This summer, NewTechKids collaborated with the Amsterdam Public Library and Maakplaats021 to make our summer camps accessible to children from low-income families.
As part of the City of Amsterdam’s Midzomer Mokum event series, we taught a series of six, weekly tech bootcamps for kids ages 8-12. With funding from the Library, we offered heavily-subsidized places to kids with a Stadspas, a card which helps people with low incomes or on state pensions access arts, culture and events.
The result: 30% of the children we taught this summer were from low-income families. Of these, 65% were non-white Dutch and/or children from immigrant families living outside of central Amsterdam. Thirty-five percent of these kids were girls.
At NewTechKids, we’re big believers in integration. We teach mixed gender classes. We enjoy teaching children from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. We enjoy teaching children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Because this is the only way to ensure we build a tech talent pipeline which is diverse and inclusive.
There’s a lot of discussion in the Netherlands about how children with a non-Dutch background and children from low-income communities suffer disproportionate inequality in education which limits their study, career and economic opportunities.
More concrete steps have to be taken to make future-proof education and tech skills available to every child in the Netherlands, not just those whose parents have the resources.
Reach out if you represent an organization or company interested in supporting NewTechKids to make our tech programs available to kids from low-income families.