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The Decatur-based nonprofit startup Code/Out, partnered with Atlanta-based brand experience consultancy Arke, is working to teach women in Georgia’s prisons about coding and entering the technology space in Georgia.

Code/Out is a non-profit group that provides coding education to Georgia’s female inmate population in order to help the women find jobs, reduce the technology gap and break high rates of recidivism.

 

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According to a Code/Out press release, the group is also recruiting other tech organizations into a coalition that ensures pathways to gainful employment and a thriving wage to those who complete the Code/Out program.

“This alliance is a win-win for Georgia’s prison system, women in prison and the broader professional tech services community,” Chris Spears, co-founder and chief marketing technology officer at Arke, said. “We’re proud to help Code/Out with this initiative and I am hopeful other organizations in the technology space will get involved too.”

Recently, Code/Out received a hardware grant from Microsoft consisting of 10 laptop computers. This hardware enables the program to go into Georgia’s institutions to teach with minimal reliance on the state or its resources.

“Most of these women in prison are willing and capable individuals that just need the right education and opportunity to do something different,” Hannah Hill, executive director at Code/Out, said. “In the United States, tech opportunities are more than double the national average. In Atlanta alone, there was an increase of 7.7 percent in the technology industry in 2015, or 5,240 new jobs. The time is now for this initiative.”

Classes can begin as early as the last week in July, and the program will be launched in the Metro Transitional Center located in south Atlanta. For more information, click here.

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