every part of each course. Students taking these courses receive credit towards their degrees.  

CodePath.org works with people at all levels in their journey, from incoming freshman thinking about pursuing a computer science degree to Ph.D students.  

What do participants need to succeed? CodePath.org participants must be enrolled in a computer science course at a participating university. Some CodePath.org courses require students to have prior coding knowledge. 

What does the organization need? Better connection to tech companies outside of Silicon Valley.