#3 - The Friday Change - The one where we went all in on computer science

I’m growing as a human

Slowly, I raised my hand. It had come down to a vote, with six people in the room deciding the strategy we’d embark on for the next three years. A strategy that would guide millions of dollars of grants. A strategy that would use the company’s voice to galvanize our own and countless others to invest in the topic. A strategy that would lead our new CEO to be invited to attend the State of the Union, and governments to see us as a critical partner in the future of their citizens. You could feel the tension in the room as eyes jetted from person to person, thinking, will they raise their hand too? Am I making the right decision? After four months of research, including internal and external interviews, literature reviews, and rounds of discussions, it had come down to a vote.

We were sitting around a long wooden table in a windowless room in one of the original Microsoft buildings, a building that has since been demolished. This room is where Microsoft’s executives had sat for years making countless decisions about launching the OG of operating systems, creating the beloved animated characters in Office, releasing a new gaming system, and addressing numerous legal suits. ?

We were making a strategic decision that would prove to be one of the most vital decisions of our social impact journey as a team. Our incomparable leader Yvonne Thomas, now founder of Proximity, and education trailblazer Kevin Wang, founder of TEALS and now MinT, started us off “computer science and teachers.”

In a moment that felt like it lasted an hour, I could hear my colleagues say one after another, “computer science and teachers.”

I lowered my hand. The decision was made. As we walked into the hallway, I could feel the buzz of excitement. We erupted in chatter and filled the office with fresh energy and ideas. We were on the cusp of our new strategy, and we were all in.

A remarkable organization

My 11-year-old self might have been devastated by my vote. Flashback to Christmas 1994, when I was waiting impatiently for my brother to open his gift. His eyes lit up with excitement as he read the shiny yellow and black cover “C++ For Dummies.” He had just turned 13-years-old two weeks before, and this was his kid in a candy store moment. I rolled my eyes and went back to playing with my present. Programming was at the bottom of my interest list. Learning it from a book being a dyslexic kid sounded miserable to me.

I wish we had Hour of Code in ‘94.

Code.org’s Hour of Code literally changed the game for kids learning computer science. As an early investor, our social impact team’s decision had set the stage for that to continue to grow and bring forward Minecraft Hour of Code, resources for teachers and educators, integration of AI content, and much more. The nonprofit is “dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by young women and students from other underrepresented groups.” And that’s precisely what they’ve done. With a crystal-clear vision of that “every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science as part of their core K-12 education” and a strategic approach that addresses systemic change through both advocacy and awareness, the organization has created a movement that’s reached millions of teachers and students globally.

A social impact framework

One of the areas that Code’s work is remarkably effective is on advocacy through a coalition approach. Now, if you’ve ever asked me about taking part in a coalition, I’ve probably retorted with “Why?” Why do you need this coalition? What problem are you solving by forming a coalition? What are the vision, goals, and outcomes you hope to achieve? Can you achieve the same results through different means? What is the exit strategy for the coalition? This is because I’ve seen coalitions wallow in ambiguity without these questions answered and yes, I may be a bit of a skeptic. But Code.org's continues to squelch my skepticism.

Code’s coalition on advocacy for computer science is a?hallmark?example of what a coalition can do when it has:

1. Clarity of vision – The coalition’s mission builds on the organization’s mission, but is specific around advocacy for policy change. And they map out those policies that are most effective to implement.

1. Informed with data – Code.org’s data map provides an accurate picture with data that’s relevant at the state level (scroll down to see it here) and a tracker as well as current legislation. All the data you need to support the coalition with easy to follow actionable next steps, but we’ll get there in a minute….
2. Resourced – This is not a side job for the organization, but is resourced from the nonprofit and from the organization’s committed to taking part in the coalition. The resources include people, and things like the data map, state fact sheets, easy to use and actionable resources.
3. Actionable – Members have actionable and tangible activities that they can do to contribute to the overall vision. Even the state fact sheets are actionable examples of what steps each state can do to unlock CS education in their state. Members can use these as they advocate on behalf of the coalition. Here’s an example.

5. Deeply important to all members and stakeholders – Each of the members has a vested interest in the results of the coalition.

And their results are noteworthy. As you can read on the?Code.org Advocacy Coalition one-pager...

“Since the start of the Code.org Advocacy Coalition, members, partners, and the computer science community have enacted CS policies in 49 states, including over $100 million in state funding allocated toward these efforts.”

Noodle on this...

What do you look for in creating or joining a coalition? Suppose you’re part of one, thinking about starting or iterating a coalition approach - How can you leverage Code.org’s approach and components to create an effective coalition? How might you create clarity all the way through to the action of the members so that you clearly can show results on the topic you care most about? And how might you contribute to furthering CS education by joining Code.org’s Advocacy Coalition?

Delivering effectively through partnership is hard, and Code.org's advocacy coalition has many of the components of an effective approach to support the members to create change together.

Here's to investing in and creating change together - have a good weekend!

Andrea

P.S. Kevin just shared with me that his latest organization Mentors in Tech (MinT) offered over 2,200 mentoring sessions this past school year and you can see some of these stories on the MinT LinkedIn page. Incredible!!!

P.S.S. I pen "The Friday Change" to spark change in social impact by sharing frameworks to develop strategy, models to scale up programs, partnerships to deliver effectively, and insights to learn and innovate. Underpinned with optimism, curiosity, and lightheartedness... while holding myself accountable to posting on Fridays.?