This month, Hopeworks Web Associate Hien Nguyen began giving back to the community with her new skills by volunteering with Girl Develop It’s Up Program to teach web development to incarcerated women! Hien is a teaching assistant in the program while their Hopeworks supervisor and Web Director, Billimarie Lubiano Robinson, is teaching coding in the UP Program.
UP - Unlocking Potential of Underserved Women - began as a pilot program in December 2017 with funding from Capital One and Barclays. For the past year, GDI’s UP Program team has been going into Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution (BWCI) in New Castle, DE to teach beginner web development classes.
With limited access to relevant professional development, incarcerated women have the most to gain from learning 21st-century skills, especially web development, in order to provide them with more opportunities when they reenter society and the workforce. This innovative program was established to assist incarcerated women to: increase knowledge and awareness of technology, acquire coding and web development skills, enhance self-efficacy; and build confidence, hope, and an openness to try new things.
GDI believes that “teaching incarcerated women is fully aligned with our mission to provide accessible and judgment-free opportunities for diverse women from all backgrounds interested in learning web and software development...Among women prisoners, research shows that the rates of recidivism are high. Our goal is to support the students who return to society by welcoming them into our nearby communities to help them continue their learning and to get involved in a network they wouldn’t otherwise be aware of.”
Hopeworks is so proud the Web team and their desire to help others take control of their futures.
Learn more about this program on this GDI blog post from their first cohort in 2017.
We are thrilled to announce that Jayden Vazquez, a dedicated Hopeworks young professional, has successfully earned his high school diploma! After months of rigorous testing and studying, Jayden has reached this significant milestone, demonstrating incredible perseverance and commitment. We couldn't be prouder of his achievement and look forward to seeing what amazing things he will […]
Harrisburg, PA – The Shapiro Administration today announced nearly $4.9 million in grants to 50 community organizations throughout Pennsylvania for programs to improve digital literacy among job seekers so they can be successful in finding, obtaining, and maintaining employment. In this round of digital-literacy funding – the fifth since 2021 – the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) has awarded grants […]
Junior joined Hopeworks at the end of last year with an interest in tech and marketing, wanting to collaborate and make connections! During this time, he has completed the training, successfully completed an internship in the GIS department, and grown his soft skills and technical skills tremendously. Junior has previous experience with a marketing internship […]
