We're going to teach 1000 people to code

So we're going to teach 1000 people in Niagara to code in one day.

I'm not sure how we'll manage the logistics yet. I'm not sure what we'll be able to teach in that short period of time. Is it even possible? I don't know. But we're going to do it.

But I do know this; getting that many people together and showing them how to unlock their future prosperity is a powerful thing. Friendships will be formed, investments in each others' success deposited.

That light won't click for everyone, but for those who it does, their lives will never be the same.

Continue to watch here as the story unfolds.

Current problem? How to set up the event

I first thought we could find some big places to do a few large events. Turns out there's nothing outside of the university that is large enough and set up in such a way.

I won't rule it out, but my gut tells me that the University is the wrong place to do this. As a grassroots/community initiative, we need to be in spaces that are more accessible and friendly (this is totally the wrong wording, but I'm at a loss for the right ones given so little time). This might be about community education, but it's far more about the community than it is about the formal education part.

That's why I'm looking at libraries, YMCAs, and DSBN facilities for the moment. I think there's a place for the University in all this, but not as the primary space. If anyone has contacts in these organizations, please let me know via twitter.

Why are you all going to teach 1000 people to code?

Because as far as I can see, it's never been done before. Making a course that's accessible enough to be taught in one day helps find people who might never have considered programming as an interest figure it out.

Most importantly, it tells the story of Niagara. It tells the story of how, as a community, we consistently punch above our weight class. It tells the story of how people still give a rat's ass here in Niagara and are doing awesome things despite the backseat drivers and cultural complacency plaguing the Niagara region. It illustrates the entrepreneurial core of the Region by showing that even when everyone else has given up, including many of our citizens, that we are still capable of reaching down, pulling ourselves up, and reinventing ourselves in ways that aren't possible anywhere else.