Codecademy joins The White House to train low-income youth to build innovative apps

As part of The White House’s Summer Jobs + program, a call to action for businesses, non-profits, and government to work together to provide pathways to employment for low-income and disconnected youth for the summer of 2012, Codecademy will be offering “Code Summer+,” a program to get people learning to code over this coming summer.

Codecademy’s “Code Summer+” will teach the basics of programming online as an abbreviated version of its popular Code Year program. This effort aims to train thousands of low-income youths to build innovative online apps, and tech companies are encouraged to participate in the activities.

Codecademy believes that learning to code is an “integral part of finding a job in the 21st century economy.” Here’s more thoughts, from the official White House Blog:

To build on [the Summer Jobs +]  initiative, today I am excited to announce three additional technology-focused Life Skills and Work Skills commitments from Codeacademy, Level Playing Field Institute and the College Bound Brotherhood.

As we continue to adequately prepare our young people to compete in the 21st century economy, it is imperative that we focus on providing them with a strong Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education as well as help introduce them to some of the high-tech competitive skills necessary in much of the industry today.

If this partnership isn’t enough to get you excited, Codecademy is also announcing that it’s no longer a strictly online learning platform. Users around the US and the world are getting together to talk about Code Year and support each other as they learn, and now Codecademy is launching meetups for Code Year participants worldwide. Anyone can sign up to mentor and hold meetups, or even create content.

Codecademy co-founder, Zach Sims told TNW:

We think it’s incredibly important for people of any age to learn to code and to build real professional skills.  We’re excited to work with The White House to get more people learning to program to find great jobs (hopefully through The White House’s Summer Jobs+ Program!).

Code Year has grown rapidly since its inception, and is now supported by a ton of different organizations that are pulling together people in their own communities. Even NY Mayor, Mike Bloomberg has pledged to learn to code in 2012. Here’s a list of the latest Code Year supporters (these join YC, Techstars, girl develop it, hackNY):

Kauffman Foundation, Startup Weekend, Launchpad LA, AngelPad, Teens in Tech, Ladies Learning to Code (in Canada), Women Who Code, Quanta (an accelerator in Kosovo), Open Network Lab (an accelerator in Japan). Companies like Foursquare, Sailthru, Skillshare, and Twilio have signed on to support the effort as well.

Needless to say, 2012 is going to be a very big year for tech innovation, and we’re truly excited to be apart of it here at TNW.