Donate to AddisCoder!

In 2011, as a graduate student Jelani Nelson founded the AddisCoder course on algorithms and coding for high schoolers in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Since then the course has been offered twice more, and this summer it will occur again for the fourth time. Over 330 students have completed the course, and some of its alumni are now students in top institutions in the U.S., Ethiopia, and all over the world. I was a lecturer in this course in 2016 and will be again this summer (together with Jelani, Timnit Gebru, and Daniel Kang).

The students in AddisCoder come from all over Ethiopia, and many have never considered computer science as a potential field of study or even touched a computer. Once when meeting an alum, I asked whether he enjoyed the course. He told me that he didn’t just enjoy it, it was a lifechanging experience for him, and I believe the same holds for many other graduates.

The reason for this post is that AddisCoder is now a tax-exempt non profit organization, which you can donate to through our website. It is a fairly lean operation, but funds are needed for travel of teaching staff (with TA’s that come from all over the world). Please consider supporting AddisCoder yourself (any amount helps!), and forward this information to any friends or colleagues. If you work for a company that might be interested in supporting AddisCoder, you can contact Jelani at the email minilek+addiscoder@gmail.com .