In 2014, Dan Rearick contacted Ramiro Rodriguez about offering a free introductory software programming course to people from underserved communities. For Dan, the initial idea sprang from working alongside recent immigrants and refugees and “seeing over and over again how hard somebody could work without getting an opportunity.” For Ramiro, who conceived the program with Dan and taught the course alongside another volunteer, the impetus was more personal.
“One of my motivations for Code the Dream was the number of people in situations similar to mine,” Rodriguez says. “They got DACA… Now what?”
Daisy Magnus-Aryitey was in those early classes. A mother who wanted to contribute to her family and set an example for her daughter, Magnus-Aryitey remembers getting the email that told her she’d been accepted to Code the Dream.
“It was more than just a yes,” she says. “It was more than just a congratulations. It was finally someone saying, ‘I see you. And I believe in you.’ It’s really hard to describe what that means unless you’ve been told ’no’ over and over again.”
Ten years later, Code the Dream is a fully remote program with hundreds of students from across the country, a dev shop creating and maintaining mobile apps, web apps, and websites for clients in the non-profit sector, and countless success stories among our alumni. And as Dan says, “I hope we’re just getting started.”
Co-Executive Directors Daisy and Dan, and Chief Technology Officer Ramiro recorded video messages marking Code the Dream’s 10th Anniversary. Watch them to learn more about how CTD started and the values that underpin everything we do.
Daisy Magnus-Aryitey,
Co-Executive Director
Dan Rearick,
Co-Executive Director
Ramiro Rodriguez,
Chief Technical Officer
