Kids Code Jeunesse Annual Report: 2016-2017

In 2013 Kids Code Jeunesse started with a five year mission to provide the opportunity to learn to code for every child in Canada. We wanted to make sure that every child was given the tools needed to communicate, express and invent whatever it was that came to their imagination! We wanted to do the thing that would give children the most opportunities possible to build their world. And we knew it was going to be by bringing code into Canadian elementary schools and their surrounding communities.

We wanted to show young girls that code was a powerful means of expression and to show boys that girls were just as capable to code. We wanted to convince teachers that they could not only learn to code and learn to teach it, but learn to love it. We knew we wouldn’t be able to do it alone. So we reached out to governments, private sponsors, the educational system and national and international non-profits to take this crazy idea of making sure every child had the opportunity to learn to code, reality.

In 2017 I attended two important events. First, the Raspberry Pi birthday in Cambridge, UK, where I worked with education leaders from over 12 countries to share and learn about approaches to teaching children in our respective countries. And, secondly, the International Scratch Conference where I have presented 3 workshops with Dr Margarida Romero on computational thinking and assessment, creativity and code, and physical computing to teachers from over 20 different countries. And an absolute highlight of the conference was to meet and talk with Mitch Resnick, the creator of Scratch.

None of this would have been possible without the support from thousands of volunteers and forward thinking companies, like Vigilant Global and Ubisoft, who have been with us from the beginning. We would not have been able to make big impact without funding from corporations like Microsoft, SAP, and Google; or develop content and grow our organization with support from CIRA and NSERC.

In June, along with our Canadian non-profit partners Actua and Ladies Learning Code we celebrated the launch of CanCode, a $50 million commitment by the federal government to join us in making sure that Canadian children are equipped with the 21st century skills they need to succeed. As we imagine our future goals and challenges we have every reason to believe that Canada can be a world leader in nurturing our most precious resource, our curious, bright and creative children. Thank you for all of your support. There is much to look forward to in the coming years!

Download our full Annual Report to read more about our busy year!