Blackbaud hosts statewide ‘SC Codes’ launch
On April 10, Blackbaud’s global headquarters on Daniel Island hosted the launch party for SC Codes, a program that connects South Carolinians interested in learning to code with free curriculum and mentors who can provide the skills they need.
“They [new programmers] can get a little bit of a deeper understanding of what opportunities are there for someone who has these skills,” said SC Codes Executive Director Lelia King.
At the launch event, Blackbaud Executive Vice President and Chief Products Officer Kevin McDearis showed excitement at hosting SC Codes for the day.
“As a consumer of technology, it’s our privilege to do anything to promote STEM education,” said McDearis. “STEM is a passion of mine and I feel very strongly about promoting technology across the state and building the state as a tech hub. In fact, our new global headquarters was actually built with that purpose in mind.”
“South Carolina is not currently known for our advanced workforce when it comes to technology and we need to be, and not just in our tech fields, but in all of the related fields: manufacturing, aerospace, and healthcare,” King told The Daniel Island News after the event. “Everything relies on technology.”
“STEM education equips them [students] with the skills they need to think critically, develop analytical and problem solving skills, learn how to deal with abstract concepts, and develop collaboration and communication skills,” McDearis added.
SC Codes is funded by the South Carolina Department of Commerce.
“For the last six years, the Department of Commerce has gotten involved in growing the innovation in the tech based entrepreneurial business environment of South Carolina,” said S.C. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Jennifer Fletcher. “Last September, we announced SC Codes, a new statewide program designed to provide free code education to all South Carolina residents.”
Fletcher claimed that “improving digital literacy will be the key to our state’s ability to compete in the global economy in all aspects.”
“I’m glad that our state is putting forth some emphasis on programming education,” said King about the support from the Department of Commerce. “We can’t afford to wait for our entire educational system to catch up to where we need to be when it comes to technology.”
InterTech Group CEO Anita Zucker said that SC Codes was an amazing addition to South Carolina because of its ability to teach.
“Critical thinking skills are so important, not only to the field of technology and industry, but to every single job in everyday life,” Zucker observed.
Nina Magnesson, Executive Director of Charleston Women in Tech, stated that SC Codes is a “tremendous response” to problems the state has experienced with a lack of employees for tech jobs.
“This universally available, previous cost prohibited curriculum will also allow more people in South Carolina access to tech careers, enabling us to reach much needed diversity goals in our industry,” said Magnesson.
SC Codes began as a pilot program in 2016 at a Greenville, South Carolina library. The South Carolina Department of Commerce became interested in 2018, using the data collected to expand the program across the state, officially launching last week.
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential in this program,” said King.
SC Codes is just getting started, and while they don’t have specific milestones they are aiming for next, they know what their broad objective is.
“Really the goal of SC Codes is to remove barriers to programming education for people, whether that’s because they don’t have access to people who work in this field, or they don’t have access to great technology teachers,” explained King.
For additional information, visit https://www.sccodes.org.