There at the Beginning: Resilient Coders

David Delmar Sentíes had neither a solution nor a goal when he started Resilient Coders—just a clear idea about the problem: Almost all software engineers in the workplace in Boston and nationally are white and recruited from colleges. He created Resilient Coders to train young people of color with no or limited college experience for high-growth careers as software engineers, then connect them with jobs. The nonprofit spent some time embedded in high schools and correctional institutes, then briefly ran a summer program. In 2015, it transitioned to a full-time workforce development bootcamp which teaches technical and life skills that prepare students for work in the high tech sector. That same year, the Boston Foundation made an unrestricted operating grant to Resilient Coders to support its free bootcamps, Today, 45 people a year emerge from the bootcamps ready to work. They are the living embodiment of the organization’s belief in social justice through economic empowerment. 

The Boston Foundation has been There at the Beginning with critical early funding for more than 100 great ideas and new nonprofits.