Help Send Kade Cahe to Coding School for Birthday
Who am I:
Hey everyone! I'm Kade Cahe a Black Dominican queer trans and gender non-conforming community organizer, facilitator, and reiki practitioner. I come from a rural village in the Dominican Republic, and spent most of my life in the Bronx, NY. My birthday is on July 30th. I decided to practice bravery, and launch this GoFundMe to support my passion.
When COVID-19 reached pandemic level, I found myself stuck outside of the US due to border closers. I lost the ability to work my second job that was helping me cover my prior medical bill expenses. I began shifting towards digital community organizing in my full time job, while trying to support my family financially and through the difficulties of the medical industrial complex when several of my family members were affected by the virus back home. Through the challenges of not having access to stable electricity, clean water, or access to my home and loved ones, I dove deeply into manifestation and healing work.
What I am manifesting:
I found solace in learning how to code since the pandemic started. I've been huge nerd my whole life, but as the person that my family depends on, I often struggle to follow my passion due to fear that I could not support both myself and my family when focusing on my dreams. With those that I love, and myself included, already at risk, I decided to take a mental leap and finally apply to a coding bootcamp.
I know that no matter the challenge that comes my way, I will grow to live as a brilliant and powerful Black Queer TGNC software engineer. To get there, I need your help.
During Week 1 of quarantine, I applied to Stanford's Code in Place and got into their digital intro to computer science course. I built a classic Brick Breaker Game, three weeks in, just as my family began winning their fight against COVID-19.
Two months into the pandemic, I learned that I was selected for the Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship for women and TGNC people who need help breaking through the economic barriers that keeps us from tech. My access to the scholarship depended on whether I could get admitted to the Grace Hopper at Fullstack. I coded every day since April 3rd 2020 . I now also have a strong foundation in Javascript, and was invited to join the August 14 - December 18th cohort at Grace Hopper in NYC upon passing my technical and behavioral interviews.
Learning to code for me is more valuable than the education and the knowledge that I have cultivated up to now. Black Queer TGNC tech matters. Coding opens up the possibility for me to reach new levels when creating and/or supporting folks in our communities as we access the tools and resources necessary to keep ourselves whole, our community closer to thriving, and ensure that our movements remain sustainable. 
How you can help:
Regardless of what you can give, your gift will help me sustain myself. Once I begin my program full time, I have to quit both my job and side hustle to keep up with Grace Hopper's rigorous coding bootcamp. While my scholarship covers 50% of my tuition, I still have to pay a $3,000 deposit before I begin in August to join my cohort. Grace Hopper also asks that students come with a MacBook. I had to purchase a new MacBook at $1,675, which has Apple Care and enough power to be able to access the technology that I am working with. My old laptop was from 2012 and could no longer help me get through my full time job, or run more than one window or program at a time. I plan to use the remaining $325 to help me buy groceries and cover the fees that GoFundMe will take for hosting my fundraiser. Please feel free to share this fundraiser with your friends, people in your network, anyone with funds that can support, and especially those who have been less affected by the pandemic and structural -isms (white folks, cis folks, etc).
Thank you, deeply and sincerely <3
Donating here will avoid the GoFundMe fees:
Venmo: @Kadecahe
Cashapp: $Kadecahe
You can find me on Instagram @KadeCahe.
Black Lives Matter. Black Trans Lives Matter. Black Tech Matters.
