Apple has announced plans to collaborate with Dream Corps on educational and workforce development programs for young people, as part of its Community Education Initiative.
The new partnership will sit atop Dream Corps’ #YesWeCode scheme, designed to encourage young women and men from underrepresented backgrounds to find success in the tech sector.
According to Dream Corps, #YesWeCode has a 60 percent job placement.
In a statement, Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, said that the company was “thrilled about launching this new initiative in Oakland” and that Apple hoped to “bring expertise, stakeholders and resources together” to “magnify the already impressive impact that Dream Corps is having in the Bay Area and across the nation and help a new generation of young people realize their potential”.
As part of the new collaboration, Apple will provide hardware and professional support as well as curriculum guidance to students in middle/high schools, colleges, and beyond.
Participants of the scheme will be able to develop a number of key skills and use tools that can enhance their career prospects, particularly coding using the Swift language.
Vien Truong, CEO of Dream Corps, said in a statement that it was “making sure that we can help support people who lived or grew up in communities like mine. And this partnership with Apple will help unlock the untapped genius and talent within those communities, which will allow a new generation to achieve their dreams.”
Apple and Dream Corps’ coding programming will launch later this year in the Bay Area, and additional schemes and opportunities are planned across the United States in partnerships and collaborations.
Apple continues to offer its own educational programming at its Apple Stores, however, these classes are limited and are available on a first come first serve basis.