Good Hope After-School Students engage in Hour of Code sessions once a week. Approximately 25 students ages 9 – 15 spend 60 minutes in varies computer science activities that has sparked an interest in the science. The group loves to code our robot mouse named TR and watch him maneuver thru the coded maze. Another favorite for the girls is SciGirls Code Quest. Learning sessions that involve gaming is a favorite for the boys. For Example, the hour fly’s by when they are playing Code a 3D Space Invader and Minecraft Escape Estate.

The Good Hope Foundation Fall Festival was another opportunity to introduce youth to an Hour of Code and share upcoming learning sessions outside of After-School. The 1st Saturday of the Month has been set aside to host coding sessions. We meet from noon to 1 p.m. to share the wonderful world of computer science. The sessions are both facilitator lead and student guided.

The Good Hope Foundation Fall Festival was another opportunity to introduce youth to an Hour of Code and share upcoming learning sessions outside of After-School. The 1st Saturday of the Month has been set aside to host coding sessions. We meet from noon to 1:00 p.m. cst to share the wonderful world of computer science. The sessions are both facilitator lead and student guided.

Good Hope Foundation recently hosted a Chicago-Englewood Fall Festival for the community. We had a couple bouncy houses for the kids, DJ and Live Performances, Pumpkin & Apple picking, winter coat give-away, and a technology table for coding awareness on the parking lot for more than 130 kids in attendance. The kids seem to enjoy being exposed to coding awareness, while having fun, receiving lunch, playing games and exposure to technology toys!

At the Good Hope Codes Back-To-School & Good Hope Codes Kick-Off Party, the eight-five youth in attendance at the Chicago Englewood were excited about learning more about coding!

Good Hope Codes recently participated in a Chicago Englewood Back-To-School event to introduce Coding and future sessions to the Youth who attended this event. We look forward to the potential "coders" joining our upcoming coding camp/s.

The Good Hope Foundation could not have found a better role model to lead the Good Hope Codes initiative, Katelyn Futel. Katelyn has already spoken to at least twenty five youth who are interested in participating in Good Hope Codes activities. Good Hopes codes will partner with Good Hope After School Back to School event on 8/2022 to pass out flyers to the youth on Good Hope Codes upcoming activities. This will certainly increase the amount of interested youth.

The Good Hope Codes Team’s objective is to expose an underserved community on Chicago’s southside (i.e., Englewood) to Computer Science and Computer Programming.

Technology skills can assist in the revitalization of a community, which is poverty stricken, by infusing hope where there is none, a worthy endeavor. Providing a new generation of youth, a “Firsthand” opportunity to gain experience in Computer Science and Computer Programming, which may otherwise may have not had the opportunity. This is the key mission of the Good Hope Codes Team.

The Team members include Katelyn Futel (Lead), Aaron Futel (Chicago Police Officer), Kristen Wilson, Charisse, and Edward Clark Jr.

The Good Hope Team has plans to provide advertisement for the hour of code through creative signage around the Good Hope Foundation facility, colorful flyer distribution in the Englewood area leading up to the event, pop-ups on Good Hope Foundation website (i.e., www, goodhopefnd.com) Good Hope Codes information, and lastly via social media.

Next, the team will schedule the Good Hope “Hour of Code” event, in tandem with the Martin Luther King elementary school directly adjacent to the Good Hope Foundation facility. The team ‘s plans is to enlist the support of skilled technologist that are representative of the Englewood community to facilitate (including, Katelyn & Edward) a one-hour coding challenge to give Englewood youth a creative, fun, and engaging first introduction to computer science and programming.

The team also plans to hold a roundtable discussion with the youth to create a continuous learning atmosphere for the youth of Englewood to gain an interest in an active pursuit, and the educational requirements to pursue this worthy career option. Finally, each participant is assigned a mentor to provide support to the Englewood youth on a one-on-one basis ongoing.

The Good Hope Team is excited to move forward with this valuable undertaking.

Katelyn Futel (Lead)