PI 515: Computer class for refugee kids

www.pi515.com

Mission: provide a free afterschool class with focus on world issues and computer coding to keep kids engaged and ready for higher education and career.

Situation: 85% of African children in city are refugees. English is second language, below poverty homes, high illiteracy rate at home, no high school or college graduate at the home and kids do not fit in most afterschool programs. Unfortunately, with most African students being classified as Africans Americans, we are not able to tell just how many attend Des Moines Public Schools. We know that the city has over 16 000 Africans which is more than 40% of the African American census data. One thing that is very clear is that both groups have very different and unique issues and a huge learning gap exists thus creating a problem that is not being properly addressed.
About 35 to 40 percent of refugees resettled in the U.S. are children.
In Federal Fiscal Year 2008, 24% of all refugees resettled by the United States were school-aged children between the ages of 5 and 18 years.
Right now, in Des Moines we have over 1000 unemployed young African refugees, most of them with no minimal schooling.

Goal: Gain skill entry to employment, Identify potential career path, Introduction to standards required for entry for further education, Decrease school dropout and improve overall social and economic status.