WKSU Stories

Cleveland Partners with Coding Program To Offer Tech Training to Low-Income Residents

Ideastream Public Media | By Anna Huntsman

Published December 12, 2018 at 4:36 PM EST

The first program offered from the Kent State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University partnership will be a Health-System Pharmacy Administration degree.

Low-income residents in Cleveland have an opportunity to get training for good-paying jobs in the tech industry.

The city of Cleveland is partnering with We Can Code IT, which trains adults from all incomes and backgrounds for coding and IT jobs.

“Technology is where people need to be,” said Mel McGee, founder and CEO of We Can Code IT. “We can’t leave people behind, and that’s what’s going on right now.”

A $200,000 grant from The Cleveland Foundation will partially cover tuition and registration for 30 adults who get accepted into the program. They must be city residents who are either low-to-middle income or live in one of five targeted neighborhoods (see map)<

McGee said the agency will connect with neighborhood leaders and organizations to get the word out to potential applicants.

Founder and CEO of We Can Code IT Mel McGee

“We seek them out…to find those folks who are smart, and ready, and hardworking and capable, and can make it through the program. We want to see folks who really haven’t had a lot of opportunity, but have a lot of heart. And a lot of brains,” she said. “We want to help them get started in something they didn’t think they’d be able to have the opportunity to do.”

We Can Code IT will hold an information session on January 3^rd in their offices in Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland. You can sign up for the session here. Interested applicants should send an email to admissions@wecancodeit.org.