In what has been an amazing opportunity, our award-winning program, the 21st Century Youth Project has teamed up with the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago for our Girls in Fashion Tech Series, a series of 13-week programs combining web and mobile programming, hardware development for “wearable” technology, and some 3D printing, culminating into a fashion show. 

We couldn’t be more excited about this collaboration, as an opportunity to work with more girls in tech, have fun, and team up with the YWCA, led by CEO Dorri McWhorter. The YWCA has done some very innovative programming with their TechgGYRLS program and we’re excited to add an additional layer. More details are coming soon.

IF you’d like to learn more, volunteer, partner, or help in any capacity, feel free to contact us.

About TechGYRLS

TechGYRLS provides middle school girls with opportunities for intensive exploration of technology. This highly successful and fun program broadens girls’ knowledge and helps them develop confidence in using technology. Furthermore, it helps girls envision career opportunities in technology that await them. TechGYRLS is a 14-week after-school program and also offered during the summer as a day camp with a different theme each 2-week session that incorporates science, life skills, recreation and technology.

About the 21st Century Youth Project

The 21st Century Youth Project (www.21CYP.com) teaches technology as a path to opportunity. It is a free comprehensive program that prepares low-income middle and high school students for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) careers. The program focuses on improving skills today (through immersive teaching and tutoring), tomorrow (through coaching and mentoring), and the future (through internship placement and Alumni Community), with an entrepreneurial focus. Key deliverables for student participants are creation of mobile (Google Android, iPhone, iPad etc.) and web apps for accompanying business plans, accrual of college credits and case studies on their resumes and digital portfolios because of hands-on tangible skills gained through internship placements.

I’ll be honest, I’m far from being recognized as a fashion maven. Give me a pair of gym shoes, a polo/t-shirt, and some jeans, and I feel well-dressed. But, no one can deny that technology is reaching into new and exciting areas. You can’t be in tech and not notice the number of “smart clothes” that are entering the market, blurring the line between what is considered purely fashion, or just tech. In fact, event at Fashion Week, tech stole the show.There are smart shoes, which send data to your smartphone, undergarmets which can measure heart rate, and even high-tech jackets that are more like full-functional computers than windbreakers. 

In our latest 21st Century Open Hack, our phenomenal instructor, Kris Roberts demoed a hoodie that could be lit and was fully programmable. It received an amazing response from the young girls who participated. That was our aha moment! As with many organizations and programs, we’d love to have more girls participate and reap the benefits of our program. We’re not saying that every girl has to be into fashion OR enter our program only on this track, but the point is, we thought we could enter a completely new avenue of interest (and growth), particularly among young girls, that have a keen interest in fashion as well as technology. Every young woman can still signup for our regular OpenHack at Cibola without having to pursue the fashion track! And if all goes well, and we have interest from young men, we may have a separate track, but for right now, we’re only piloting this with young women.

The challenge of encouraging students to learn something outside of school, is making it unlike traditional school. We must capitalize on the areas that interests the students the most and then use that as an opportunity to provide those transferrable skills. In response to the need of specific education programs designed to teach and train youth what could be called “Fashion Tech”, the 21st Century Youth Project has created a new series of courses. In essence, young girls (who already have an interest in fashion and/or technology) will be instructed in sewing, design, and software programming, culminating with a fashion show displaying the students wear-able designs and lessons learned.

The basic idea is to teach these students how they might be able to create fully-functional and “wear-able” pieces of technology. Not only is this a great opportunity for them to truly open up their imagination to new and exciting possibilities, it’s also a chance to learn real-world skills. 

Currently, the program is slated to start on Saturday, April the 6th and will run until May the 4th. Afterwards, there will be a presentation/fashion show on May 9th. To sign up, go here. It costs just $30 total for the five weeks (yes, just $6/week for materials) and we’re limiting the class size to the first twenty that sign up.

Here’s a link to our press release.

Here’s our instructor, Kris

About Kris: 

We, Cibola, a technology an entrepreneurship incubator in the Pilsen community have started to build out more of our programs, adding value to our community. We are aiming to embrace all forms of entrepreneurship, from web and mobile based technology, to filmmaking. 

Update #1: Game Development Courses

Several weeks ago, we announced here that Code Chicago, courses in web and mobile technology are now offered at Cibola. Today, we’re informing everyone that we will also offer game development courses as well. Led by James “Quake” Cottrell III, an adjunct professor at several colleges and universities in Chicago, the course, Game Design 101: 3D Modeling using Maya, designed for beginners, is a comprehensive course that will cover the basics of modeling in Maya, focusing on three basic modeling types: polygonal nurbs, and Sub-D modeling. The course will focus on making twelve video game assets to populate a game, and focus on one detailed weapon. As with the other courses, these courses will be one of a sequence of courses. The 21st Century Youth Project will now be offering game development courses as well!

Update #2: Entrepreneur Fellows Program

The Cibola Entrepreneur Fellows Program (or, EFP) was created in an effort to directly engage current college students (majoring in any field of study), or participants over 18 years of age interested in entrepreneurial learning.  Aside from promoting group-based problem solving and creative thinking, the program also seeks to connect these students with a myriad of successful entrepreneurs, which will serve as both teachers as well as mentors. The EFP will be a 12-week program, hosted at the Cibola Tech Incubator, and seeks to provide a bridge between theories, real-world practices and emerging opportunities. The students will develop their own business plan and at the end of the program, will have a pitch/demo day of their concepts. To apply, go here .

Update #3: Cibola Gaming League

In knowing the strong correlation between programmers, entrepreneurs, and techies, we wanted to do something fun within Cibola. We decided to put together the Cibola Gaming League, a regular set of gaming tournaments in everything from Mortal Kombat, NBA 2K13, Madden, and Halo 4.Our first tournament is March 16th. If interested, please sign up!

Update #4: Chicago Film Institute

Starting in June, the Chicago Film Institute will offer “conservatory” programs in filmmaking. The first conservatory module begins in early June and will last 10 weeks culminating with the collaborative shooting of the film project . Another 24 week module will start in early September. For more information on the conservatory please visit our website at Chicagofilminstitute.org or come to Cibola (1647 S. Blue Island Ave.) on March 9th for a Chicago Film Meet-up to talk more about the program and network with local filmmakers and artists.

As Chicago residents, we realized that the local film industry, in conjunction with business, technology, and government industries must find ways in which Chicago can operate in the rapidly evolving film landscape. The summer conservatory, which will operate out of my technology and entrepreneurship incubator, Cibola, will bring a blended, university-quality, collaborative education to those often unable to access the benefits of traditional arts instruction. Each cohort will create a high-quality, IMDb qualifying film project that will be steps above the typical student film. By combining both exceptional education and professional production in an affordable and supportive environment, the Chicago Film Institute will give Chicagoans an opportunity to learn and create to build a digital portfolio. As far as why this is particularly important for the tech space, we will have film tech hackathons (hardware and software) integrated into the program, as well as 48-hour film competitions, training our cohort on how to use all of the media forms to tell stories. The  beautiful aspect of being at Cibola is that we’re embracing all of the forms of entrepreneurship, digital and traditional, but combining the collective powers of both, we believe this is the key to true innovation and collaboration.

We aim for a diverse cohort with diverse interests, tackling first-person narratives to social change documentaries. The first conservatory module begins in early June and will last 10 weeks, culminating with the collaborative shooting of the film project. Another 24 week module will start in early September. We’re having a meetup on March 9th to discuss the program and network with local filmmakers and artists. Go to our website to find out more details. To apply, go here

One of the important niches that our technology and entrepreneurship incubator, Cibola, aims to fill, is in the diversity of interests and backgrounds of our members. As a Co-Founder of the Chicago International Social Change Film Festival, the 21st Century Youth Project, and a founding board member of Depaul University’s Social Enterprise Collective, I have had an unique opportunity to view many different amazing business models in affecting change. I’ve also had an opportunity to learn about many of the trends with people (especially recent grads) looking for sustainable ways to make the world a better place. 

Additionally, with several of our Cibola members running social enterprises, the number of upcoming social and civic hacks that we have planned, and the social change films we have screened at Cibola, we’d miss a tremendous opportunity if we didn’t provide a program to stimulate social change in our local communities. There are some amazing programs and accelerators in Chicago that provide a platform for change, and we wanted to focus on social enterprises that could provide jobs, opportunity, education, and value only for the low-income communities of Chicago. We don’t have to go far to see the number of communities that have unemployment numbers 2-3 times the average of the city, but we have to go far to find social enterprises like Sweet Beginnings, that have taken an innovative approach to providing jobs, opportunities, and training to a demographic that is in desperate need of innovative tools and solutions. 

By focusing on concepts like long-term business model sustainability and learning to network with potential investors, it is hoped that businesses located within low-income areas will become empowered.  Naturally, the ultimate goal behind this endeavor is to create a sort of grass-roots business initiative that teaches individuals within communities how to build and maintain commerce in the face of strict conditions.

We feel the Social Enterprise Innovation Center will be a champion of innovative approches to improving communities, utilizing the strengths of Cibola: technology (via Code Chicago and our civic hacks) and people development, combined with a dynamic curiculum and advisors who will help these organizations meet their objectives. We don’t have all of the answers, but we feel that by building a cohort of innovative solutions, our local communities can be affected in a tangible way.

The formal training process will approximate a period of 4 to 6 months, and will culminate with a SEIC “Demo Day” event. During this time, participants have access to the Cibola Tech Incubator co-working space, exclusive events, student interns, valuable strategic advice (which will help them strengthen and build their organization), as well as the opportunity to cultivate ongoing business relationships and develop additional, previously unavailable resources.

To apply, go to http://seicenter.com/apply-now

If you’re interested in serving as an advisor, please do contact us as well.

We are having our kickoff event March 13 at DePaul University’s downtown campus (Room #8005). To RSVP, go here: We’re already at 90 RSVPs, so be sure to sign up before we run out of space.

…..

After some of the success we’ve had with the 21st Century Youth Project, we frequently receive requests to offer courses for college students and adult learners. Many people we’ve come in contact with have great app ideas, but need an instructor guiding them the throughout the process. Additionally, we have folks that want to become more technical, so they can work with folks that are. And lastly, we come into contact with people that are considering career changes or re-entering the workforce, and need tech skills to make that happen. In the past, we didn’t have a permanent space to call home, since we had been working with school districts and their facilities.

Now that we have a technology and entrepreneurship incubator, Cibola, we thought it was the perfect time to debut classes, Code Chicago. This dynamic educational series will provide a diverse group of participants with a chance to learn about what’s driving mobile Android, iOS, and web technologies. Through these 12-week courses ($1500/course), students will also receive a blended learning environment which consists of weekly (three hours per week) classes face-to-face, and supplemental instruction facillitated through the web. It will also be used to reinforce everything we cover in class.

Code Chicago is also devoted toward helping to develop what the organization itself sees as an “untapped market” regarding lowering barriers for those wanting relevant in-person instruction, and to the long-term potential of the students themselves. In addition to providing talented individuals with technical guidance, the program also seeks to help build up communities in and around the Chicago area. We hope this will enlarge the market of people that can affect change and solve problems in our communities, but also come out with cool apps that solve everyday problems for everyone. Our programs will be tightly integrated into our hackathons, meetups, weekly hack days, and our other entrepreneurship programs offered at Cibola. Last week, we had a Correctional Facility Data Camp, and we will strongly encourage our students to participate in these sort of events at Cibola and anywhere else they can have practical application.

We don’t view each “class” as an isolated class. We are offering a sequence of classes, in hopes that students continue to receive instruction, engage with the Cibola community, and work with our students of the 21st Century Youth Project and outside community. After our intro class, we’ll have an intermediate class, and see where this can go. This model helps us to continue to support and provide FREE classes with the 21st Century Youth Project.

Apply now at http://codechicago.com/apply-now

Coming soon to Cibola: classes in hardware, game design, and networking.

…….

For Immediate Release:

The 21^st Century Youth Project is engaging professional computer engineers from top Chicago-based companies

As part of its most recent endeavor (the OpenHack project), 21^stCYP is giving successful computer engineers a chance to make an impact while providing young techies with a great mentoring opportunity with the help of Groupon Chicago. 

 Monday, February 4^th 2013:

For many young, aspiring computer gurus, getting a chance to learn directly from experienced computer engineers (who are already major players in the industry) might be considered an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Ambitious middle and high school students in and around the Chicago area are soon going to be able to do just that, courtesy of the “OpenHack” project brought to us courtesy of the 21^st CYP (www.21CYP.com), and Groupon Chicago.

Just imagine being able to bring targeted training to the brightest and most enthusiastic students with an interest in computer engineering and web development.  In short, this is a great opportunity for the youth, who will undoubtedly gain great advantages through participation.  Likewise, this particular project will give computer engineers a forum for expressing their ideas and concepts to an eager audience who will most likely implement them in their future endeavors.  In other words, it’s a chance for successful computer wizards to give back, while at the same time being able to foster a community around their awe-inspiring ideas.

The group responsible for creating and initiating this ground-breaking educational program is the 21^st Century Youth Project.  They have received numerous awards (including the prestigious Edison Award) for their efforts and have led a number of highly successful projects with similar aims.   In short, these are very forward-thinking individuals who are taking steps at the ground level to ensure that children falling under somewhat previously underrepresented demographics get an opportunity to empower themselves through advanced education.  By partnering with Groupon, and focusing on the youth, they are providing them with an avenue, which they can use to share their gifts with the world and perhaps even become positive role models in their own right.

The 21^st Century Youth Project is slated to launch this amazing project on February 16^th, 2013.  Students who are interested in participating should sign up at http://tinyurl.com/b465we3.  The first meetings will be held on February 16th and March 9th (Saturdays) from 1-5pm at Cibola (tech incubator, 1647 South Blue Island Ave.) in the main classroom.  The Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, recently commended the founders’ of Cibola stating: “The technology sector in Chicago is a growing, crucial area that will have an enormous impact on the City’s economy in the future. I am pleased that organizations like Cibola are focused on improving the diversity of the sector and ensuring that as our economy grows it reflects the diversity and vibrancy of the city’s people.”  Currently, the plan is to have participating engineers talk about their career, ideas, projects, and develop a lesson plan from 1-2pm.  Then from 2-5pm, the students would work on the lesson materials in groups.  Furthermore, all lessons will be made available publicly through slideshare.net for access by students at a later date. The radio show Practically Speaking will be covering the event. Practically Speaking is a radio program (Vocalo 90.7, Chicago Public Media) that discusses issues that meet at the intersection of race, culture, and class in fresh and meaningful ways.

This is not only a great opportunity for middle school and high school students, it’s a chance for professional computer engineers to enrich their lives and add some very respectable credentials to their résumé’s as well.  The OpenHack project is also co-sponsoring “hackathons” with Cibola (which students and volunteers are urged to participate in as well) which will help them to build real-world skills which are highly sought-after by certain professional organizations.

Volunteers sign up at http://bit.ly/12nBA6q

About The 21st Century Youth Project

The 21st Century Youth Project (www.21CYP.com) teaches technology as a path to opportunity.  It is a free comprehensive program that prepares middle and high school students for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) careers.  The program focuses on improving skills today (through immersive teaching and tutoring), tomorrow (through coaching and mentoring), and the future (through internship placement and Alumni Community), with an entrepreneurial focus.  Key deliverables for student participants are creation of mobile (Google Android, iPhone, iPad etc.) and web apps for accompanying business plans, accrual of college credits and case studies on their resumes and digital portfolios because of hands-on tangible skills gained through internship placements.

Below is the press release:

MAYOR EMANUEL APPOINTS CHICAGO’S FIRST EVER TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY DIVERSITY COUNCIL

Proven Leaders in Chicago Technology Economy Will Bring Experience and Networks as Committee Will Help Generate Ideas to Promote Technology Economy for Minorities Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced that, for the first time in the City’s history, a council has been appointed for the sole purpose of creating opportunity for minorities in Chicago’s technology economy.
“Chicago’s technology economy is thriving, creating thousands of jobs and generating interest from around the world,” said Mayor Emanuel. “As we experience this unprecedented growth in this key sector, it is incumbent that the opportunities that are being developed are available for all Chicagoans and that the city’s technology community reflects the diversity and vitality of the city itself. These talented leaders will work directly with the technology community and my office to create innovative programs and new ideas
that will help expand the diversity and vibrancy of the technology economy throughout the City.”

The Technology Industry Diversity Council will have three main goals:
 Increasing the percentage of minority employees for technology firms.
 Increasing the percentage of minority-owned and operated technology firms.
 Helping to create a pipeline through which Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago students can transition into the technology economy.The council will be given an initial four-month timeline to make its first set of
recommendations to Mayor Emanuel for specific things that can be undertaken by the Mayor’s administration to foster this sort of growth. The members of the Council were chosen from the technology community based on proven
leadership and success in fostering diversity in the technology community.
The members of the council are:
Josh Hernandez, Walk.by
Eddie Lou, Shiftgig
David Zapata, Zapwater
Roger Martinez, Quantum Crossings
Ian Hood, CGN Blackwell Global Consulting
Neal Sales-Griffin, Starter League
Emile Cambry, Cibola
Talia Mashiach, Eved
Darrell Higueros, Next Generation
Seyi Fabode, Power2Switch
Nancy Joseph-Ridge, Takeda
Daniel Salcedo, Mobcart
(Bios are attached to this release)
The City of Chicago has, under Mayor Emanuel’s leadership, made great strides in fostering diversity in other areas of the City’s business community, through innovative programs in the department of procurement, such as the diversity business initiative. These programs allow the government of Chicago to encourage private sector adoption of important public policy objectives, and have resulted in strong growth and positive outcomes for minority business owners throughout the City, as well as the business community as a whole.
The Council on Diversity in Technology will work closely with Chicago’s Office of New Americans, as well as ChicagoNEXT, to ensure that their recommendations dovetail closely with the ongoing efforts to make Chicago a welcoming city, as well as ChicagoNEXT’s efforts to attract technology businesses to the city. Mayor Emanuel has made the growth of the Chicago technology economy a key priority, attracting thousands of technology jobs to the City and working directly with dozens of companies to promote growth. From large technology firms such as Google and Nokia, each of which have expanded their presence, to incubators such as 1871, Mayor Emanuel has
focused on building an environment in which technology companies can come to Chicago and thrive. ”Chicago’s diversity that long given us industrial strength,” said John Tolva. “Our thriving technology sector will continue to differentiate itself with robust inclusion of all Chicagoans, and I look forward to helping realize Mayor Emanuel’s vision of a thriving, diverse technology community,” said John Tolva, Chicago’s Chief Technology Officer.