News

Irene Sanchez was a pharmacy tech hoping to make a career change in 2019, whenshe heard about Code the Dream (CTD) from a friend who was taking CTD’s freeclasses. “I had developed an interest in technology and programming and I wanted to pursue anew career away from customer service,” Sanchez says. “I heard about the […]

Shaya Lyon and Kate Borgen represented Code the Dream and our Vamos Outreach App at the National Farmworker Law Conference November 13-15 in Atlanta. The experience, Lyon says, was inspiring and motivating. “It was great to hear Vamos partners talk about how using Vamos has helped their organizations plan and track their outreach visits to […]

CTD’s volunteers can serve as class mentors, lead small groups of students through our capstone practicum project, support apprentices in their career search, contribute to our curriculum, and serve in other areas as well. We could not do our work at this scale without them! Each month, we celebrate one volunteer who has made a […]

Tony Byrd was growing increasingly discontented with his job running the coffee shop in the lobby of IBM’s main building in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He had been working there since he graduated from high school nearly a decade ago, and with two young kids to provide for at home, Byrd, 27, was itching […]

Back in July, I chatted with then Penn State defensive back John Reid about his experiences with Coding and how I can teach Coding to my students. After digging through the resources he recommended, I came across Code The Dream. Here’s my chat with John Reid about Coding and with four interns from Code The […]

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — We’re 20 miles away but murals in downtown Durham are your portal to the North Carolina Museum of Art. “You can walk in and it’ll take you to the exhibition at the N.C. Museum of Art,” said Irene Serrano, Code the Dream. Code the Dream exposes under represented groups to the […]

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be in Durham, Raleigh and Mexico all at the same time? By simply holding your phone up to two murals in downtown Durham, you can do just that. A new augmented reality (AR) app has the power to transport you through a virtual portal to the inside […]

DURHAM – Ever feel the urge to jump into a mural like Mary Poppins and get transported into another reality? Well, now you can. A new augmented reality app called Mariposa AR –commissioned by Google Fiber and developed by Code the Dream — allows visitors to interact with two murals in downtown Durham inspired by artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. “AR […]

Part of the American dream includes a solid education with the promise of a lucrative job down the road. For many immigrant students in North Carolina, that dream is elusive. These facts were part of the impetus for Code the Dream, a nonprofit organization that teaches immigrant and minority youth the art and science of coding. […]

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Crystal Williams-Brown is the poster child for ‘Code the Dream’. The college graduate couldn’t find work in her first chosen field and decided she really wanted to be a computer programmer. “As I was looking around at a lot of those schools it was very expensive to go and I wasn’t […]

This is a season of celebration and reflection: we gather, take stock, feast, give thanks.  It’s also a good time to give back, a show of gratitude for all we’ve been given. As you consider how, whether on Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3) or before the end of the year, take a look at these Triangle […]

DURHAM – Code the Dream is expanding its footprint, big time. The Durham software development non-profit has launched its first national cohort of remote classes, opening access to its training program. “For the last two years, we’ve turned away applicants from other states,” said its executive director and co-founder Dan Rearick. “So we’re happy to finally be able […]

by Latisha Catchatoorian | Originally published August 14, 2019 This story was written for WRAL TechWire Advisor partner Momentum Learning. A lot of companies talk about investing in their employees, creating a more diverse work environment, and growing the workforce, but too many times these are just bullet points in a company handbook. That’s not the case […]

Originally published March 26, 2019 in WRAL TechWire RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Code the Dream, an organization that provides computer programming classes to people from diverse and low-income backgrounds, is opening a second office. Launched in Durham at American Underground, the nonprofit is opening a new office at The Frontier campus in Research Triangle Park. The […]

By Sarah Willets | Originally published March 13, 2019 in Indy Week Advocates Say Durham’s Experiment to Wipe Thousands of Old Cases Off the Books Could Be a Model for Statewide Justice Reform Linwood Thornton had just accepted that he’d never drive legally again.  His license had been suspended since June 2, 1989. A relative used […]

by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez | Originally published March 5, 2019 in GrepBeat Sitting in a classroom in the basement of American Underground’s American Tobacco campus, eight of Code the Dream’s young programmers waited to present their apps to an eager audience last Friday. But, something made this event different from most tech demos. In fact, something […]

Over the last year, one of the apps Code the Dream has been most proud to develop has been Upstate — a tool that allows users to get immediate updates about proposed new state laws in the issue areas they care about most. Yesterday Upstate founder Kelly Garvy and CTD developer Crystal Williams-Brown were on […]

By Mandy Mitchell| Originally published  June 18, 2018 on www.wral.com DURHAM, N.C. — A nonprofit group in the Triangle that worked with a technology class in Durham has created a ride-sharing app for families whose relatives have battled homelessness but still need help with transportation. The “Ride Together” app was developed by Crystal Williams-Brown, a student […]

Code the Dream opens doors, launches careers By Mandy Mitchell, WRAL reporter & Hannah Webster, WRAL.com editor DURHAM, N.C. — A Durham startup is making dreams come true for adults and high school students who want to work in technology. Code the Dream provides free classes for people who are traditionally under-represented in the technology and […]

Originally published on August 30 in La Noticia . by Paola Jaramillo  A free program offered by a nonprofit organization that has become a bridge for dozens of young immigrants to integrate into the world of Internet page programming. “The goal of ‘Code the Dream’ is to give immigrants the opportunity to open spaces in […]

Originally published July 29, 2017 in the News & Observer. Anne Blythe ablythe@newsobserver.com With laptops open, rapt students watched as lines of code stretched across their screens. They were gathered in the American Underground, a startup incubator, to take part in classes organized through Code the Dream, a program set up to steer people from […]

As a graduate of Code the Dream, Cruz Nuñez shared his experience with the North Carolina’s new statewide newspaper, the North State Journal. Cruz describes his experience as an immigrant and the challenges he and other students have in seeking out higher education. Please read the full article here. This article in the North State […]

Every week the Raleigh News & Observer honors one great North Carolinian as its Tarheel of the Week. This week it was our Lead Instructor Ramiro Rodriguez! A well-deserved honor for him, as well as a great recognition of all the hard work and successes of our students, volunteers and everyone who makes Code the Dream […]

Code the Dream Lead Instructor Ramiro Rodriguez and Executive Director Dan Rearick recently had a chance to talk with the nice folks at Fox 50 about why Code the Dream is so important and how it works. The Hola NC episode aired on Sunday, but you can still catch the interview online.

Ofrecen cursos de programación y desarrollo de aplicaciones a jóvenes hispanos http://raleigh.quepasanoticias.com/noticias/ciudad/local/52953-ofrecen-cursos-de-programacion-y-desarrollo-de-aplicaciones-a-jovenes Programa Code the Dream promueve un mayor acceso de las minorías a la industria tecnológica Escrito por Eloy Tupayachi Durham.- Los jóvenes inmigrantes tienen la oportunidad de aprender gratuitamente programación de computadoras y desarrollar aplicaciones para teléfonos móviles mediante el programa Code the Dream,  un […]

The Huffington Post recently ran a story on some of the great initiatives taking off in the Research Triangle, including Code the Dream.   Three Ways Research Triangle Startups Are Tackling America’s Challenges Adam Klein, Chief Strategist at American Underground Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO of Red Hat The startup scene in Raleigh, Durham, and […]

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/a-durham-program-helps-immigrants-overcomeobstacles-to-learning-high-tech-skills/Content?oid=4371364 Dreaming in Code By Emily Feng Each weekday, from 9 to 5, Ruben Cruz learns to code. Less than a year ago, Cruz, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, had no programming experience. Now a full-time student at The Iron Yard, an intensive coding academy in downtown Durham, he will graduate with the skill level of […]