If you don’t see your question below, feel free to ask us at [email protected]

General FAQ’s

All Star Code is a nonprofit computer science education organization focused on young Black and Latino men. Few organizations prepare this underserved group for careers in the innovation economy. Our ultimate goal is to close the wealth, income and opportunity gaps.

All Star Code is developing a new generation of entrepreneurs who have the tools they need to succeed in a technological world.

We are creating economic opportunity.

Summer Intensive

The Summer Intensive, our flagship offering, is a free, six-week, selective program (no coding experience required) that provides our students with the skills, networks and mindset they need to become coders, makers, and entrepreneurs.

Unlike most coding programs, the Summer Intensive doesn’t just focus on Computer Science and technology; we introduce soft skills and expose them to the tech startup culture through an immersive experience inside entrepreneurial, educational and corporate spaces with inspiring guest speakers and, most importantly, fun. Students who successfully complete the Summer Intensive finish with basic web development skills, an entrepreneurial mindset and a network of peers who also love building things that matter.

Alumni Services

Once you’re an All Star, you’re an All Star for life. Under our umbrella Alumni Services, we ensure our students can go through college, life and career together, whether physically or virtually and have access to the very best educational, job and enrichment opportunities available to them.

Awareness

All Star Code raises awareness about pathways to success in tech via live events, social media, press, publications and conferences.

  • All Star Code invests in high school-age young men of color to fulfill the need for organizations  to address this important group's contribution to computer science. No other organization is exposing, educating, and fostering Black and Brown young men for careers in the tech industry at a national level.
  • All Star Code's impact is unmatched. 93% of our Scholars matriculate at a 2-year or 4-year institution of higher learning with approximately 44% currently at a top 100 ranked university.
  • Nearly 82% of our graduates intend to major or minor in Computer Science-related subjects.
  • Over 70% of our graduates show an increase in confidence in learning Computer Science programming
  • All Star Code is not another coding bootcamp. Our curriculum sets itself apart because we believe that successful persistence in CS is most affected by changes in mindset and disposition. We build a network of support for these young men to change their mindset – giving them the confidence and resilience they need to succeed — which you know as the entrepreneurial mindset.

With so many organizations equalizing the playing field for girls and women in tech, virtually no organizations target young men of color. Black and Latino males are significantly underrepresented in the tech industry. All Star Code is one of, if not the largest, computer science organization that specifically focuses on the unique needs of Black and Latino boys. Giving everyone access to the playing field makes the country stronger and more innovative. WIth the proper investment, these young men will become part of the future of tech.

Founded in 2013 by Christina Lewis, the daughter of Reginald F. Lewis who had a pioneering career on Wall Street. Reginald F. Lewis’ career was spring-boarded by a 1965 summer program at Harvard Law School, which inspired All Star Code’s model.

Through Christina’s research for a book on her father, she found that the thing that set her father apart from others in the program and ultimately led to his success was his mindset and the support networks around him.

Reginald F. Lewis was an iconic figure in the history of Black business and one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. When he died in 1993, he was the owner and CEO of TLC Beatrice International, the largest Black-owned business in the U.S. and, according to Fortune, one of the 400 wealthiest people in America.

ASC launched our inaugural SI in 2014 with 20 students in New York City and have doubled every year since. We served 80 students in 2016, and this year will double to 160 students in the SI with our inaugural cohort and pilot expansion to Pittsburgh, our first city outside of NYC.

All Star Code has 12 full-time staff members, plus a group of seasonal paid interns, as well as teaching staff and site supervisors during the summer.

Summer Intensive FAQ

Motivated young Black and Latino men who are rising high school juniors and seniors. The majority (78%) receive free/reduced lunch.

All Star Code’s Summer Intensive is hosted at tech companies, financial institutions, and otherwise enriching sites throughout New York City. We will also be hosting two cohorts in Pittsburgh, PA in Summer 2019.

Our 2018 host sites include Medidata, Cisco, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Oath, and MLB Advanced Media in NYC, and Chatham University and University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh.

Minorities are being left behind the tech boom: less than 10 percent of tech employees in the U.S. are African-American and Latino. The tech industry is an economic engine of the 21st century, but only 1 percent of VC-backed startups have a Black or Latino member on their founding team. There is significant need and interest already ingrained in the mid-Atlantic region, as ASC received over 600+ application for 160 spots.

Yes. All Star Code is open to young men of color from races or ethnicities that are under-represented in passing the AP Computer Science Exam – including Pacific Islander, and Native American students. Black and Latino students, whose communities have the least economic opportunity, are preferred.

We believe learning how to code teaches you how to think. It is also a gateway skill that gives anyone greater access to a suite of creative and impactful career opportunities in the 21st century economy. Technologists may not run the world, but they build the software that runs the world.

All Star Code believes that computer science instruction is not enough to help these young men succeed in the tech industry. We believe that positive changes in mindset and a strong network increase our students’ resilience and persistence in computer science. That is why our program focuses on not only technical skills, but also soft skills like collaboration, teamwork, networking, and other professional skills that will help our students be successful in college and ultimately the workplace.

ASC has committed to doubling the Summer Intensive every year, bringing us to 10,000 total graduates by 2022.

Whether you love or hate what we’re doing. You can find the contact information for anyone on our Contact page. You are also welcome to tweet us at @allstarcode.