Monday night’s presidential debate got us here at Code to Inspire thinking about how change is made on the ground for people who need it. Here is how we’re making those changes:
1. We’re educating some of the 85{1e5b5b8455e4fd0a501a0ba32c7b6cedbd9d99491662a4a0878218331661888d} of Afghan women who would not otherwise receive an education, especially in STEM
2. Teaching these women and young girls to code will help them increase the alarmingly low percent of women in the workforce in Afghanistan – 15{1e5b5b8455e4fd0a501a0ba32c7b6cedbd9d99491662a4a0878218331661888d}
3. We provide not just an education, but Internet access to Afghan girls who would not otherwise be able to access the Internet, and therefore, the world
4. The more women who learn to code, the more jobs we can create in Afghanistan
5. In addition to an education and internet access, we create a safe place to these women to learn – something most people take for granted
Show your support and donate today!

With the U.N. in town, we’ve been very busy here at Code to Inspire this week!

We kicked it off with a panel at the Blouin Creative Leadership Summit where Fereshteh spoke on a panel with the one and only Nicholas Kristoff.

Fereshteh and Nicholas

It was such a thrill to meet him in the flesh and discuss the corresponding and upward trend of women’s empowerment and economic development.

If that wasn’t enough to inspire us, Google featured our partner, Made with Code, on their homepage and included us on their blog today. More than that, Google’s Made with Code will promote our work at the roaringly popular Global Citizens Festival. They put together a short film which will debut this weekend at the Festival.

Watch Fereshteh shine in this video with other women leaders in tech!

We’re so exhilarated from all this momentum that we’re pushing our new GoFundMe campaign to raise $5,000. Donate today!

https://www.gofundme.com/CodeToInspire

It is back to school time for most kids across the US, but let’s be honest… how many kids really take going back to school for granted to the point of complaining that summer is over? Most. For many kids, school is a “have to” and extracurricular learning activities like sports, music and coding programs are more of a “need to for a good future resume.” It’s mainstream and pretty much expected in the US for kids to complete primary and secondary education, continue onto college for a higher education and also supplement with extracurricular activities.

Let’s take a look at Afghanistan, though. During the destructive rule of the Taliban, girls were forbidden from entering the classroom. In 2001, at the time of the fall of the Taliban, there were no females students in school in Afghanistan. Over the past 15 years, progress has been made with now over 3.6 million girls in school in Afghanistan.

If we take a look at higher education and the work force in Afghanistan, greater than 50{1e5b5b8455e4fd0a501a0ba32c7b6cedbd9d99491662a4a0878218331661888d} of female business owners in Afghanistan list computer, accounting or project management as skills they would like to improve. In light of years of girls being prohibited from formal and higher education, progress has been made.

Code to Inspire formed in 2015 to step in and provide a safe place for high school aged girls in Herat to receive additional education and begin to not just learn but dream and be courageous leaders in their communities for entrepreneurship and change.

What a wake up call to most students in the US who again say, “why is summer ending?” Our students CTI are excited for each chance to attend school and even go above and beyond with coding school. This #womencrushwednesday we give a shoutout to our female students and mentors who are taking steps to be trailblazers and get educated to further enable others. Rather than complain about school, these girls want to learn more!

Word to the wise this Wednesday – never take education for granted. It’s a unique opportunity some have dreamed of for a long while.

Code to Inspire just launched its first GoFundMe Campaign. You can check it out here and take the time this back to school season to support girls who are desperate to learn in Afghanistan.

In honor of the one and only Sheryl Sandberg’s birthday this past weekend, she has been designated as our #WCW for three reasons:

Like us, she strives to inspire women around the world “lean in” to their potential and gain the type of social and financial independence that the workplace provides.

Also like Code to Inspire, she was the subject of a Ted Talk. “Why we have too few women leaders” quickly went viral and made Sandberg a household name. In it, she reminds us not to undersell or undervalue ourselves. She taught us that we don’t have to internalize the systemic sexism that has kept women out of the C-suite for much too long.

She understands technology and its transformative powers. Not only is tech an industry that enables otherwise disenfranchised people to make money, at its best, technology connects people and makes them closer. Throughout her tenure at Google and at Facebook, she worked to make the world a more connected place.

Happy birthday to one of our favorites in the industry!