Over the summer, Detroit ninth grader Maurice Molden learned how to use computer coding to grow plants at a community garden on the city’s east side.
The Summit Academy North High School student was among hundreds from Detroit schools to gain the skills through Code Grow. The eight-week program guides youth ages seven to 14 in using coding technology to help grow plants. He learned to use new coding software and write scripts to control sensors to monitor plant water levels, and make a time-lapse video.
“It was fun, I learned a lot from it – engineering and building stuff,” said Molden, who said he would “most definitely” participate in the program again and possibly wants to explore computer science as a career after high school, a field expected to grow 26% by 2033, much faster than the average for all other occupations.
After ten years of inspiring students like Molden, the Detroit-based Code Grow is celebrating a major milestone – it’s becoming a nonprofit organization.
Previously housed within the DPL Foundation, the organization will become more financially independent and expand its offerings with the addition of sewing and art programs for kids. The free program was started at the Parkman Branch Library by librarian Qumisha “Q” Goss.
Goss said the program was inspired by the number of kids using library computers to play Minecraft. A librarian suggested an hour of learning coding skills.
Research shows coding programs for youth impress vocation skills, creativity, collaboration, generosity, and open-mindedness, while gardening programs for youth encourage healthier eating and support social and emotional health. Schools across the country are increasingly incorporating coding into curriculum, with more than half of high schools offering an introductory computer science class, but low-income and students of color are less likely to have access to computer science programs.
To give students more computer time and connect the coding skills they were learning to real life applications, Goss formed Code Grow.
The program had 12 participants in its first year, and has steadily grown. In 2018, Microsoft granted $25,000 to Code Grow to help it get off the ground. Last summer more than 300 students participated at two sites in partnership with the Belle Isle Nature Center and Detroit Body Garage.
DPL Foundation officials said after a decade of supporting the initiative they are pleased to see Code Grow become its own entity.
“It’s really exciting that we can take this program that started in a small library and is now going to become its own organization, born in Detroit, growing in Detroit,” said Sean Ryan Everett, chief executive officer of the DPL Foundation.
Goss said Code Grow’s nonprofit status will “elevate the work of putting free resources and peer-based learning into the hands of children and families” for the librarian-run program.
“To see it become its own thing is really special,” she said. “People expect good things like this to come from a library, but don’t put a lot of attention and focus into it.”
Code Grow exists amid a growing number of K-12 computer science initiatives in Detroit, including a new program at Wayne State University with some similarities. In November, WSU received $749,991 from the US Department of Agriculture to create a summer camp for middle and high school students to learn how to use data science and artificial intelligence in agriculture.
Wayne State project lead Sara Masoud said she intends to explore collaboration with Goss in the future and said Goss will be invited to serve on the board for the university’s program.
“I believe her expertise and experience will be invaluable to our work,” Masoud said in an email.
Everett said the foundation will continue to fund Code Grow and be involved with it as it becomes its own nonprofit. He declined to provide a specific dollar amount.
“Hopefully someday Code Grow is in every neighborhood in Detroit, and expands beyond,” he said.