Benefit Builds Tech Chops
The fifth annual benefit for All Star Code, an organization that helps African-American and Latino boys attain the skills, networks, and mind-sets to succeed in computer science and coding, happens on Saturday evening at the East Hampton residence of Loida Lewis.
To date, around 300 boys have gone through All Star Code’s six-week “summer intensive” boot camp program, hosted by tech companies, financial institutions, and other entities, such as Facebook, Cisco, Bond Collective, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Oath, and MLB Advanced Media.
The program introduces them to essential web development skills while cultivating an entrepreneurial mind-set and a network of peers. Ninety-five percent of participants have matriculated to four-year colleges, more than one-third of which are universities ranked in the top 100. Most of the students ultimately major in computer science or a related field.
The organization recently expanded to Pittsburgh and will soon expand farther, said Christina Lewis, All Star Code’s founder and director. “It’s really about inspiring people,” she said this week. Ms. Lewis is the daughter of Loida and the late Reginald Lewis, the first African-American to build a billion-dollar company, as chairman and chief executive of TLC Beatrice International Holdings.
“Getting, keeping, and getting promoted in that first job, there are challenges in each stage in the pipeline,” Ms. Lewis said. “Success is not assured.” Fifty-five percent of All Star Code participants, she said, are the first of their family to attend college, and African-American and Latinos are dramatically underrepresented in the tech sector.
As in years past, Saturday’s fund-raiser will feature demonstrations of products and programs created by All Star Code students. The evening will also feature a cocktail hour, dinner catered by the chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem, an auction, and a “fireside chat.”
Honorees at this year’s benefit include Van Jones, the CNN correspondent, author, and founder and president of the nonprofit organization Dream Corps, one initiative of which is called #YesWeCode. “I was really thrilled when he agreed to be honored,” Ms. Lewis said.
Also to be honored is Reshma Saujani, the founder and chief executive officer of Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. The journalist and author Soledad O’Brien, who co-founded the PowHERful Foundation, which helps young women attend and graduate from college, will serve as master of ceremonies.
Mr. Samuelsson, an honorary co-chairman of the benefit, will also be honored. David Dinkins, former mayor of New York City, is expected to attend.
Tickets to the benefit are still available and can be purchased at allstarcodebenefit.org.