Tech has changed our world but the tech industry hasn’t reflected — or benefited — everyone. The tech boom has left many people out, especially people of color, women, immigrants, and people from low-income communities. In many cases, the tech industry has only widened the racial wealth gap.
We want to change that.
At Code the Dream, we are transforming the face of tech and transforming lives in the process.
Our Mission & Model
Our mission is to create opportunity that changes lives, build technology that benefits our communities, and support the diversity that drives a more just and innovative world. (Learn more about our mission and vision here!)
How do we achieve that mission?
Code the Dream offers free intensive training in software development to people from diverse low-income backgrounds though our free code school, CTD Learns. In our nonprofit dev shop, CTD Labs, our coders work with experienced mentors to hone their skills by building apps and technology platforms for a range of clients.
The ultimate aim of Code the Dream is to create a unique win-win, where our coders gain real experience building apps that make the world a better place, and then use that experience to launch new careers with life-changing opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Learn More About Our Programs
We couldn’t do our work without strong partners:
- Employers who hire our talented grads,
- Professional developers who volunteer with our participants,
- Companies who collaborate on tandem apprenticeships,
- Mission-aligned organizations that refer students to our classes, and
- Funders who help keep Code the Dream completely free, so that we can offer the highest quality and most accessible software development program in the country.
We are grateful for them all.
Our Impact
We began as a small pilot project creating career pathways in tech for DREAMers who couldn’t go to college. We created a successful model and quickly expanded to serve adults of many backgrounds who face career barriers across the country.
Code the Dream creates brighter futures for our participants and their families. But we also make an impact on the broader world through the apps we build that benefit communities in need. In 2023, more than 100,000 were impacted through Code the Dream apps! Learn more about our in-house dev-shop, Code the Dream Labs.
This unique, dual-impact model opens opportunity for individuals as well as encourages tech innovation to solve social problems. And we are striving for a sustainable program that has long lasting benefit: every one dollar invested in Code the Dream generates $55 in increased participant lifetime earnings!
Our Values
How we do our work is as important as why we do our work; all of our programming is firmly grounded in our values. These values inform our work and describe what we strive for within our organization, in the tech industry, and in society as a whole.
Awards & Recognition
Code the Dream staff and our organization as a whole have been recognized for our model and impact with awards including,
We’ve also been featured in media outlets including:
