We are thrilled to be part of in the White House's Summer Jobs+ program and their recently announced initiative to leverage the tech industry and tech educators to connect low-income and underrepresented youth with tech skills, summer jobs and internships.  As we expand SMASH to campuses nationwide, more and more high potential, low income students of color will gain the tech skills and connections to tech internships that make a tremendous difference as they launch careers in STEM fields. 

From the Jan 17, 2012 White House Office of Public Engagement Blog:

"To build on this initiative, today I am excited to announce three additional technology-focused Life Skills and Work Skills commitments from Codecademy, Level Playing Field Institute and the College Bound Brotherhood. As we continue to adequately prepare our young people to compete in the 21^st 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. The commitments outlined below will help introduce low-income youth in the San Francisco Bay area and others from across the country to basic coding skills, provide a STEM education curriculum that many may not have previously had access to, and provide the opportunity to intern at a leading technology company."

This summer at SMASH's four sites - UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA and USC - 220 scholars will benefit from LPFI's rigorous STEM courses, including a new Computer Science/Coding course.