Programs
Program Offerings
hustle: Tech Foundations
June 12th - August 31st, 2023
Hustle into tech with an introduction to foundational tech skills and career pathways at Hack the Hood.
This program will teach you the fundamentals of Python and Github, core skills in software development, and give you a primary understanding of data types, and UX basics. The Hustle program balances lectures, career exposure panels with industry professionals, peer-to-peer learning, video tutorials, and workshops that will help you begin to see yourself in tech.
To bring your new skills to life, our unique #Tech4Justice curriculum will help ground your technical learning in current social justice topics and help you explore how to build solutions to social problems using technology. You will also have the opportunity to design a website for a local small business to build your portfolio, create positive impact in your community, and work on your professional development and consulting skills.
A $500 learning stipend and free laptop are provided to support your journey. Discover the opportunities that await you as you Hustle your way into a career in tech.
-No prior tech knowledge is required.
build: Data Science
June 12th - August 31st, 2023
Leverage your Python skills to learn about data science and how to identify, solve and answer problems using data and Build up your tech hustle! This program is for Hustle program alumni and learners with existing programming skills in Python from self learning, AP CS courses, or other coding programs. Build is designed to expose you to the data science process and help advance your skills in this critical area of technology. The Build program balances lectures, career exposure panels with industry professionals, peer-to-peer learning, video tutorials, and workshops that will help you see yourself in tech.
Our unique #Tech4Justice curriculum will help ground your technical learning in current social justice topics and empower you to explore how to build solutions to social problems using technology. You will complete a data analysis project for a small business or nonprofit to connect the data science process to practical solutions. This project will also contribute to your tech portfolio to show off their skills to potential employers.
A $500 learning stipend and free laptop are provided to support your journey into your tech career pathway.
drive: Your Career Pathway
2023 - 2024
Drive your career into tech! This exciting and intensive year-long program is designed to help you secure a certification or associate’s degree, get internship ready, and navigate your career pathway in tech. You will be supported with a free laptop, a $400 monthly learning stipend, mentorship, monthly career development workshops, a community of support, and opportunities for bonus payments!
The Drive program is a hybrid of Hack the Hood’s Tech for Justice curriculum, technical content, career pathway exposure and development, and Laney College College courses. The Drive program will bring you up to speed with an introduction or continuation of your existing programming skills in Python, expose you to the data science process and help advance your skills in critical areas of technology. From beginning to end, the Hack the Hood team and our partners at Laney will support you to enroll in Laney college, understand and complete the FAFSA, and persist toward your goals.
The Drive program is a big commitment, but a clear and direct path to obtaining a certification or associate degree in Computer Information Systems, as well as an internship or apprenticeship. This is your chance to find your lane and Drive your career forward!
Potential careers pathways after completion include but are not limited to Data Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, and Software Engineer.
Tech Justice + Technical Skill-Building Approach
Grounded in justice, our curriculum is meant to provide an intentional and conscious introduction to challenges within the tech industry that Black and Brown learners are likely to encounter. It also helps them apply a social justice perspective to design, development and deconstruction of technical solutions and career pathways.
This tech justice curricula component makes Hack the Hood unique. The focus is on projects and an educational approach that emphasizes social justice tech solutions that are for and by the community. The tech justice curriculum content provides an introduction to social justice topics that arise within the tech industry and positions learners to take informed action.
Topics include:
Bobby Shmurda and Hip Hop Economies: Explore the impact of the arrest, conviction and release of NYC rapper Bobby Shmurda on Black, Brown and Immigrant economies that rely on hip hop.
Combating Homelessness with University Basic Income: Explore data collection, analysis perspectives, and data visualization and how social service solutions impact assessment.
Our programs' technical curriculum will focus on teaching participants junior-level software engineering skills within the most popular programming languages and frameworks. In 2023, we will focus on delivering programs using Python.
What Students Will Learn:
The aim of this program is to expose students to both socio-technical issues and skills to support their intersectional tech identity development through discussion based learning, technical skill development and mentoring exposure with mentors from supporting companies and communities. Each week will be structured around the four components of our curriculum framework:
Technical content - essential Python coding skills, introduction to and skill building in software development
Social Justice and Community - weekly socio-technical problem exploration
Intersectional Tech Identity Development - career and education exploration and mentorship
Practical skill demonstration - development of a simple portfolio and presentations by learners.
After completing the Data Science Foundations program, participants will be able to:
Apply a social-justice perspective to the design, development and deconstruction of technical solutions.
Apply fundamental coding skills to simple software development
Communicate with and about human-centered technical problems and possibilities
Differentiate pathway types for further tech career development among bootcamps, associate degree programs, 4-year institutions and self-taught career options
The aim is that each learner will complete the program with a portfolio of projects to demonstrate their learning and skills. Of most importance, learners will be exposed to a breadth of socio-technical topics and technical exposure to develop their own technical career pathway.
Weekly Summer Schedule
June 12th to August 4th
Structured Lectures:
Mon and Thur from 10 - 12:30pm PST
Group Work:
Tuesday or Wednesday
10am-12pm, 1pm-3pm, or 4pm-6pm (you choose)
August 4th - August 31st
Final Project: Meet w/ your group and TA once a week to finish your project (you and your group choose the time)
August 31st
Hybrid Graduation: in person and virtual
What Students will learn:
The aim of this program is to expose students to both socio-technical issues and skills to support their intersectional tech identity development through discussion based learning, technical skill development, professional skill development, and career awareness via panels with mentors from tech companies and communities. Each week will be structured around the four components of our curriculum framework:
Technical content - essential Python coding skills, introduction to and skill building in data science and analytics.
Social Justice and Community - weekly socio technical problem exploration that discusses ethics in tech design. This session will focus on data activism and Jim Code.
Jim Code: Dr. Ruha Benjamin coined the phrase The New Jim Code in the subtitle of her bestselling and foundational tech ethics book Race After Technology. This theme in our curriculum provides learners an overview of some of the examples and use cases in Race After Technology. Learners will be exposed to some of the technologies that have been strategically used to disadvantage communities of color and will deconstruct these technologies from both a social and technical perspective.
Data Activism: Leveraging data and data skills to address social justice issues and concerns is a skill that learners will begin to develop in this series of modules in our socio-technical curriculum. Learners will be exposed to many examples of technologists and activists who have gathered, analyzed or amplified data to address a topic of community concern.
Intersectional Tech Identity Development - weekly career exploration and mentorship with tech professionals as well as professional skills development through workshops.
Practical skill demonstration - development of a simple portfolio of coding and data samples via weekly assignments and presentations by learners.
After completing the build: Data Science Foundations program, participants will be able to:
Apply a social-justice perspective to the design, development and deconstruction of technical solutions.
Apply fundamental coding skills to address simple data science problems and develop core data analysis and engineering skills with an emphasis on data collection, analysis and visualization for social justice.
Communicate with and about human-centered technical problems and possibilities.
Differentiate pathway types for further tech career development among bootcamps, associate degree programs, 4-year institutions and self-taught career options.
The aim is that each learner will complete the program with a portfolio of projects to demonstrate their learning and skills. Of most importance, learners will be exposed to a breadth of socio-technical topics and technical exposure to develop their own technical career pathway.
Weekly Summer Schedule
June 12th to August 4th
Structured Lectures:
Mon and Thur from 10 - 12:30pm PST
Group Work:
Tuesday or Wednesday
10am-12pm, 1pm-3pm, or 4pm-6pm (you choose)
August 4th - August 31st
Final Project: Meet w/ your group and TA once a week to finish your project (you and your group choose the time)
August 31st
Hybrid Graduation: in person and virtual
drive: Laney CIS 2022 Program
We are so excited to announce the opening of our drive: Laney CIS 2022 Program! Hack the Hood is partnering with Laney Community College in Oakland, CA to provide learners with support and career exposure on their pathway towards a Computer Information Systems Associates Degree and/or Certificate.
12-month paid program will offer learners:
The potential to earn up to $6,000 to support you as they pursue their degree
The opportunity to join a like-minded, supportive cohort of other early-career BIPOC youth passionate about leveraging tech for social justice
Mentorship from someone already working in tech who can help learners network, refine their tech skills, and set their career vision
Professional development workshops hosted in partnership with leading tech companies to help learners level up their resume, job search, and coding skills
Support in enrolling and beginning an Associate’s Degree and/or Certificate in Computer Information Systems program at Laney Community College, including help with finding financial aid and priority enrollment for classes
Who is eligible for this program?
Black, Latinx, AAPI, and Indigenous high school graduates from 2020, 2021 and 2022 graduating seniors.
After completing the drive Laney 12-month program:
Learners will have the opportunity to continue courses to finish their Associates Degree and/or Certification, or transfer to a 4- year College or University. Learners will also have support to apply to and pursue paid internships in the tech industry that can help them build their skills and launch their career.
Back to Program Offerings
Our Education Philosophy
Our tech education programs are free and focused on exploring foundational technical skills through a justice lens.
As a participant, you will build these skills while engaging in discussions about social justice and examining the impact of technology on our communities.
Each tech education program includes:
$500 learning stipend
FREE laptop to engage in each session
FREE Hack the Hood swag
Opportunity to develop strong relationships with a peer community
Eligibility Requirements:
Commitment to attend all sessions
Be actively engaged in classes
Be 16-25 years of age